Mine project expected to bring change in Sepik

By JEFFREY ELAPA
WEST Sepik Governor Tony Wouwou, who is in support of the Frieda gold and copper mine in his province, wants officials from East and West Sepik to make an independent environmental assessment.
He said the Frieda mine was not an isolated project but a core component of a transformative nation-building opportunity called “the Sepik development project”.
Wouwou said he saw the Frieda mine as a breakthrough project to bring much-needed services to parts of Telefomin and other parts of West Sepik that lacked basic services. This included the upper Sepik areas.
Wouwou said with mining, there were spill-over effects and it was up to the leaders to have those minimised.
“Let us weigh out the pros and cons of mining instead of just campaigning against mining,” he said.
“The Sepik development project will deliver a world-class copper-gold mine and will deliver a long-life hydroelectric power facility.
“These two commercial projects will be enabled by third party development of an international maritime port, public roads, a regional airport and telecommunication services to establish a new economic corridor.
“The development project will improve transport and connectivity, facilitate the delivery of services to remote communities and boost trade and investment.
“Secondly, we must know the current operator’s reputation in terms of environmental impact on their current operations in Laos and other parts of the world. Finally, I would like to endorse that both, East and West Sepik, pool our resources to either engage an independent consultant or engage our intellectuals in the mining industry to carry out an independent assessment of the environmental impact for an unbiased report for us.”
He asked people to find alternative plans to benefit instead of criticising the project.