Category Land Issues

Oct 7 2014

Bougainville voice of Simon Pentanu”let not outsiders pit us against ourselves”

A Bougainville voice:

Simon Pentanu

AUSTRALIAN NGO Jubilee Australia published a report in September on views held by villagers near the mine on the re-opening of the Panguna mine in Bougainville.

SEE OUR REPORT and reports in Bougainville24

Jubilee, which claims to be a “scientific research body”, prepared the report jointly with two highly partisan organisations, the International State Crime Initiative and the Bismarck Ramu Group.

Kristian Lasslett, an Ulster-based Australian academic who is a constant purveyor of attacks on the Bougainville leadership, generally with little or no evidence, was heavily involved in the preparation and writing of the report.

In response to criticism of the report in the social media, Lasslett has defended himself and Jubilee notably in posts on the PNG Mine Watch blog (run by the Bismarck Ramu Group) and on Facebook’s Bougainville Forum.

Australians, Vicki Johns and Dantares Midway Jones (aka Andrew Jones) and Australian-based Bougainvillean, Clive Porabou, have all joined Lasslett in defending the report on the Bougainville Forum.

Jubilee and these others domiciled abroad will have us believe that they know more about Bougainville than anyone living on Bougainville and that they are privy to the personal views of the majority of Bougainvilleans today, including mine site landowners.

The spread of these dubious “research findings” in Australia can be likened to a new malady that is about to hit Canberra, the cure for which only the bearers of the ill tidings possess and can administer.

Jubilee is at the forefront and is in this for exposure and publicity, not for the benefit of Bougainville.

Every time these desktop researchers return to their own countries after a very brief foray into their own mystical Bougainville, they carry a hastily packaged fantasy that reveals the ‘undeniable truth’ about what the majority of Bougainvilleans think about Panguna.

Jubilee is in Australia. They believe that a brief visit by anti-mining Bougainville researchers to Panguna, armed with questions to which they already ‘know’ the answers, provides better credentials than they had as remote-controlled observers of Bougainville from afar.

After ticking off their questionnaires, the organisation can make a jubilant exit, highly satisfied that their “research” confirms what they always believed.

With a prejudice and orientation against anything and everybody engaged in, or supportive of, what they see as the sordid business of mining, organisations like this will always be predisposed to searching and commenting to satisfy and confirm their very own views, which they can then confidently sell to Canberra.

Kristian Lasslett works and schemes from Ulster in Northern Ireland (UK). On matters concerning Bougainville he is the self-made expert – chopping, pasting and moulding Bougainville like plasticine to be forced into his desired shape and form.

Like the operatives at Jubilee, he drives a metal car, flies in metal planes and eats, I assume, mainly with metal cutlery. He and the Jubilee operatives do not suffer from metal fatigue, despite their disdain for industries that extract useful minerals.

Kristian will swear by his comments and views, defend them and feed them to anyone who likes to lap up tales of deceit and conspiracy against Bougainville by mining giants and governments.

At best he is a socialist, born to save the world’s downtrodden. At worst he is a Trotskyite, peddling and romanticising his thoughts around Melanesia.

He is a smooth operator, armed with mind-boggling academic qualifications, but why should PNG and Bougainville take notice of him?

He does not add value to our attempts to resolve our issues on Bougainville island, or in PNG for that matter. His activities simply feed his own ambitions.

He tells us that he knows Bougainville from the 1960s, though his appearance indicates he was barely an adolescent at the time of the Bougainville crisis.

He arrived after the crisis, well after the peace process took hold, only to collect the crumbs when the smorgasbord was over. This is obvious in his comments about wanting to return to Bougainville’s past. Bougainvilleans be warned: this fellow cannot be trusted.

There’s little I can say about Vikki John. I believe she’s relatively harmless because I understand she rarely expresses her own views, assuming she has some. Apparently, her function is to cut, paste and disseminate any anti-mining material she comes across, in order to alert poor, ignorant Bougainvilleans to the dangers of doing further business with notoriously nasty mining companies.

I don’t know who DAntares Midway Jones (aka Andrew Jones) is, but I gather he has been searching for his ancestry/roots, as his interchanging name suggests.

He has suddenly splashed himself onto the Bougainville scene with grandiose ideas for the salvation of the island and its population. He believes he has a profound proposal to rid Bougainville of its muddled past.

He proposes a Peoples Tribunal with draft terms of reference comprising Bougainvilleans who will preside as judge, jury, prosecutor and terminator. He even has a Tribunal Facebook page.

He claims he has aboriginal ancestry. He dons a Fidel Castro type cap, is clad in khaki clothes with an Australian Aboriginal flag badge sewn on the breast and he sports a Fidel Castro beard. He is calm, cool and does not flinch at his critics.

I don’t know where he popped up from. He says he made a single visit to Bougainville, a lone trip that has convinced him that he knows Bougainville well enough to insert a Tribunal there to disable the culprits responsible for the island’s demise.

He has some strange ideas about what might be best for Bougainville. He impresses me as someone who has probably been wandering around admiring rock drawings in arid caves and sacred aboriginal sites and suddenly thinks he is sufficiently indigenous to transplant himself into another traditional society like Bougainville.

Clive Porabou is the next best thing to cheese, biscuits and shiraz. Just as these tasty and intoxicating items make party conversation flow freely, Clive’s presence and discussion with the likes of the people I have mentioned above make their adrenalin flow from both excitement and anger.

Clive lives abroad and, for those who have no personal experience on Bougainville, he is the Bougainville expatriate expert who satisfies the appetite of a certain mould of Australian academic, environmentalist, social psycho and welfare benefactor.

Always with an acoustic guitar in hand, he longs for the day when Bougainville might be governed by Me’ekamui, financed by Noah Musingku’s new Bougainville currency.

Hearing from Clive is enough to convince most non-Bougainvilleans that they have a duty to rescue Bougainville from bondage, and the government outfit to accomplish this is the version of Me’ekamui that Clive peddles abroad.

In truth, the Me’ekamui in central Bougainville have been consulting and beginning to work and cooperate with the Autonomous Bougainville Gobvernment (ABG), which was always bound to happen.

I can’t be too critical of Clive, because in his heart of hearts he will always remain a true Bougainvillean, but suspicious of his expat friends. It suits him fine if they are gullible enough to believe him, because as long as this unfortunate business lasts, he can continue to enjoy peace and a relatively convivial lifestyle offshore.

Take heart, the reason why most Bougainvilleans won’t whinge about, or flinch at, research that is carried out overnight from abroad is because it’s not worth the paper it’s written on.

