Ramu NiCo wants a deal that makes everyone happy

Business

THE management of Ramu NiCo has proclaimed that it stands ready and committed to fulfil its obligation in a new memorandum of agreement.
Vice-president Wang Baowen made the assurance on Thursday during the presentation by Raibus Group of K1 million in divident payment to its four area landowner companies in the Ramu NiCo Project.
He said that in recent months, there had been many negative statements made against the Ramu nickel project.
“These came about after the company announced its project expansion plan last year,” Wang said.
“However, the company remains committed to establish good channels of discussions to focus on each party’s concerns and expectations.”
Wang said MCC Ramu NiCo Ltd, which runs the mine, was the first Chinese company to venture into the PNG mining industry and it did so without any previous experience.
“However, it is doing its best to improve in most areas to satisfy the expectation of its stakeholders, which include landowners,” he said.
Wang said that since nickel was discovered in 1962 in the mountains of Kurumbukari by an exploration company, no Western mining company put its hands up to venture into the area to develop a mine.
He said MCC arrived in 2004 and invested over K2 billion. Wang said resources, particularly the nickel and cobalt, were of low grade and many companies that were approached found it not viable to do business there.
He said MCC took up the challenge and invested millions in production
Wang said that from 2006 to 2017, the company suffered millions in losses because the limited resource price of nickel was low. It was only in 2018 that the nickel and cobalt price picked up well. Wang said the company was ready to cooperate with shareholders, including the Madang provincial government and National Government, to develop the local economy now and in the future.
He said the company was willing to sit down with all stakeholders and review its obligation in the agreement.
Wang said the new agreement would make everyone happy.
“We believe we can do that in fulfilling our obligation in the new Moa,” he said.