Mine closure a dilemma

THE  Mt Fubilan Re-source Owners Association is now faced with the challenge of making sure its businesses continue operating even after the Ok Tedi Mine closes in 2013.
Already, the 12 village-member association has started investing outside Western.
However, executive officer Toby Yakumani said they still need to do more especially in moving those businesses operating in Western, particularly those contracted to Ok Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML) in Tabubil, to venture out.
“One of our major challenges is to keep our businesses going now and after the mine,” Yakumani said.
MFROA’s business arm Star Mountain Investments Holding (SMIH) Ltd owns several businesses, the main investments being in real estate where it now owns two hotels in Brisbane and Sydney, respectively.
MFROA gets its investment funds from OTML through the 19.5% royalty and 2.5% equity.
The 2.5% is from the national government’s 30% stake in OTML comprising 15% direct equity, 10% on behalf of the people of Western, 2.5% on behalf of Fly River provincial government, then the MFROA’s 2.5% equity.
Yakumani said from the 19.5% royalty payment to impacted villages, 20% was set aside as investment funds.
And only this year, the management of the 19.5% royalty has been moved to MFROA by OTML which had managed it since 2004 when the memorandum of agreement (MoA) was signed between the impacted landowners and the company.
Yakumani said at present, SMIH was  worth about K80 million and they aim to reach K100 million by 2013, while in the 2.5% equity, they had  about K160 million and hope to reach between K200 million  and K300 million.
Last year, MFROA received K2.8  million royalty, of which 5% was paid to impacted landowners.