If you were to enter the same Bougainville communities in the same locations and conduct your own research to extract a ‘yes to mining’ response, you would get it. It really depends on how the comments and questions are framed. The Jubilee research is simply a means to an end.

Jubilee, Kristian, Andrew Jones and all of these parties will always support such research and support each other. They are birds of a feather, flocking, scheming and screeching together. As some Bougainvilleans have commented in the Bougainville Facebook forum, this is all “bullshit”.

The ABG must make the Australian government aware that Jubilee is going to the Australian Parliament entirely of its own accord, without the knowledge, authority or respect of the ABG and most Bougainvilleans.

If we are not careful and if the ABG turns a blind eye, the confusion, disunity and anger these people can generate could pit Bougainvillean against Bougainvillean, community against community, clans and families against each other, and even the people against their leaders and government.

These are people coming into a society they really don’t know much about or understand. They are attempting to ride roughshod over the programs and projects the ABG and landowners have been involved in towards resolving every issue in Panguna.

There has been steady progress towards addressing many outstanding Panguna grievances that affect everyone, not just the sampling of villages Jubilee has selectively interviewed.

There are senior ministers in the Abbott government, like foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop, who always have an ear and heart for Bougainville. There is no reason why the president and senior bureaucrats who have the carriage of different aspects and areas of discussion over Panguna, e.g. Steve Burain, Raymond Masono and advisers like Dr Naihuwo Ahai, cannot approach Canberra and confront the Jubilee research.

This is how absurd it is: Jubilee operatives come to Bougainville, do their fact finding visit up the road, fold up all the work and turn up in Canberra unbeknownst to ABG and most of Bougainville.

They do not even have the courtesy to call on the authorities on Bougainville to explain or share what they have done. If this is not conspiracy against ABG, for reasons only known to themselves, then I don’t know what it is.

There is a real risk that foreign elements that have no responsibility or obligations on Bougainville and that are not accountable to anyone can derail fifteen years of peace process and reconciliation achieved without meddling from uninvited offbeat academics, latter day NGOs, busybodies and socialites that have nothing better to do in their own countries.

If they have nothing to contribute to their own governments and people, it is hard to accept the claim that their reconnaissance on Bougainville will enhance our future.

Bookgainville Project on Bougainville PNG

 

Sep 23 2014

Bougainville News : Major survey report finds re-opening of the mine should not be linked to independence of Bougainville

untitled 2

Jubilee Australia has released its report ‘Voices of Bougainville: Nikana Kangsi, Nikana Dong Damana (Our Land, Our Future)’ at a series gathering of academics, representatives of non-government organisations and community members throughout Australia including Canberra which Bougainville News attended

The report reflects the voices of people living in the vicinity of the Panguna Mine, regarding the proposed re-opening of the mine by Rio Tinto subsidiary Bougainville Copper Ltd. Closed in 1989 by local communities devastated by the damage it had caused their environment and social structures, the mine’s closure was followed by a brutal ten-year civil war during which more than 10,000 people were estimated to have died.

For a copy of the report, see:   http://www.jubileeaustralia.org/page/resources

‘The people from the villages in the Panguna Region are those who have been most affected by the mine, and who will be most affected in the future should it reopen. It is vital that their insights be more deeply understood and considered by all of the parties involved,’ commented Brynnie Goodwill, CEO of Jubilee Australia.

Sixty-five people individually and one group of seventeen people, from villages in the vicinity of the mine, were interviewed regarding their feelings about the mine, the war that followed its closure, its potential re-opening and issues that still need addressing.

‘Huge number of abuses are still buried inside people’s hearts,’ said one villager from the Panguna region. (Report, p39).

People interviewed were also asked about how they saw development of their communities for the future. Concerns were raised that pressure to re-open the mine from the Australian and Papua New Guinea Governments, with the Autonomous Bougainville Government, have been linked to the long-sought after independence of Bougainville.

An almost unanimous view from those interviewed was that they did not want the re-opening of the mine to be linked to independence of Bougainville, but rather independence to occur first, and for Bougainvilleans to then determine their options for going forward. The report documents significant concerns about land being held for future generations, and an interest in exploring alternatives to large-scale mining to support an independent Bougainville.

‘While the report focuses on perspectives held by villagers in Panguna and the surrounding communities, these same views are shared by many Bougainvilleans across the island,’ said a member from the north of Bougainville attending the event.

For more information contact Brynnie Goodwill 0404 896 396 International +61404896396 brynnie@jubileeaustralia.org

And from the Guardian

A survey of Bougainville villagers has revealed strong opposition to the proposed reopening of the mine which was at the centre of the island’s decade-long civil war.

Media reports had suggested there was support for the Panguna copper and gold mine as a source of national revenue, with a referendum looming on the island’s independence from Papua New Guinea. The mine has been closed since 1989.

The Jubilee Australia research foundation conducted the survey in 10 villages or hamlets around the Panguna mine at the end of 2013, and found “near universal” opposition to the reopening, as well as unhappiness and mistrust of the consultation process.

The mine – majority owned by Rio Tinto’s Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) – has been central to Bougainville’s economy since the 1970s, but dissatisfaction with the way it was run and its environmental and social effects escalated into a civil war between 1988 and 1998.

It’s estimated as many as 15,000 people died by the time of the 2001 peace agreement, which included a deferred referendum for full independence, scheduled to occur between 2015 and 2020.

The Jubilee report, Voices of Bougainville, found continued resentment and mistrust of the PNG defence forces, Australia and BCL because of their roles in the conflict, and that this has led to mistrust of discussions around reopening the mine.

The report found a “sizable majority” of respondents felt that lasting peace had not been restored, despite an end to the violence. Smaller groups felt the peace process was an initiative to serve the needs of Australia or Papua New Guinea.

Respondents were also “deeply critical” of recent consultations about the mine, which they said had not fully included affected communities and certain demographics such as young people, women and elders.

“Others felt that there had been misleading statements in the media about the enthusiasm of Panguna residents for the mine reopening, and about what the reopening would mean,” the report said.

“We’ve been getting such a strong message from the media, but hearing things on the ground was quite different,” Jubilee’s chairman, Luke Fletcher, told Guardian Australia.

Fletcher conceded there was always the chance of self-censorship among respondents, and that the surveyed villages still had some connection to the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, but said the research was strong.

“I think we felt that the results are so clear that even if there has been a bit of self-censorship the picture we’ve got is certainly enough to question the main narrative.”

Fletcher suggested particular groups were pushing for an early referendum and this was likely to be linked to discussions around reopening the mine.

“Our feeling is that this urgency is one of the reasons why there is some pressure being placed on landowners to make a decision quickly,” Fletcher said. “Once Bougainville gets its independence, Bougainvillians might have more of a say in their future,” he said.

