Press review: Mining in the South Pacific Vol. 3, No. 3, May – June 2011, 100 pages Compilation: Dr. Roland Seib, Hobrechtstr. 28, 64285 Darmstadt, Germany http://www.roland-seib.de/mining Copyright: The material is copyrighted by the media and authors quoted. Abbreviations in common use: BCL: Bougainville Copper Limited LNG: Liquid Natural Gas PIR: Pacific Islands Report PNG: Papua New Guinea Websites: Pacific Islands Report: http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/graphics.shtml PNG Post-Courier: http://www.postcourier.com.pg PNG The National. http://www.thenational.com.pg ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Australian Greens launch attack on foreign owned miners PNG Mine Watch, 29.6.2011 The Australian Greens say too much of Australia's mining profits are heading offshore and they ha- ve released a report which has found 83 per cent of Australia's mining industry is foreign-owned. The report says that in the next five years $50 billion in earnings derived from Australian mining investments will go offshore. Senator Brown wants a Resource Super Profits Tax and believes Aus- tralians would have been more supportive of the idea the first time around if they had seen the fig- ures. "I think Australians simply have been left in the dark about the rapid takeover of ownership offshore of Australia's minerals," he said. "I don't think Australians have any idea that Australia's mining industry is 83 per cent foreign owned." Senator Brown says images of Australian miners campaigning against the Government's mining taxes give a false impression of the level of local ownership of the industry. "A few local billionaires who've made a motza out of mining are covering up for the much greater profits than even they have yielded flowing overseas into the pockets of similar millionaires scat- tered around the world," he said. Senator Brown wants the new mining tax to apply to gold and ura- 2 nium. But Ben Mitchell from the Minerals Council of Australia believes there are holes in the Greens' research. "What I can say over the last 10 years [is] that 98 per cent of cash flow generated from mining has been either paid in taxes, in royalties or reinvested back into mining," he said. Mr Mitchell says he is not surprised by Senator Brown's position. "He said on Sunday that he wanted to close the coal industry down so it should come as no surprise that the Greens have produced a re- port geared to suit that position," he said. Bougainville defends involvement in PNG war AustralianMining, Jessica Burke, 28 June 2011 Rio Tinto subsidiary, Bougainville Copper has defended its alleged involvement in causing the civil war in Papua New Guinea. The claims came to light yesterday, when a signed affidavit by then Op- position leader, Sir Michael Somare accused the mining giant of having played an active role in the military operation that led to the civil war in the 80’s and 90’s. The contents had not been known until the SBS gained access to it and revealed its contents. The now Prime Minister, Somare, has re- cently undergone double heart surgery and could not comment on whether he stands by his com- ments, but the ABC spoke to Peter Taylor , Chairman and Managing Director of Bougainville Cop- per and Executive Director of Rio Tinto Australia. When asked for comment on Rio Tinto’s in- volvement with police in PNG during the war, Taylor said it was a difficult time to be in the nation. “Bougainville Copper only did what it had to do,” he said. “There was a state of emergency de- clared and like any state of emergency you had to comply with the requirements. Bougainville Copper has announced plans to reopen the mine and is currently receiving support from the PNG government, led by Somare. According to reports, some landowners remain angry about the case, still in the United States courts, for compensation for past damage, but Taylor be- lieves it only a small minority who are opposed to the mine. “There are some landowners - accord- ing to (President) John Momis, they represent about 3% of the landowners, who are still opposed to the company reopening, but, you know, we haven't had face to face discussions yet and I think we need to do that.,” he said. Taylor said negotiating with armed protestors was difficult but could be done. “Well, you invite them to the negotiating table and you hope they accept that invitation and we sit down and we discuss that they've got and the issues that I've got.” He said the ongoing court case was not an issue for Bougainville Copper, but rather for Rio Tinto, who the case is against. Papua New Guinea's Opposition leader, Belden Namah has said a new company should come in to develop the copper mine on Bougainville, but Taylor said he has received a conflicting message from President Momis and the majority of landowners. He said the company has been in discussion with landowners and the government to develop an ap- propriate plan. “There has been an agreement between the national government, the Bougainville government and the company to sit down and have discussions but we've also agreed that an essen- tial element is to have the landowner representatives at the table, and they are still in the process of forming a single body. “And once that's done there is nothing, really to prevent us from all getting 3 around the table. “When you talk about landowners who are anti the mine, I am not sure that we are really talking about landowners or some of the former combatants who are manning a roadblock on the way to the mine site. “There are very few landowners, I think, who are not prepared to come to the negotiating table. Taylor said the treatment of the issue by the SBS was “one-sided” and it is “solely a matter for PNG.” Deep Sea Mining: Drilling to begin in 2013 Post-Courier 28.6.2011 THE Solwara1 seabed mine operation by Nautilus Minerals, located 30 kilometres from the coast of New Ireland and at a depth of 1600 metres is expected to begin by the end of 2013 with the mining of ‘high grade’ Seafloor Massive Sulphide deposits that contain copper, gold, silver, zinc and lead. While the project is unique as the world’s first seabed mine, the lease arrangements are a reflection of the evolving legislative and regulatory process in Papua New Guinea since the 1970s. “This will enable us to avoid past experiences from the OK Tedi and Bougainville Mines,” said Lyndah Brown-Kola, Senior Technical Assessment Engineer with the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA). Mrs Brown-Kola was part of a team of government officials who attended the Deep Sea Mineral Project workshop organised in Fiji by SOPAC, a division of the South Pacific Secretariat of the Pa- cific Community. The team presented to the delegates the legislative and regulatory process in PNG that led to the granting of the seabed mineral mining lease. Mrs Brown-Kola said that the current legislative and regulatory review process was adequate to en- sure that environmental, operational, and financial concerns were addressed. “We operate in con- junction with the Department of Mineral Policy and Geo-Hazards Management, which has respon- sibility of setting all mining policies. “It is part of the Mining ministerial portfolio,” Mrs Brown- Kola said. She said the Government policy enables the State to acquire up to 30 per cent equity in- terest in mining projects in PNG. The government has set as a policy, that through its nominated state entity Petromin, it offloads five per cent to landowners as royalty. This provides a clear win- dow of transparency in a project, as well as ensuring that the government shares in the profits, while responsibly participating in the mining operation through Petromin, which is an independent state commercial entity. Mrs Kola-Brown said that the government had been looking at the Solwara I project since 1997 and it granted nautilus Minerals the first offshore mineral exploration license in 2008. “We have been working with Nautilus for fourteen years. It was only this year that we granted the company a min- ing license. This followed two years of deliberations over their application,” she said. Mrs Kola- Brown said the two years were spent ensuring environmental concerns were addressed. It was a re- quirement to issue an Environment Permit as a condition before the mining license was given. “We have been educating PNG communities in the region to make sure they understand all facets of the project. “We have sent our technical overseas to expand their expertise in seabed mining,” she said. “We are well aware of the importance of this project and understand that it will be used as a model for others around the world to learn from. I am very proud to be a part of this venture.” Compensation first, then Panguna mine talks The National, June 28, 2011 By ISAAC NICHOLAS PANGUNA landowners in Bougainville are demanding compensation before any talks are held to review the Bougainville Copper Agreement. Panguna Landowners Association chairman Chris Damana was responding to a report on SBS Dateline programme which claimed the PNG govern- ment was acting under instructions from mining giant Rio Tinto when it killed thousands who 4 wanted to shut down Panguna mine in the 1980s. Damana said: “It is a pity that SBS has seen fit to report our Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare’s statement at this time when our Prime Minister is critically sick in Singapore.