Discussion on to find resolution

National

By KARO JESSE
THE operator of the Porgera gold mine, Barrick Niugini Ltd (BNL), and the State have come up with certain agreements regarding addressing issues arising out of the transition period, this was revealed in court by both parties on Friday.
However, according to both parties, discussions are still underway to come up with a complete resolution.
BNL’s lawyer Derek Wood, of Ashurst Lawyers, said the miner could not continue to maintain certain community projects because of a lack of revenue due to closure of the mine.
National Court judge Ambeng Kandakasi in a previous hearing directed both parties to resolve issues arising from the transition period to ensure that the mine area was safe and in a stable condition.
Since the court has considered the interest of both parties in the matter, Justice Kandakasi told both parties that environmental conditions and safety of the mine site was a priority.
Amidst, the issues of addressing the effects of the Government’s decision in refusing to extend the miner’s special mining lease (SML), the miner claimed in court that it had the right to be heard.
Wood, in a hearing of BNL’s application for leave to appeal the decisions by the Head of State and National Executive Council (NEC) which refused the miner’s SML, told the court that the reasons of the refusal of SML extension were never disclosed to the miner.
Wood further argued that the application for extension was lodged two years earlier before the expiry date last August.
BNL have claimed that the State failed to process their application for extension within a timely manner, and the decision by the NEC on refusal was sudden.
State lawyer, Solicitor-General Tauvasa Tanuvasa pointed out to the court that BNL was in possession of privileged documents which it tried to use against the State as evidence.
The court was told that the privileged documents were leaked by Government agencies which were contained in filed affidavits of BNL executive director Dr Ila Temu.
The court then struck out the privileged documents since it found that the documents came through an indirect source.
The matter was adjourned to later date for ruling on the application for leave to appeal.