“It seems plausible to see the push to get an agreement in before the referendum as a push for certainty, both for people in Bougainville as well as outside interest groups, for example BCL.”

The Greens leader, Christine Milne, Labor MP Melissa Parke and independent MP Cathy McGowan will launch the Voices of Bougainville report in parliament next month.

Milne said it was “increasingly apparent” that Australian mining companies were not consulting local communities, that they were “making deals” with governments and that as a result local people had suffered.

“The civil war in Bougainville should really remain very front and centre in people’s minds, because there is no doubt that the mine was front and centre to that whole war erupting,” she told Guardian Australia.

“It’s pretty apparent the local community don’t want it, they see the environmental impacts and the social impacts, they don’t trust that they would ever see any benefit from the mine, because they haven’t in the past.”

In August, Rio Tinto announced it would be reviewing its options in BCL after the Bougainville parliament passed a bill stripping the company of seven exploration licenses and its special mining lease for Panguna.

BCL chairman Peter Taylor told the ABC the legislation was confusing and described it as a setback.

“It may be that Rio Tinto decides to pursue its investment, it may not, but I can’t speculate.”

Bougainville president John Momis said the legislation gave BCL the first right of refusal on the mining licence, but no more.

“If we didn’t [cancel the licences], the landowners and the ex-combatants wouldn’t have allowed BCL to come back,” Momis told ABC.

 

Sep 7 2014

Bougainville Government news: Restructure of Ministers and departments heads to be advertised

President Momis

 

Bougainville will now advertise the senior positions within its public service as part of its restructure under the new Bougainville Public Service (Administration and Management) Act 2014.

All departmental head appointments will be made by the Bougainville Senior Appointments Committee which consists of:

The President                                      Hon John Momis, GL, MHR

The Speaker                                        Hon Andrew Miriki

Church’s Representative                    Bishop Rev. Tim D Arthur

Women’s Representative                   Mrs Hona Holan

Bougainville Lawyer                          Mr Hubert Kikira

As for the purposes of appointing the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner the Bougainville Constitution requires that two National Government officers are added, these are Secretary of the Department for Personnel Management Mr John Kali and the PNG Electoral Commissioner Mr Andrew Trawen.

The Bougainville Senior Appointments Committee the Administration will shortly contract an executive recruitment firm to assist it and to make the departmental head appointments.

The firm will manage an open, transparent and merit-based recruitment process for the 14 departmental head positions, the two deputies in the Department of President and BEC and the urgent appointment of an Electoral Commissioner.

The timetable for the positions of Chief Secretary, Electoral Commissioner, Secretary of the Department of Administrative Services and Secretary of Treasury and Finance is:

  1. In the week of Monday 8 September the start of two weeks of advertising for all positions.
  2. Friday 26 September applications for these four positions will close.
  3. Friday 10 October the shortlist will be prepared in consultation with Mr John Kali.
  4. In the week of 20th October interviews will be conducted.
  5. In the week of 3 November, or earlier if the interviews and paperwork is completed, the Bougainville Senior Appointments Committee will meet to consider independent panel’s recommendations and to make appointments.
  6. The timetable for the remaining departmental head positions is:
  1. Friday 12 September all positions descriptions for the remaining 11 departments and two Deputy Chief Secretary positions will be completed.
  2. The week of Monday 15 September the start of two weeks of advertising for all positions.
  3. Friday 3 October applications close.
  4. During October the recruitment firm will carry out referee and qualification checks and prepare the short lists for all positions.
  5. Interviews will take place in November and early December. All enquiries about the recruitment process will be directed to the contracted recruitment firm. This is important to ensure all applicants are treated fairly and evenly.
  6. From time to time the Administration will make announcements on the progress of the recruitment process.

The restructure of the Bougainville Public Service has also seen a minor reshuffle within the Autonomous Bougainville Cabinet to accommodate the changes.

The restructure sees the creation of new ministries while the Veterans Affairs, Peace, Media and Communication and Autonomy Ministries being absorbed by the new Department of the President and Bougainville Executive Council.

ABG President Chief Dr John Momis explained that the former ministries absorbed by the Department of the President and Bougainville Executive Council have been given priority and his office will see their coordination.

The minor ABG Cabinet reshuffle sees no new Ministers added but each Minister now has only one portfolio to deal with and work with their related department.

 

John L Momis    Department of the President and Bougainville Executive Council

President

Patrick Nisira                                                 Department of Police and Corrections

Vice President

Rev. Joseph Nopei                                          Department of Justice and the Principal Legal Adviser

Minister for Justice

Albert Punghau                                               Department of Treasury and Finance

Minister for Treasury and Finance

Joel Banam                                                     Department of Administrative Services

Minister for Administrative Services

Michael Oni                                                    Department of Mineral Resources and Energy

Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy

Luke Karaston                                                            Department of Technical Services

Minister for Technical Services

Rose Pihei                                                       Department of Health

Minister for Health

John Tabaniman                                             Department of Education

Minister for Education

David Sisito                                                    Department of Community Government

Minister for Community Government

Melchior Dare                                                            Department of Community Development

Minister for Community Development

Nicholas Daku                                                            Department of Primary Industries

Minister for Primary Industries

Wilfred Komba                                              Department of Commerce and Tourism

Minister for Commerce and Tourism

Newton Kauva            Department of Lands, Physical Planning, Environment and Conservation

Minister for Lands, Physical Planning,

Environment and Conservation

As the Ministerial Titles, Portfolios and Responsibilities goes into effect this makes each cabinet member responsible for National government liaison and coordination and consultation and liaison with any relevant Parliamentary Sectoral and Advisory Committee of the House of Representatives.

Re-structuring of all departments in order to meet Cabinet’s service delivery and economic growth priorities.

The Autonomous Bougainville Government has started implementing the Bougainville Public Service (Management and Administration) Act 2014 which will see the re-structuring of all departments in order to meet Cabinet’s service delivery and economic growth priorities.

ABG President Chief Dr. John Momis who signed the instruments to begin the process on the 3rd of this month said the next six months will be a time of major change as all senior leadership roles are advertised and permanent appointments are made.

“I am very pleased to announce that acting on the advice of the Bougainville Executive Council I have today signed the instruments establishing 14 ministries in the Momis/Nisira Government,” Dr Momis said.

Dr Momis said that it is a radical restructure that is intended to meet Bougainville’s current and future needs and that Cabinet agrees that things have to change within the Administration of Bougainville.

“Business as usual is no longer acceptable, each of the new ministries has a supporting department,” Dr Momis added.

