Garry: ILGs not recognised

By SHIRLEY MAULUDU
THE mining sector does not recognise incorporated land group (ILGs) in relation to mining developments in the country, Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) managing director Jerry Garry says.
He said MRA had been working with associations and the arrangement had proven to be successful over the years.
“The mining sector does not recognise ILGs,” Garry told The National. “We have been working with associations and they have worked really well for us.
“You look at mega projects such as Ok Tedi (copper/gold project), Ramu (nickel project), Lihir (gold project), Hidden Valley (gold and silver mine), Porgera (gold project), all these mines have been run successfully under the associations.
“That was because when those projects were at the early stages of development, we have been asking the companies to do very detailed landowner identification studies.
“Landowner identification studies simply means where we expect the mining footprints to be.
“Whether it be a road, airstrip, processing plant site, etc.
“It’s something that been done transparently.”
Garry said the process was called the landowner identification vetting process.
“At MRA, we encouraged the development partners to undertake detailed landowner identification studies,” he said.
“This is during the advanced stages of exploration, or prefeasibility stage so that we can tie in every square meter of land to the right landowners.”
Meanwhile, Garry said MRA recognised three main landowner groups from the Wafi-Golpu project area in Morobe.
“The State knows who is who and the company also knows who owns the land,” he said.
“Right now, for convenience sake, there are three SML (special mining lease) landowners, who own the land around the special mining lease area.
“One for the pipeline, deep sea tailings placement outfall area, past Lae to outfall area – the Butibam landowners.”