No mineral exploration policy, conference told

By Brigitte Pup
DWU Communication Arts (Journalism) Student
THE managing director of a company wants to see policy guidelines put into mineral exploration.
United Pacific Minerals Ltd managing director Dulcie Soroa said existing mining laws only stipulated general mineral exploration practices which lacked detail and clarity on exploration.
“Papua New Guinea is a mineral dependent country.”
“What do we feel about that? Do we agree that we want to be a mineral dependent country or we want to move out of it and can we move out of it?”
She explained that it was important to have a policy so that the country could manage the process of mineral exploration, mining and mine closure, current issues faced by exploration and mining companies, promote additional investments for the country and manage stakeholder expectations.
She pointed out that from 2014 to last year, the growth pace of the mining industry was declining because of the environmental impact, stakeholder representation and benefits, and lack of guidelines for stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities.
She said the lack of such a policy could be seen in the current project delays such as in Wafi Golpu and Frieda River.
The distribution of high-grade gold projects without price tag to determine the project scale and associated benefits,” she said.
“We’ve got these two mining projects — Wafi Golpu and Freida River — sitting there. The stopper to these two projects must be the start of something new, something we must find ways to resolve,” she said.
Nothing is being done to push for a policy.