Acting under the authority of the recently passed Bougainville Senior Appointments Act 2014 the BEC has also made a number of acting appointments to the departmental head positions.

These are appointments until substantive Secretaries are recruited, but for no longer than six months. The acting appointments, effective as of the 3rd of August 2014, are:

Mr Puara Kamariki                Secretary for Administrative Services

Ms Brenda Tohiana                Secretary for Treasury and Finance

Mr Kearnneth Nanei               Secretary for Justice

Dr Anthony Pumpara             Secretary for Health

Mr Michael Meten                 Secretary for Education

Mr Ephraim Eminoni             Secretary for Police and Corrections

Mr Steven Burain                   Secretary for Mineral Resources and Energy

Mr Bernard Tzilu                   Secretary for Technical Services

Mr Herbert Kimai                  Secretary for Community Government

Mr Peter Nomoreke                Secretary for Primary Industries

Mr Lesley Tseraha                 Secretary for Community Development

Mr Albert Kinani                    Secretary for Commerce and Tourism

Mr Andrew Dovaro                Secretary for Lands, Physical Planning, Environment and Conservation

With these changes the current divisions are abolished, all current Chief Executive Officers (or acting CEOs) who have not been appointed to an acting departmental head role will retain their substantive position attached to the relevant department.

For the purposes of appointing the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner the Constitution requires that two National Government officers are added, these are National Secretary of the Department for Personnel Management Mr John Kali and the PNG Electoral Commissioner Mr Andrew Trawen.

 

Sep 1 2014

Bougainville Political News :Bougainville’s referendum does not guarantee the region’s independence

Momis with Pokawin

 

“Bougainvilleans must work to ensure all the pre-conditions of the referendum set in the Bougainville Peace Agreement are met to enable the self determination of Bougainville is done consensually,”

Former Manus Province and Chancellor of the University of PNG, Stephan Pokawin pictured above with President Momis

Story and photos Anthony Kaybing

Bougainville’s referendum does not guarantee the region’s independence but is the process in which Bougainville must follow to determine its political future

Former Manus Province and Chancellor of the University of PNG, Stephan Pokawin said this during the Gathering our Intellectual Capacity toward our Journey to Referendum Seminar hosted by the Bougainville Students Association at UPNG last Saturday.

Mr Pokawin explained that referendum is only exclusive to Bougainville as guaranteed by part 14 of the PNG Constitution and is only available to Bougainville between 2015 and 2020.

“If the Constitutional Commission allows for referendum to be exercised in Bougainville then the ABG is obligated to ensure that it is followed through,” Mr Pokawin said.

Mr Pokawin also warned that if Bougainville misses this five year window then it will not be given another chance as agreed to in the Bougainville Peace Agreement and the ensured with the Bougainville and PNG constitutions.

Mr Pokawin said that Bougainville since PNG’s Independence has charted the course of the country’s politics from the early calls of autonomy and decentralization of which ABG President Chief Dr John Momis is regarded as its key architect.

He also urged Bougainvilleans to create a safe and secure environment that is conducive for the referendum to be held.

“Bougainvilleans must work to ensure all the pre-conditions of the referendum set in the Bougainville Peace Agreement are met to enable the self determination of Bougainville is done consensually,” he said.

Mr Pokawin who was an instrumental figure in brokering peace on Bougainville also shares the same view as President Momis emphasizing that for Bougainville’s referendum to be successful there is an urgency for unity amongst the people.

“Bougainville has given the true meaning of Autonomy in Papua New Guinea as it pursues it political future while also paving the way for decentralization in the country,” Mr Pokawin remarked.

“It has set the pace for development in this country but in order to get to where we want we must work together and to work with the government, ABG to strengthen its capacity,” Mr Pokawin said.

 

Sep 1 2014

Bougainville Political News: Many questions on Bougainville’s unity -Momis

President Momis welcomed by Bougainvillean students

“The only intelligent and legitimate way of bringing about unity is to create a structure that empowers people and recognizes the important principal of subsidiarity and only then will we work together in solidarity,”

President Momis pictured above being greeted by Bougainville students

There are currently many questions on Bougainville’s unity but this unity cannot happen with the imposition of uniformity amongst the people.

Autonomous Bougainville Government President Chief Dr John Momis expressed this sentiment during a Seminar hosted by the University of Papua New Guinea Bougainville Students Association themed Gathering Intellectual Capacity toward our Journey to Referendum.

“The only intelligent and legitimate way of bringing about unity is to create a structure that empowers people and recognizes the important principal of subsidiarity and only then will we work together in solidarity,” President Momis said.

“Human solidarity will only come about when we recognize the differences between us and the importance of working together,” he added.

The President said the people of Bougainville have a vision and that is to reject corruption, they are rejecting manipulation, they are rejecting the syndrome of dependency and they are rejecting disempowerment and injustice.

“People are demanding the right to forge a new society based on natural justice and perennial principals that outlast any political or economic system,” he said.

President Momis also warned that people who are not imbued with such a vision are very dangerous, they maybe skilled but their skills will be abused and misused against the very society which they are called upon to build.

President Momis told the students that it is very important that education institutions must put a lot of emphasis on human formation.

“People must be formed on perennial values that outlast any of the pragmatic things that people are pushing in the world today,” he said.

“Bougainville as we discern the signs of the times, it is quite clear what the people want; they want to be intelligent active agents of change and mere passive reciepients of benefits,” the President said.

President Momis said this does not mean the people of Bougainville want to do things on their own but it means they want to take an active part in development and to be engaged in an intelligent and collaborative manner.

President Momis with Sam Akoitai

Amongst the key speakers at the seminar were several Bougainvillean leaders such as the Regional Member, Joe Lera and former Minister for Mining, Sam Akoitai as well as UPNG Vice Chancellor, Albert Mellam and several Bougainvillean students.

