Parties allowed to join case

THE Supreme Court has granted applications by Attorney-General Davis Steven, Barrick Niugini Ltd and Kumul Minerals Holdings Ltd to intervene in an application by three landowners questioning the constitutional validity of the amended Mining Act and actions taken under it.
Justice Derek Hartshorn, sitting as a single Supreme Court judge yesterday in Waigani, granted the trio’s application to join the current proceedings because the issues involved would directly affect them.
The applicants Mark Tony Ekepa, Pala Teya and Dickson Pundi are citizens and purported to be customary landowners of certain customary land.
They did not oppose to the intervention applications and did not make any submissions on the applications.
The applicants’ dispute, among others, that the land on which the Porgera gold mine is located has validly been reserved under the Mining Act (amended). They dispute the validity under the constitution of special mining lease 11 (SML11) purportedly granted to Kumul Minerals over the land on which the Porgera gold mine is located.
The attorney-general seeks to intervene on behalf of the state and the principal legal advisor to the State and the National Executive Council.
Solicitor-General Tauvasa Tanuvasa, who is representing Steven, told the court that the State had direct interest in the application as its servants, agents and officers had the responsibility of administering and enforcing the laws, the subject of the application.
Barrick Niugini Ltd, through lawyer Derek Wood, had submitted that it had direct interest in the (current) proceeding and an interest in other proceedings which may be affected by the decision in this application.
Kumul Minerals Holdings Ltd submitted that it had substantial, direct and real interest in the issues to be decided in this application and should be granted leave to intervene because they had already been identified by the applicants as being an entity whose interests may be directly affected.
Justice Hartshorn upheld the submissions made to intervene and ordered that the application of the attorney-general, Barrick Niugini Ltd and Kumul Minerals Holdings be granted.