Marengo: We work with locals

By YEHIURA HRIEHWAZI
MARENGO Mining continues to be sensitive to the needs of local communities around its Yandera copper project area in Madang province, according to company chairman John Horan and managing director Les Emery during the company’s annual general meeting in Australia, last Friday.
Even though Yandera was still in exploration stage and was gradually working towards proofing up its ore body and bring the project to definitive feasibility study (DFS) stage, the company worked in close consultation with all stakeholders including the local people.
Emery said consultation with the communities in Yandera was the key to any successful activity “and Marengo believes that the effort put into this area is well justified”.
“Marengo is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace and continues to take steps to ensure that this is practiced at all levels within the company.
“As the company’s activities expand, so do our efforts to ensure that safety is a primary consideration. The extension of medical services by Marengo to local communities is another area where our presence continues to make a big difference,” Emery said.
Horan said: “We place a high priority on our responsibility to be good corporate citizens in PNG, and on paying careful attention to the interests and wellbeing of the local communities whom we are happy to support in many different and significant ways.
“We are proud that we continue to be welcomed by the communities, and that we enjoy productive, friendly and cooperative relationships with them.”
He said there had been several key factors enabling Marengo to consolidate and build further on its position.
“They include our strategic alliance with a major Chinese engineering and construction group; the continuing confidence and support of our international investors; the continuing progress on our flagship Yandera Project; the careful maintenance and building of good relationships with all levels of government in Papua New Guinea, as well as with the people of the local communities in which we operate; and the wealth of talent, drive and commitment of all who are working to establish a sound future for the company,” Horan said.
The alliance with China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering and Construction Co Ltd (NFC), one of China’s largest manufacturing and engineering groups, was a key component in the drive to bring to successful completion the Yandera project DFS, which was itself a major undertaking, he said.
This important alliance would result in NFC becoming the principal contractor for the construction of the Yandera project under an engineering, procurement and construction contract, as well as facilitating financing of at least 70% of the project development costs with Chinese banks.
Our standing in the financial markets continued to be bolstered by the confidence and support of our major backers both here in Australia and in North America, who had continued to consolidate their holdings in our most recent capital raising.
The progress and importance of the Yandera project had been recognised by the PNG government as another “significant development of the long-term resource base of PNG”.
“This recognition is evidenced in the PNG government’s recent entering into the Yandera project investment and co-operation agreement through the state-owned company Petromin, which will lead indirectly to the government acquiring a 30% stake in the Yandera Project,” Horan said.
He said the company was also building up its staff with specific appointments to meet its growing needs, “and we are most fortunate in the quality of the people whom we have been able to attract to work with us at Marengo”.
“This applies right across the spectrum of our workforce, with so many people who are genuinely interested in the future success of the company, and who are contributing positively to build that success,” he said.
On a broader front, he noted the investment community’s attention to the emergence of China as a major player on the world political and economic stage.
“From a commodities perspective, barely a day goes past without some reference to China’s current and likely future position on metals consumption, and its impact on prices,” he said.
“We, at Marengo, take a long-term view of China’s predicted demand for copper, and of the price of the red metal itself.
“China is an important market for us … our immediate imperative is to develop the Yandera project to production stage so that Marengo can take advantage of market opportunities both in the near term, and for the long-term life of the project,” Horan said.