Saonu meets miner for talks

MOROBE Governor Ginson Saonu and a provincial government delegation visited the Kainantu gold mine in Eastern Highlands last week to get an idea of its operations, particularly with land issues.
It is hoped that the fact-finding visit hosted by operator K92 Mining Ltd (K92) will inform the Morobe government in its dealings with landowners from Markham, Morobe.
Morobe administrator Bart Ipambonj thanked K92 management for allowing the team to visit.
He said it was clear that there were a lot of community engagements with the company.
Ipambonj said Morobe had missed out a lot on engagements with the company and the visit would assist with intervention programmes and community engagements.
He said Morobe looked forward to meet the miner on issues concerning land and community engagement participation.
He said the provincial government was also looking forward for a long-term relationship with the company and information acquired from the visit would assist MPG in addressing in-house issues concerning community engagement by the mine.
Saonu made it known that the provincial government decided to visit after receiving queries from the people.
He said the mine was formally known to be in Eastern Highlands but was situated at a location between Eastern Highlands and Morobe.
“Some of its establishment on Morobe side and I have to be here personally to see it,” Saonu said.
“So it gives comfort to the company and the people along the both sides of the border.”