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Mining in the South Pacific Vol. 11, No. 1, January – February 2019, 93

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Mining in the South Pacific Vol. 11, No. 1, January – February 2019, 93 Press review: Mining in the South Pacific Vol. 11, No. 1, January – February 2019, 93 pages Compilation: Dr. Roland Seib, Hobrechtstr. 28, 64285 Darmstadt, Germany http://www.roland-seib.de/mining.html 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: Radio New Zealand: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international PNG Post-Courier: http://postcourier.com.pg/ PNG National: http://www.thenational.com.pg/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Australia lashes neglect over oil spill ‘disaster’ near Solomon Islands David Wroe, Sydney Morning Herald, February 27, 2019 The MV Solomon Trader aground at Rennell Island in the Solomon Islands which has become an environmental disas- ter. CREDIT: AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSION, SOLOMON ISLANDS 2 Australia is helping to pressure a Hong Kong shipping company and several other firms to take re- sponsibility for cleaning up a major oil spill close to a World Heritage-listed coral reef off the Sol- omon Islands. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age understands there is deep frustration within the Australian government over the refusal by the Hong Kong firm, its South Korean insurer and a Solomons mining firm to stem the flow of oil out of the large cargo ship, which ran aground more than three weeks ago. About 75 tonnes of fuel oil are understood to have leaked out of the stricken vessel already, creating a large slick that is creeping towards the UNESCO-listed southern stretch of Rennell Island, the world’s largest raised coral atoll. Yet the companies responsible for the mess are showing scant signs of stopping the leak, much less cleaning up what is fast becoming an environ- mental disaster, an informed source said. “More than three weeks on from February 5, there’s been little evidence of any action of the companies involved to avert a disaster,” the source said. “Those companies involved have had very little professional engagement with the Solomon government." A desperate Solomon Islands government asked Australia for help. The MV Solomon Trader aground at Rennell Island. CREDIT: AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSION / SOLOMON ISLANDS. Pressure is now being put on the companies to “hold those responsible companies and their owners and insurers to account to meet both their commercial and their moral obligations”. Australia has lately been on a push to consolidate its diplomatic relationships in its near Pacific neighbourhood amid concerns of growing Chinese influence and the worrying strategic implications that carries. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority flew surveillance flights over the area that showed heavy fuel oil leakage into the water. That has begun to spread over the sea and shoreline. The ship is be- lieved to have about 600 tonnes of fuel still in its tanks. The MV Solomon Trader, a 225-metre bulk carrier, was loading bauxite, the main rock used to make aluminium, off Rennell Island when Cy- clone Oma drove it onto a reef on February 5. The ship is owned by South Express Ltd, a Hong Kong-based shipping and charter firm. The vessel is Hong Kong-flagged. It has been contracted to Bintan Mining, which is a Solomons-based firm registered in the British Virgin Islands. 3 The ownership is murky, however. It is reportedly a subsidiary of Asia Pacific Investment Devel- opment Ltd. The Solomon Star and Island Sun newspapers have both reported in the past on allega- tions of questionable relationships between the former government in the Solomon Islands and APID. The insurer is South Korean firm Korea P&I. An Australian law firm, Thynne Macartney, is understood to be acting for Korea P&I but a woman answering the phone at the firm’s Brisbane of- fices declined to comment. Australia is providing the Solomons government with technical exper- tise. An AMSA technical adviser was posted to Honiara, the Solomons capital. The Australian gov- ernment has also readied equipment in the Solomons to stop the spill and clean it up if the compa- nies don’t act. It is understood the companies responsible have generally not even been responding to Honiara’s requests for help. Korea P&I appears to have deployed a salvage crew but they haven’t formally told the Solomons government the extent of anything they are doing. Tribal fighting has caused much damage: Undialu February 27, 2019, The National Tribal fighting has caused much damage, destruction and claimed many lives in Hela, says Gover- nor Philip Undialu. He said fighting unlike the earthquake which hit a year ago, fighting is contin- ueing on a daily basis. “Every day homes are burnt, people killed and it is an obstacle that we face