Do not deal with paper landowners, gold mine area chief says

Highlands, Normal
Source:

The National, Wednesday February 26th, 2014

 A CHIEF in the Tekem gold mine project area in Enga has warned developers to deal with genuine landowners only.

Pastor Jackson Minao, who claims to own the land in Tekem, Lyorolam and areas surrounding the Tekem project, said the Tekem Mineral Resources Authority, which had been reported in the media looking for potential investors, does not own any land in the Tekem area.

He said the company’s chairman Gabriel Imbu did now own the traditional land and thus was not qualified to lead any negotiation on the project.

“Investors must know that he owns no land at Tekem and the surrounding areas,” Minao said.

“We the true legitimate landowners stopped them (authority) during the drilling stage. 

“Potential investors must be wary of paper landowner companies.” 

Minao said the Government would only recognise legitimate landowners to work with new investors for the benefit of all parties concerned.

“When we are ready, we will invite the potential investors to do exploration and then go on to mining if feasible,” Minao said.