ASX suspends Kalia’s trading

National

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
THE Australian Stock exchange has stopped the trading of Kalia Ltd after receiving reports of a murder on their exploration site in Bougainville, an ASX official said.
Australian mining company Kalia Ltd (KLH) is in a joint venture with a land owner company, Toremana Resource Ltd, to explore gold and copper in Tinputz where their geologist Terry Kilya, from Enga, was allegedly killed by some disgruntled land owners on Friday
Senior adviser Listings Compliance (Perth) Madeleine Green released the advice on the ASX market announcement that the securities of KLH would be suspended at the request of KLH.
Unless ASX decides otherwise, securities will remain suspended.
KLH released a statement that the company through Tore Joint Venture Ltd, manages two exploration licences in Bougainville.
“TJV is 75 per cent owned by KLH, with the remaining 25 per cent owned by Toremana Resource Ltd, a registered landowner association. Exploration licences ELO3 and EL04 were issued in November 2017 for three years and cover a combined area of 1,704 sq km.
Access to various targeted areas is currently being negotiated with affected landowners by the company’s community relation staff.
Meanwhile, Autonomous Bougainville Government President John Momis announced that all exploration activities in Bougainville were suspended for an indefinite period. Momis said the Bougainville Executive Council (BEC) decided to suspend all exploration activities in Tinputz, Isina and Kokoda due to the killing of the non- Bougainvillean geologist.
The BEC has also summoned Kalia/Toremana to explain why such an avoidable incident was allowed to happen in the first instance.