Foreign investors look at PNG mineral sector

By ANCILLA WRAKUALE
THE marketing and promotion of PNG mineral sector to foreign investors has gained a lot of interest, a senior partner with a pioneer organisation in mining data and compilation said.
Magnus Ericsson, senior partner of Raw Materials Group and professor of mineral economics of Lulea University of Technology in Sweden, said this when providing update of the project.
Marketing and mining investment promotion was one of the 10 projects funded by European Union through its Mining Sector Support Programme (MSSP).
The Raw Materials Group is a consultancy group that conducts market and industry surveys, prepares regional exploration and project reports, monitors and analyses production, ownership amongst others for their clients.
They are also involved in governments with exploration and mining investment
Ericsson explained that they promoted PNG’s mineral sector through brochures, publications, internet, conferences and other promotional materials and news articles.
Ericsson said since their engagement with Mineral Resource Authority (MRA) over the five years since 2007, they had produced 15 articles in Chinese, English and Russian.
They also attended 13 conferences in places like Dubai, Toronto, and Sydney and also in PNG in promoting and attracting investors for PNG.
He said China, which was now a leading economy and leader in mining, hads also shown great interest in PNG amongst other countries.
He said the geological prospect for PNG was excellent while the government needed to address other issues such as long licence permitting time and improve basic infrastructure.
 National programme director for MSSP John Kulala said the design of the programme was relevant to the needs of the mining industry and reflects a close consultation between all the stakeholders.