Ramu NiCo wins deep-sea waste case

RAMU nickel mine yesterday won the long and protracted court battle that tried to block it from deep-sea waste dumping.
“This is very positive news for the project, the landowners and the country,” a very happy and relieved managing director of Highlands Pacific, John Gooding, in Brisbane, Australia, upon hearing of the court victory.
Gooding said the court victory would also restore investor confidence in PNG and the Ramu nickle project.
“It is very unfortunate that a fully permitted project which used the best international advice and which conducted significant community and landholder consultation, was delayed at great cost for so long by the actions of a few.
“It is now time to get on with the commissioning and operation of the project and for the benefits to start flowing through to all stakeholders.
“We will continue to work closely with the PNG Government and the regulators to ensure that the project meets the licensing and permitting requirements,” said Gooding.
Highlands is the junior partner (8.56%) in the US%1.5 billion project, which was supposed to have been commissioned early this year but was delayed by legal battles mounted by a faction of landowners opposed to deep-sea tailings placement which had been approved by the PNG government and the Department of Environment and Conservation.
Metal Corp of China owned 85% and the rest by the PNG government.
A spokesman from Ramu NiCo said in a statement last night that this decision was “a crucial outcome” for all stakeholders in PNG’s first world-class nickel project, as well as for the international investors in PNG’s resources industry.
“After a 21-month legal battle, this comprehensive victory is finally achieved through patience and persistence, along with strong support from the community and the PNG Governments,” the spokesman said.
“In operation, Ramu NiCo will continue to work closely with the government and other stakeholders to meet the environmental obligations and international best practices.”  
Yesterday’s decision ended nearly two years of legal battles, claims and manoeuvres by parties to prevent construction, commissioning and operation of the project and in particular the deep-sea tailings placement (DSTP) system, which had been government-sanctioned when the project was granted its special mining lease in 2000. 
The Project received amended environment permit in 2007 and 2009 respectively.
Ramu Nico said as advised earlier this week, PNG’s Chief Inspector of Mines (CIM) recently gave the fully-built project load commissioning approval which would be at full production capacity by mid 2013.
It would produce 31,150 tonnes of nickel and 3,300 tonnes of cobalt per annum as a high grade concentrate.