Resource owners to hold elections

MADANG provincial mining director John Bivi says the Yandera copper mine Resource Landowners Association in the Usino-Bundi district will be conducting its maiden elections soon.
He said the election would be the first test for the association’s constitution.
“We will work with the Electoral Commission, Investment Promotion Authority, Mineral Resource Authority and the locals to ensure smooth and proper elections.
“The association’s constitution reserves the chairmanship to the Yandera people. It will be a big challenge to the other areas in the exploration site,” Mr Bivi said.
The association is made up of four areas in the Usino-Bundi area, covering Dengum, Imbrum, Tumangoi and Yandera.
A group of landowners claimed that the association’s constitution was hijacked by the project management comprising foreigners.
Kanarawa Land and Resource Owners Association chairman Arnold Yagama told The National that the constitution, designed to protect and guide the landowners and the association’s daily operations, was hijacked and prepared by a foreigner engaged as a project manager and not by the landowners.
Mr Bivi has called on clan leaders with disputes on the special mining lease in the Ramu nickel project to attend a meeting at 10am today at the Madang provincial assembly hall.