Morobe submits position paper to authority on mine

THE Morobe government has submitted its position paper on the K17 billion Wafi-Golpu gold-copper project to the Mineral Resource Authority.
Provincial administrator Bart Ipambonj when presenting the paper to authority’s managing director Jerry Garry on Friday said improving the economy and household income was important to meet the demand for social needs relating
to health, education and infrastructure.
Ipambonj said the paper was the result of a wide consultation process in the province with the impacted landowners.
It was endorsed by the Morobe provincial executive council on April 20.
Garry said other parties had submitted their position papers.
“This is part of a very long process. There are other factors involved including the mining development contract which is an umbrella agreement between the State and developers,” he said. “Once that is completed, it will capture the fiscal regime. And once we have that tied in, we will then
filter the process down to the other stakeholders including the landowners.
“That process is about to be concluded.
“The state negotiating team have given their position discussion points to the developers and we are now getting closer to finalising the mining development contract.
“As soon as that is done, we will set a permanent date for every stakeholders to come to the table to initiate the memorandum of agreement (MoA) process.”
Garry said the position paper contained a list they would work on.
“During the course of our discussions during the development forum, we will iron out the finer details and arrive at a win-win situation,” he said.
“For Wafi-Golpu, we want to make sure that the provincial government and the landowners get the best.”