every day,” Undialu said. “There is no actual figures, but I can say that there has been too many lives lost in tribal fights.” Undialu said they had started holding peace mediation talks and called for the surrender of firearms but it would take a while. “We have started introducing poultry farming, growing food crops, including cash crops like coffee. “We will also be providing materials to build homes for those who willingly surrender their firearms.” Undialu said they were working on helping their people become independent and also provide some stability in their lives so that people would have something to protect and lay down their arms for. “If these people have permanent homes and jobs, they will lay down their arms because they would not want a tribal fight that will probably end with their homes being burnt. “At the moment the homes are made of bush materials so they have no care, they can easily rebuild them, but if we give them a stable home, they will want to protect it knowing it would not be easy to rebuild if it gets burnt down.” Undialu said they were doing their best to address issues within the province in the context of their society. Meanwhile, local government officers requesting anonymity said that a tribal fight has been raging around Lake Kopiago Station for two weeks. Mismanagement of IDG funds rife in Hela Province By KEVIN TEME, Post-Courier, February 27, 2019 Mismanagement and misuse of Infrastructure Development Grants is rife in Hela Province. A pub- lic servant from Hela Province Max Ekeya revealed this in an email sent to this paper. “Especially in the new Hela Province, there seem to be huge mismanagement of funds especially the Business Development Grants (BDG) and IDG by landowners and the Provincial Government,” Ekeya said. “Since the intervention of Exxon Mobile through its partnership with Oil Search PNG Limited in operations of PNG LNG Project, we the landowners and the provincial government have been funded millions through those projects and business funds we do not have anything to show,” Ekeya said. Ekeya said regarding assets and wealth that the provincial government has no solid in- frastructure that signifies such expenditure. Ekeya said despite their own weakness they tend to disrupt the projects unnecessarily in demanding for more money from the developer causing the developer millions in damages which he said was wrong. “Despite all these millions of kina through project funds have been allocated to the land 4 owners and the provincial Government as per the UBBSA and LBBSA agreement, we all are losers and yet we are demanding for more, while the rest of the land owners, and entire Hela is in Dark- ness,” Ekeya said. Ekeya said now that all the IDG grants pipped into Hela Provincial Govern- ment’s account which is by law are the responsible authority to take charge of, there’s hardly any development that has come out from the IDG funds. “We were given Hela Province on a golden plate, thanks to the Somare Government and our Late Governor Anderson Agiru but we are still liv- ing in the dark caves while few rich are getting richer while the rest are poor and marginalized and living with hunger, tribal warfare, chaos and anarchy in our own communities,” Ekeya said. Ekeya said Hela Provincial Government must strategise; plan out by establishing a monitoring and compliance team in collaboration with the Provincial Administration, national gov- ernment, department of Petroleum and Energy, the developers and other parties concerned on how best they can utilise the landowners by giving them their IDG funds. “We appeal for the Hela Pro- vincial Government to revisit its expenditure plan for the IDG and establish a strategy how they can fit the landowners who are crying and have missed out on opportunities,” Ekeya said. Ekeya said the landowners are humans and not barbarians and criminals. They are the owners of the resource (Noko, Apa, Tindi and Apa) and how can the Provincial Government and leaders of our new prov- ince continue to suppress them (LOs). Ekeya said greater landowner participation, greater autonomy and Hela will prosper. Seabed mining project in PNG moves to sell assets A troubled deep sea mining project in Papua New Guinea is selling its assets while it fends off cred- itors. Radio New Zealand, February 26, 2019 Mining for copper under the sea Photo: Nautilus Minerals Nautilus Minerals was to mine the sea floor between New Ireland and New Britain but has run into financial trouble and local landowner opposition. Last week, the company obtained a court order from the Supreme Court of British Columbia protecting it from its creditors. Nautilus said the pro- tection will enable it to "restructure its business and financial affairs". One of its lenders, Deep Sea Mining Finance, has agreed to loan it a further $US4 million. To date, Nautilus has been loaned $US18 million by the financier.
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