Porgera locals want relocation

By JAMES APA GUMUNO
A GROUP of landowners has advised a gold mine developer to relocate nearby settlers if it wants to resolve the issue of illegal miners.
The national government recently deployed extra army and police officers to Enga province to boost security there because of raids by illegal miners on the Porgera mines.
But Porgera landowners association spokesman Karath Mal said the solution lay in the relocation of the settlers living in the special mining lease area.
Enga Governor Peter Ipatas and Porgera mine developer Barrick Gold Ltd had sought the national government’s intervention after raids by illegal miners, one of them resulting in the death of five men.
Mal said boosting security through extra police manpower and supported by soldiers would not stop illegal mining.
It would only be a short-term solution, he said.
He said Ipatas was well aware of the landowners’ demand for relocation but had done nothing about it.
He said during the colonial period, the people of Porgera valley used to be engaged in alluvial mining.
He said it was their livelihood and it would be hard to stop them unless they were relocated to some place away from the mine.