Landowner database vital, mine official says

 By Eric Balaria

THERE is a need for a national landowner database for proper land identification in the country, a mining official says.

Heritage Niugini general manager Jean Lean said there were often disputes between landowners on landownership rights, especially when individual mining and oil companies were carrying out separate social mapping exercises.  

Lean said a central database would minimise the variation of information and allow companies to work with the appropriate landowning clans in bringing development to their areas.

 “Oil companies do social mapping, and so do mining and logging companies,” she said. 

“At the moment, everybody has a separate database often over the same areas which cause conflict. “I have always though it would be a good project to create a national landowner database which perhaps the Kumul State-owned enterprise could champion in its unique position of being involved across all the industries that do social mapping in this country.”

She said for mining firms to operate in PNG, they would have to consider landowners and the wider community as an important aspect of their operations.

She said this included the coorporation of the Government, company and joint venture partners.

Jean told officials at the PNG Mining and Petroleum conference yesterday that for operations such as drilling and seismic in Papua New Guinea to be successful and cheap, several factors must be aligned.