mining

Papua New Guinea's poor still waiting for a fair share

On 30 Jun, 2011 By rait man

By Brian Thomson

Thirty-six years after the people of Papua New Guinea gained the right to govern themselves they are still waiting on a government that gives them a fair share of the country's considerable resources.  

"We have so much need for basic government services in the midst of the all mines, all the riches being extracted from our land," says Ombudsman John Toguata.

Should PNG follow the Congo and publish all resource contracts online?

On 07 Jun, 2011 By rait man

The Bloomberg news service is reporting the Democratic Republic of Congo will make all resource contracts public within 60 days of signing (see below).

Like PNG, the Congo has large mineral, oil and timber reserves and like PNG, a lack of transparency and corruption are two of the problems blighting the resource sector.

The initiative in the Congo could therefore provide an interesting example for PNG to follow.

Will we benefit from mining windfall?

On 09 May, 2011 By rait man With 1 Comments

Warke Isaac

Papua New Guineans are being exploited by Australians and other foreign countries.  We are treated as cheap labour and are forced to look on as bystanders as Australian mining companies mine our natural resources.

 Due to the lack of vision and political will of our leaders, many foreigners are taking advantage of our lack of enforcement. 

Our oil, natural gas and gold will continue to be exploited by others. 

Will Papua New Guinea benefit or lose out in the commodity boom?

On 04 May, 2011 By rait man With 1 Comments

By Paul Barker, Director of the Institute of National Affairs*

Resource projects stealing PNGs self-reliance

On 11 Apr, 2011 By rait man

BY WARREN DUTTON*

I AM DESPERATELY afraid that our Liquefied Natutral Gas Project could turn out to be the sickest joke that the world has as yet played on PNG.

We must turn the undoubted revenue that will flow from the LNG Project into real wealth that will genuinely benefit all our people and especially our rural majority.

Resource Development: Why the hurry?

On 04 Apr, 2011 By rait man

BY ARTHUR WILLIAMS*

QUITE A FEW DECADES ago PNG started logging for export revenue rather than building homes for its people or making furniture. It was explained at the time that commercial logging would benefit the nation as well as the communities that allowed it on their land.

In the 1980s, Pedi Anis, one time Premier and now entrepreneur and friend of the Asian loggers, told the citizens of Lavongai Island that the only way forward for development was to embrace timber felling (despite knowing it was a very poorly regulated industry).

PNG suffers chronically in bad resource deals

On 17 Mar, 2011 By rait man With 1 Comments

From a Special Correspondent*

Papua New Guinea suffers chronically from the way in which state equity participation is negotiated in major resource extraction projects.

A combination of the worst possible behaviour from international resource companies, which is as bad in PNG as it is in any country in the world, abetted by the incompetence of the National Government in negotiating equity participation, means that PNG ends up seeing its resources shipped offshore with the lowest possible returns to the Nation.

A letter to Julia Gillard

On 21 Feb, 2011 By rait man With 3 Comments

By Trevor Freestone

Dear Julia,

I have attempted to draw attention to the serious situation in Papua New Guinea to Kevin Rudd as Foreign Affairs Minister and Tony Abbott as Leader of the Opposition. Their staff thank me for my communication and things end there.

The situation is so serious that Australia needs to become aware of what is happening and develop a plan that will be of benefit both to Papua New Guinea and Australia.

How can we force mining companies to act responsibly?

On 11 Feb, 2011 By rait man With 1 Comments

In Papua New Guinea we are only too aware of the social and environmental problems that foreign owned mining companies can cause. Ok Tedi, Panguna, Porgera, Tolukuma, Misima and now Hidden Valley have all come with an enormous cost that is paid by local people while the mining company and their shareholders earn massive profits. How can mining companies be made more responsible when they operate in countries like Papua New Guinea?

An inauspicious start to the year makes our voices even more important

On 07 Feb, 2011 By Effrey With 2 Comments

It has not been a great start to the year in Papua New Guinea - as we review below. But the negative stories about our government, stealing from the public purse and the resource industries only emphasis the importance of making OUR voices heard. If our leaders do not hear from us then the only changes we will see will be negative ones.

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