President Momis with UPNG students

Aug 27 2014

Bougainville weekly news summary: Mining,Mona ,Palm Oil, Sir Peter Barter and referendums

Mona

 

Picture above Mona Festival which starts today in Buka

LONG TERM BOUGAINVILLE MINING LAW PROGRESSES

BY JENNIFER NKUI

 A workshop was conducted in Buka last Friday to brief the ABG Cabinet and senior Bougainville public services officers on the draft Act of the Long Term Bougainville Mining Law.
The workshop was conducted by experts and the Bougainville team to seek the views of the ministers on the draft Act.
In a joint statement, deputy president Patrick Nsiria and minister for natural resources Michael Oni said the mining department has worked for seven years to develop a policy framework for a long term mining law which will meet Bougainville’s special needs.
They said the ABG’s aim was for a new law that truly meets our special needs and follows the world’s best practice or is even better than that.
They added that the cabinet members were satisfied that the long and detailed draft Act and regulations give effect to the ABG’s previous decisions on policy and give us a best practice law.
The deputy and his minister explained that the draft ‘Long Term’ Act builds on the foundation of the Bougainville Transitional mining Act.
They said it provides a framework making small scale mining by Bougainvillians legal and maintains the abolition of the Bougainville Copper Agreement, the SML created by it and all exploration licenses held by BCL since the 1960’s.
They added that the ‘Long Term’ also deals with many things that are not covered by the Transitional Act explaining that these new things were not covered in the Transitional Act because it was a temporary act.
The two pointed out that the ABG moved quickly to develop an interim mining law because it was worried about back door deals being made by unscrupulous outsiders and it also faced possible action of the National Government taking majority ownership of BCL.
They stated that the ABG is now satisfied that we have achieved what we wanted with the transitional Act and they are now very pleased to be able to move on to work hard to have a much more detailed, comprehensive and best practice law that meets Bougainville’s needs.
The ABG aims to finalize and pass the new mining Act late this year or early next year after public awareness and consultations have been made about the draft ‘Long Term’ Act which the ABG is committed to doing.

Sir Peter Barter joins Panguna planning process

sir-peter-barter-buka

From Bougainville 24 Subscribe here

The Joint Panguna Negotiation Committee (JPNCC) has been boosted by the support of eminent businessman and former senior political figure Sir Peter Barter.

Sir Peter has been appointed as the Independent Chair of the Multi Party Trust Fund that administers the funding for JPNCC projects which include social, economic and environmental studies relating to the possible re-opening of the Panguna mine.

After an eight-year absence, Sir Peter was warmly welcomed back to Bougainville by a greeting party including a traditional dance troupe from Takuu Atoll.

“One of the reasons I have chosen to be here today is to see whether or not we can move forward and create an economy, which is needed to make this province truly autonomous,” Sir Peter Barter told the audience at Buka Airport.

“We have no autonomy without an economy.”

In his 15 years as a Member of Parliament, Sir Peter served as Minister for Bougainville Affairs and Minister for Inter-Government Relations.

He was integral in brokering the peace agreement, in 2007 relinquishing his seat in parliament to take on the role of Paramount Chief Masalahana (Peacemaker) in Bougainville.

Like the composition of the JPNCC, the board of the Multi Party Trust is drawn from the Autonomous Bougainville Government, the National Government of PNG, landowner representatives from the Panguna area and Bougainville Copper Limited.

The Multi Party Trust board meetings are held the day before the JPNCC convenes. The next meeting will be held on Thursday 2 October in Port Moresby

palm

Oil Palm Project

Picture :The Autonomous Bougainville Government President, Chief Dr John Momis had the chance to visit the Aberdi Oil Palm project on the Philippine Island of Mindanao and located on the outskirts of Cagayan de Oro City last Saturday Anthony Kaybing
As the time for Bougainville’s Referendum period forecloses Bougainville now has to seek ways to strengthen its capacity to meet the requirements of the Bougainville Peace Agreement.
With the slow negotiations on the correct calculation of the Restoration and Development Grant and the outstanding amount owed to the Autonomous Bougainville Government, the government has decided to look into possible foreign inward investment.
The Autonomous Bougainville Government President, Chief Dr John Momis had the chance to visit the Aberdi Oil Palm project on the Philippine Island of Mindanao and located on the outskirts of Cagayan de Oro City last Saturday.
The President was wholly impressed by the oil palm project which has built its own refinery to refine the palm’s crude oil and start producing products from food to cosmetics.
President Momis also had the chance to see firsthand how the processing of the palm oil takes place and refined with a visit to the projects laboratory was also included.
The President said with the palm oil industry offering a lucrative market he believes Bougainvilleans should look into this industry as an alternate cash crop.
“Bougainville can have a set up like the one at ABERDIN, while cutting off all middlemen and ensuring that we maximize the benefits for all Bougainvilleans,” the President said.
“We have a lot of arable land that we can use for extensive agricultural development, that can provide employment and revenue for the government and people alike,” he added.
With Bougainville’s own Inward Investment Act already in place, this will guarantee the ABG and the people of Bougainville are not marginalized in any awry business deals with possible foreign investors.
Bougainville’s own oil palm project at Torokina has gone into an indefinite hiatus and its future remains uncertain but the Government is still adamant it will get the project moving only and after it resolves all issues pertaining to its suspension.
The President’s visit to Aberdin was facilitated by A Brown Energy and Resources Development, Inc. (ABERDI), which is a subsidiary of A Brown Company, Inc. which is engaged in the real estate development business primarily in the Philippines.
The company operates through the Real Estate, Manufacturing/Trading, Hotel, Agriculture, Resource Development and Power segments.

BOUGAINVILLEANS ARE READY FOR REFERENDUM
BY JENNIFER NKUI

Despite the government’s attention being turned to mining, the people of Bougainville are ready for referendum.
This statement was made by Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) general Ishmael Toroama last week.
He told New Dawn Fm in an interview that despite senior leaders coming out and saying that Bougainville is not ready for referendum, the people of Bougainville are ready for referendum.
He said what the government must do now is to push the people one step ahead to make their preparations for referendum.
He added that in preparations for referendum, we cannot be ready now but we need to be prepared and the people of Bougainville need to be prepared.
Mr. Ishmael challenged the members saying the people voted for you and you should not be sleeping.
He pointed out that collective effort is needed from all Bougainvilleans if we are to achieve referendum because the agreement binds us together.
He urged the government to not divert their attention to mining but must come together and work together in order for us to achieve referendum.

Aug 27 2014

Bougainville News : Testing times for Bougainville’s mining future


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A lone copper dump truck that was completely burned out during the crisis at Panguna mine. Photo by Ian Booth.

Autonomous government needs to weigh the cost and benefits of extractive industries, writes MATTHEW ALLEN. 

The recent passage of new mining legislation on Bougainville comes at an especially troubling time for large-scale mining operations in the Western Pacific.

One of the first major laws to be enacted since the transfer of a suite of powers to the Autonomous Bougainville Government under the terms of the 2001 political settlement with Papua New Guinea, the transitional mining law is a significant step towards the possible recommencement of large-scale mining on the island.

However, an assessment of how some of the region’s largest mines have been travelling in recent times makes for sobering reading and points to the need for deep and careful reflection as Bougainville contemplates a mining future. The report card reads like this.

In April of this year the PNG government declared a state of emergency at the Porgera gold mine in the highlands province of Enga – operated by the Canadian miner Barrick Gold – and launched a three-month operation to stamp out what it describes as “illegal” mining. Over a hundred police and military personnel were deployed to the region and hundreds of houses allegedly belonging to illegal miners were razed by security forces.

