Mine pleased with fruitful work on sustainable programme

THE management of the St Barbara Simberi mining operation on Simberi Island in Namatanai, New Ireland, is pleased with the work on sustainable development programme in Simberi.
This was revealed by St Barbara Simberi operations general manager Jason Robertson.
Robertson told The National in Kokopo recently that they wanted to make sure that when the mine ceased operations, people in Simberi and the rest of the Tabar group of Islands would be in a better place.
“It is important for us to create a sustainable future for our host communities of Tabar, New Ireland and PNG,” he said.
Robertson said St Barbara had five company commitments to build stronger communities and to help communities grow and prosper.
“With the achievement on the finished cocoa product the Tabar Islands chocolate, we’ve built meaningful relationships, as highlighted through this story, investing time and energy to ensure local communities are enriched,” he said.
Robertson said the people of Tabar had produced their first chocolate and proved that they were capable of handling the crop from planting and harvesting to drying and packing.
He said the management of the mine had sustainable development programmes to help and guide the farmers in all stages of cocoa planting and production.
Robertson said cocoa was a delicate crop that required high rainfall, the right temperatures to flourish and needed suitable trees to give it shade and protection from the sun and winds.
He said the work was hard but rewarding as they had seen now with Tabar’s first chocolate product.
Robertson said New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan and Namatanai MP and Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Walter Schnaubelt were supportive of the cocoa industry being revived in the province.
Sir Julius encouraged St Barbara to continue collaborating with the community and the Government for more sustainable development for opportunities the people.