Aopi raises concerns over delay of mining lease

The PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum said the continued success of existing projects and the development of new ones is critical to the future of the country.
According to its June newsletter, any significant delay in the renewal and extension of mining licences for the country’s biggest producing mines would have a detrimental effect on the national economy.
Chamber president Gerea Aopi said this in light of some of the country’s major mining projects such as Porgera and Ramu whose licences would expire this year.
“Security of tenure and continuation of mining leases is essential if we want investors to spend billions of kina in our country,” he said.
“Delays and uncertainty about mining leases could cause major interruptions to some of the big mines, and discourage new investors.”
Aopi said the chamber and its members were keen to work with government to ensure that PNG’s investment climate for resource projects remained attractive as this would underwrite a strong growing economy and increased prosperity for the people.
He said the industry was concerned that mineral exploration activity in PNG had fallen significantly in the past six years even though global exploration had experienced a significant upturn since 2016.
With this decline in exploration, any uncertainty about the renewal of mining licences would have an impact on the country’s economy and also send international investors the wrong signal, particularly when the World Bank through its PNG economic update released early this year had projected a positive rebound in the country’s real gross domestic product (GDP) to 5 per cent this year on the back of upcoming major resource projects.
Aopi said all chamber members were committed to ensuring that benefits flowed from their operations to the country especially the local communities.
He applauded the government’s continuing commitment to ensuring the sustainable and accountable sharing of benefits.
“The industry remains ready and willing to work with government and relevant authorities to ensure a fair distribution of benefits for the State, local communities and the industry,” he said.
“PNG is one of the few countries in the world where mining and petroleum projects consistently provide socio-economic opportunities to the local areas they operate in.”