Two weeks ago the Chinese-owned Ramu nickel mine, also in PNG, was reportedly attacked by “armed villagers” resulting in injuries to five Chinese workers, damage to equipment and a three-day halt to mine production.

Late last year the PNG government effectively expropriated the lucrative yet environmentally and socially problematic Ok Tedi mine in Western Province, a move that remains the subject of a court challenge in Singapore.

In neighbouring Solomon Islands, the country’s only mine, Gold Ridge on north Guadalcanal, has been closed since the site was flooded during heavy rains in April. The Australian operator returned staff to the site in June but has recently pulled out again citing a serious escalation in security incidents and the presence of large numbers of “illegal miners” in the mine lease area.

Further south in New Caledonia, the Vale nickel mine in the Southern Province was closed for several weeks earlier this year following a chemical spill that triggered a series of fatal clashes between riot police and Kanak youth.

And so the list goes on.

Unfortunately there is nothing particularly new about this association between large-scale mining and violence in Melanesia (and nor is it peculiar to the region – a 2009 United Nations study found that at least 40 per cent of intrastate conflicts globally are related to natural resources). Gold Ridge mine was a flash point during the so-called “ethnic tensions” that gripped Solomon Islands in the late 1990s, eventually closing down as a result of the violence.

And of course local grievances associated with Rio Tinto’s giant Panguna copper mine on Bougainville were a major contributor to the 10-year civil war in which thousands died. The mine has remained closed since the conflict, but Rio Tinto’s subsidiary, Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), had, until the passage of the new legislation this month, retained its mining lease under PNG law.

Bougainville’s political leaders are in the unenviable position of having to weigh the costs and benefits of a mining future. At the forefront of their minds is the prospect of a referendum on full independence from PNG which, according to the autonomy arrangements, must take place between 2015 and 2020. A key question is whether an independent Bougainville can be economically viable without large-scale mining.

The avowed policy of the ABG’s current leadership is to actively explore the possibility of at least one large-scale mine, with the preferred candidate being the mothballed Panguna mine. The need for the ABG to be able to regulate Bougainville’s mining sector has been given added urgency by the increasing activities of foreign investors with questionable credentials and intentions, as well as by the recent boom in small-scale and artisanal mining activities.

There are aspects of the new mining law that are innovative and clearly informed by the problematic history of the Panguna mine and the legacy of the conflict. For example, the legislation vests the ownership of mineral resources in customary landowners, who can veto exploration but not mining once an exploration license has been granted. It also contains provisions for the development of the island’s poorer regions.

That said, the legislation has not been without its detractors – in large part reflecting the highly fragmented character of Bougainville’s politics – with the parliamentary debate and subsequent passage of the bill met with an outpouring of opposition across mainstream and social media.

Opponents claim that the new law gives privileged treatment to BCL, which loses its mining lease but automatically gains an exploration license and therefore the right to negotiate for a new mining lease. Other critics have long maintained that Bougainville should follow a path to development based on smallholder agriculture and artisanal mining rather than large-scale mining.

For its part BCL’s chairman Peter Taylor has described the new legislation as a “set-back” and Rio is to review its majority shareholding in BCL. Whatever the legal status of BCL’s claim, the history of mining on Bougainville and elsewhere in Melanesia shows us that no new mining is likely to take place without the agreement of landowners, and such agreements are open to frequent renegotiation.

One thing we can be certain of is that despite demonstrable economic recovery, Bougainville’s social and economic development indicators remain well below pre-conflict levels. There are pressing human development needs on Bougainville, which only heighten the urgency of the tough choices that must be made about its economic future.

Matthew Allen is a fellow at the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia program, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific. He is conducting research on mining and political change in Melanesia funded by the Australia Research Council.

Aug 19 2014

Bougainville Mining News : Rio Tinto to review options Bougainville mining and BCL

RIO Tinto

Diversified giant Rio Tinto on Monday announced that it was “reviewing” its options over its 53.83% shareholding in embattled Bougainville Copper.

Bougainville’s Parliament last week passed a new Mining Act, which devolved power to regulate the mining industry from the government of Papua New Guinea to Bougainville’s autonomous government.

The new Mining Act resulted in Bougainville Copper’s mining licences being revoked and replaced with exploration licences. The exploration licences would allow Bougainville Copper to apply for a new mining lease, subject to the outcome of negotiations with the Bougainville Mineral Resource Forum.

“In light of recent developments in Papua New Guinea, including the new mining legislation passed earlier this month by the autonomous Bougainville government, Rio Tinto has decided now is an appropriate time to review all options for its 53.83% stake in Bougainville Copper,” the miner said on Monday.

Bougainville Copper has confirmed Rio’s decision, with chairperson Peter Taylor saying that the company’s remaining shareholders would be kept informed of any decisions.

Aug 12 2014

Bougainville Government strips Rio Tinto subsidiary BCL of all exploration and mining licences

With its wealth of precious metals underground, Bougainville is a treasure island.
FROM Jemina Garret ABC

Rio Tinto subsidiary Bougainville Copper has been stripped of all its exploration and mining licences by the Bougainville Government.

The company’s Panguna mine was once one of the biggest in the world but it was also the spark that lit a decade-long civil war in the 1990s in which 20,000 people died.

Bougainville’s parliament initiated the move when it passed a new Mining Act on Friday.

Audio: Bougainville’s president John Momis tells Jemima Garrett critics have got it wrong. (ABC News)

The legislation devolves power to regulate mining from the Papua New Guinea government to Bougainville’s Autonomous Government but at the same time it strips Bougainville Copper Ltd (BCL) of its seven exploration licences and its special mining lease over Panguna.

Although the company retains first right of refusal on negotiations to operate the mine, the legislation will put the Bougainville Government in a stronger negotiating position.

“We have invited them to come and negotiate with us and if they don’t meet our mutually acceptable terms then they are welcome to go,” Bougainville President John Momis told Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat.

John Momis
Photo: Bougainville president John Momis

“That is the only thing they have; first right of refusal.”

President Momis says the decision to cancel the licences came after wide-ranging consultations with the community on Bougainville.

“If we didn’t [cancel the licences], the landowners and the ex-combatants wouldn’t have allowed BCL to come back,” President Momis said.

Some ex-combatants and grassroots groups are worried by the legislation.

“This mining Bill will likely lay the foundations for another Bougainville crisis,” the Panguna Veteran’s Association said in a statement shortly before the Act was passed.

“Rio Tinto/BCL owned and controlled our minerals before and it led to the war.

