Landowners threaten Ramu mine over election

RAMU Nickel landowners have threatened to disrupt mining operations if the election for the Kurumbukari Landowners’ Association chairmanship is not held next week.
Association committee member Mathew Dengua said the term of the current chairman has expired and a new election is due.
Dengua said that according to a circular released by the Mineral Resources Authority, the election should have started with Basamuk on April 8 and ended with Kurumbukari on April 12.
However, the MRA is now saying the Electoral Commission’s Madang-based election manager and his deputy were busy with training leading up to the local level government elections and therefore the Ramu Nickel landowners’ election would have to be moved back to August, Dengua said.
Another committee member, Eddie Kurame, said the Ramu Nickel mining review needed the chairman’s participation. He said because the current chairman’s term has expired, any decision he makes from now onwards will be unconstitutional and therefore not binding.