“Under this Bill, Rio Tinto/BCL owns and will control our minerals – why would the result be any different this time?”

The chairman of the Me’ekamui Government of Unity, one of the groups descended from those started by civil war leader Francis Ona, is also concerned.

“This is a dangerous and destabilizing move and is not acceptable to the Me’ekamui,” Philip Miriori said.

President Momis says the critics who believe the new legislation leaves too much power in the hands of Rio Tinto and Bougainville Copper have been given the inaccurate information.

I think [the critics] are being misled deliberately by outsiders who have a vested interest

John Momis, president of the Autonomous Bougainville Government

“The critics are totally wrong – we have stripped Bougainville Copper of all powers,” he said.

“I think [the critics] are being misled deliberately by outsiders who have a vested interest.”

Some landowners groups have signed agreements with small unregulated mining companies.

Bougainville is due to hold a referendum on independence between 2015 and 2020.

Landowners and other groups that support mining see it as one means to obtain the economic self-reliance needed to have a real choice in the referendum.

Earlier this year, Mr Momis told the Australia Papua New Guinea Business Forum, he was not assuming that the Rio Tinto-owned copper mine on Bougainville would re-open or that Rio Tinto or Bougainville copper would be the operator.

However, now Mr Momis says extensive consultations have shown that landowners prefer to deal with BCL rather than a new potential operator.

“They talk of preferring the devil they know and not a new devil,” he said.

Jul 21 2014

Bougainville Investment News: Update Nevis Announces Investment in Bougainville Development, LLC

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PRESS RELEASE : Nevis Announces Investment in Bougainville Development, LLC
Jul 21, 2014
OTC Disclosure & News Service Lake Kiowa, TX –

Nevis Capital Corporation (OTC: OCEE), is pleased to announce that they have signed a final agreement with Bougainville Development, LLC, a Mississippi Limited Liability Company, to acquire a 50% ownership of Bougainville Development in an all-stock transaction consisting of Nevis common stock.

The principal asset of Bougainville is a wholly owned subsidiary, Tall J(PNG) Ltd. of Papua, New Guinea, that has the contractual rights with the Papua Government to harvest the timber and to explore and develop the underlying minerals on 255,000 acres in Section 1645. Bougainville has a current investment in excess of $ 4,000,000 USD in this project.
Mr. Stephen Strauss, BD Director, estimates that production should commence within 12-15 months for delivery of finished materials to Asian markets. Surveys from ITTO estimate that this tract contains approximately 2.5 million cubic meters of timber valued at $ 1.3 Billion at current prices, generating estimated revenues of $ 37 Million annually over a 35 year production and reforestation cycle.
The Papua Government has endorsed the economic growth and development of their natural resources. Exxon Mobil has recently invested $ 19 Billion in Papua, NG, building one of the largest Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) projects in the world which began shipments in May with anticipated annual revenues of $ 7.2 billion.
Nevis Capital expects the operational profits from this investment, the previously announced US producing oil and gas investment and expansions thereof, the Macau Live Online Gaming investment, and initiatives to acquire interests in profitable Medical Marijuana ancillary product producers to rapidly increase shareholder value for this development stage holding company.

New Dawn report June 2014

President of Bougainville, Chief John L. Momis, today challenged “Me’ekamui Government’s” Philip Miriori to be honest about Bougainville mining issues. He was responding to a statement saying discussions about mining can happen only after the referendum on independence, and calling for Australian advisers to “go home”.

President Momis said:

“It’s amusing to see Mr. Miriori say mining can happen only after the referendum. For it’s widely known in Bougainville just how deeply involved Miriori is already involved in mining. It was he who worked closely with the Americans involved in Tall J Foundation Ltd. That company tried to do industrial mining of gold on the tailings on the Jaba River. But the people chased them away. Then a Chinese investor in Tall J. Tried to get his lost money back by bringing in Chinese to gather and sell scrap metal from Panguna. Then there is the Australian, Ian Renzie Duncan, at different times involved with Australian mining companies Zeus Resources and Trnaspacific Ventures. It was he who wrote Mr. Miriori’s speech delivered when Prime Minister O’Neill visited Panguna. It’s widely talked about in central Bougainville that Miriori is investing with Mr. Duncan, and that Duncan is taking alluvial gold supplied by Miriori.

“These are just a few of the mining interests that Mr. Miriori is involved in. It’s these and other mining interests that have take him off so regularly to meetings in Cairns, Brisbane, Perth, Singapore, and other business tourist destinations. Everyone around Panguna knows one thing for sure: no other Me’ekamui President has done more foreign travel than Miriori!

“But with all his deep involvement in mining already, how can he talk about decisions on mining waiting until after the referendum? I challenge him to be honest about his long history of mining interests.

“I also challenge him to be equally honest about foreign advisers. He says Australian funded advisers are not welcome. But these advisers have all been requested by the ABG to help us fill in gaps and weaknesses in the Administration. Although Australian funded, many are not Australian. They include Bougainvilleans. Until recently our legislative drafting adviser was from Vanuatu. Our Policy Adviser was from Bermuda – all paid for By Australia.

“For the ABG, the two most important things about our advisers are these. First, we only have them when we have a gap we cannot fill with a Bougainvillean. Second, they must follow the directions of the Bougainville Government. I am absolutely confident that they do  that. They do not control the ABG. They are not here to make money for foreign companies.

“I challenge Mr. Miriori to tell us about his foreign advisers, and what they are doing to make money for foreign interests. They included two Americans with the Tall J Foundation, Stewart Sytner and Thomas Megas. There are documents freely available on the Internet that show they claim that Mr. Miriori sold them mining rights in areas to the north of the Panguna Special Mining Lease. I challenge him to tell us is what Sytner and Megas claim is true.

What about the other investors in Tall J? What advice did they give to Miriori? What about the Tall J investor who brought in the Chinese scrap metal dealers? What advice did he give? What about the advice that Mr. Ian Renzie Duncan gives?

“Mr. Miriori is not being honest about the future of mining. His hands are not clean in relation to mining.

“Mr. Miriori is not being honest about foreign advisers. Again his hands are not clean.

“I challenge him to be honest on these matters. I challenge him to enter these debates only when he has clean hands.

Tall J, O’orang & MTRL alluvial mining in the Tumpusiong Valley

Leonard Fong Roka Feb 2013

As way back as 2008, an Edwin Moses from Sireronsi village and an Amos Ove from Kongara were in an underground contact with Americans, Steve Strauss and Mike Holbrooke. Their dialogue was an interest to tap into the lucrative alluvial gold panning in Central Bougainville.

Jaba Industries company logo

Then they connected the Americans and their company Tall J whom were said to be specialized in small scale mining to the so called Meekamui Government of Panguna led by Philip Miriori (president) and Philip Takaung (vice president) a pair that, when talking about BCL to the media had being so anti-mining.

In early 2009, Edwin Moses, Amos Ove and Philip Takaung formed their own company under the blessing of the Meekamui Government which they named O’orang with all executives from their respective villages and Amos Ove as the manager and Edwin Moses as director to start formal negotiations with the Americans.

Tumpusiong Valley sedimentattion that hosts the gold

After O’orang was established, Tall J money began entering Bougainville. O’orang was assigned to lay out the ground work for possible mining operations in Panguna, especially the Tumpusiong Valley where Amos Ove was married. The valley had tones of gold washed from the Panguna mine’s long operations and today it is one of the main alluvial gold attractions in Kieta. The company’s attempts to lure the targeted people were often met with opposition but the report that went to America was of positive progress.

So back in America, there was excitement to have established a link on one of Pacific’s richest islands and their landowners, from debriefs O’orang passed on from Bougainville. Thus money flowed in and O’orang members earned American money and drove around in new vehicles.

In mid-2009, the Americans and O’orang met in Honiara to finalize a go-ahead for a joint venture on establishing an alluvial gold mining operation in Panguna. A week later, a team of nine Americans arrived in Panguna with a Komatsu front-hand loader and three other equipment for sampling and other preparations under the leadership of Steve Strauss to learn that nothing had being done out of their money.

Jaba Industries operations site in the Tumpusiong Valley

Spending months in Panguna, with Philip Takaung also renting rooms to them, they tried to sort things out themselves. Half of the Americans returned seeing that their money was wasted on liars that the people hardly respected. Even Amos Ove was making his own money by having the mechanical loader on hire after they were chased out of the Tumpusiong Valley in their first attempt. But the other half stayed on under the leadership of Steve Strauss and Mike Holbrooke.

With the Americans around them and Amos Ove gone due to illness, Philip Takaung and Edwin Moses began to fast track negotiations with various people around Kieta. They visited the Eivo area; went into certain parts of Kokoda; frisked the whole Panguna valley for partners, especially the Tumpusiong Valley. They entered Kupe, where an Australian company once had a gold mining operation in the 1930s, three times and on the fourth visit, angry Kupe people chased them.

By Christmas 2009, all Americans left accept Strauss who was so concerned in finding ways to recover the money they had spent. By early 2010, the Americans had spent some K1.7 million through O’orang in order to secure alluvial gold mining operations with the people.

Mr. Michael Tona, MTRL deputy chairman

As the year was fast winding down Strauss saw no hope and was packing to leave Bougainville when a Michael Dendai and Michael Tona who were not involve in Tall J first attempts in the Tumpusiong Valley walked into him in Panguna with a claim that they and their families owned much of the west Tumpusiong Valley tailings area.

Strauss was relieved and forged an agreement with the pair and also donated an open bag land cruiser to serve the Tumpusiong communities that was controlled by Michael Dendai since.

In a series of meetings held at Panguna within a period of two months, a new company, Middle Tailings Resources Limited (MTRL) led by Michael Dendai and Michael Tona was born. O’orang also fought hard not to be left out in this new relationship and was accepted and Strauss again fought to secure more off shore funding for this new operation.

Closer look at the camp in the middle of the BCL created barren land

This time funding was secured from a Chinese partner and more Americans began to arrive to pave the way forward for the Tumpusiong project. And seeing the Chinese money on their hands Dendai and Tona carelessly fast tracked the go-ahead of the project without engaging the majority of the west Tumpusiong community members in decision making. But still the project was steaming on with the happy MTRL gang.

So the joint venture named as the Jaba Industries was consisting of O’orang owning 33.33% shares; MTRL owning another 33.33% and Tall J holding the last 33.33% of shares. In all three joint venture partners, the unidentified Chinese financier was catered for; that is, the Chinese were shareholders in all three companies. At the same time, Tall J had certain percentage of shares in the 33.33% shares owned by O’orang in Jaba Industries concerning the K1.7 million Tall J money O’orang corrupted.

All things sorted, equipment and plants, funded by the Chinese, began arriving one at a time for the whole of 2011 and half of 2012; plants were kept at Birempa on the Morgan-Panguna mine access road near Edwin Moses’ home. Plants include dump trucks, an excavator, a front-hand loader, a number of open bag land cruisers and gold processing equipment. And during the Christmas break of 2012, establishment began at Toku village in the western section of the Tumpusiong Valley.

With heavy sedimentation intact, the project could last

Alongside the development conflict also surfaced. The locals were brawling with the MTRL executives over decision making processes as landowners witnessing the fact that Michael Dendai was running the MTRL as his private business because on paper, collective decision making was the way and that majority beneficiaries should have being the community.

Also despite the fact that the men involved with the creation of MTRL were the close relatives of current ABG mining mister, Michael Oni, the parliamentarian have being said to knew nothing of this development. So people also public condemned MTRL and Jaba Industries as illegal businesses.

The main village of Toku further boiled with strikes. In a launching and dedication ceremony held in December 2012 just before Christmas at the mining site, the other half of the Toku villagers did not attend nor did they ate the food that was brought to them.

Furthermore, the locals were angered by the project when, all executive positions in the joint venture was held by the O’orang who were not even landowners in the Panguna mine site or the Tumpusiong Valley but were from the inaccessible by car hinterland villages of Pangka and Mosinau to the south-east of the Panguna mine who now squat in the remains of the Panguna township causing a lot of disharmony with the people owning the Panguna mine and town areas like the Moroni people and even the Panguna District administration.

Tumpusiong Valley

Most of the Tumpusiong men were employed as security guards earning a K75 per fortnight. Plant operators and so on were the O’orang employees. And point of argument was, to the former BRA fighters, Mr. Dendai was not at home during the conflict and now was walking over them thus he was not accepted to be a sole decision maker in this project.

Somewhere in late 2012, the Chinese partner under the cover of Jaba Industries announced that it shall be releasing a K300 000 community development packet and two vehicles for the Tumpusiong Valley around the 2012 Christmas period. The people waited as they watched the test-run of the operations that produced a positive result in a week’s operation in January 2013 that was shipped overseas as a sample.

But to their dissatisfaction in the mid-January of 2013, a new accusation surfaced that the awaited K300 000 development packet was already deposited into Michael Dendai’s bank account in 2012. Without any hesitation, the villagers torched the gold processing equipment in broad day light.

After this, all Tumpusiong men working as security guards at the mining site walked off, with a demand to Jaba Industries to solve the issue or pack up and leave.

Posted by Leonard Fong Roka at 18:10

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