Saonu says signing was to give developer confidence in project

THE signing of the environmental permit for Wafi-Golpu mining project was simply to give confidence to the developer that the project would, Morobe Governor Ginson Saonu says.
“The signing was done after an agreement that it would only be done in principle and there was still room for further negotiations.”
Saonu said after observing that the project was prolonged due to other pending issues and that the developer needed assurance of an immediate start with resources due to money being spent on the project, they signed the permit.
“The developer made their stand clear – if this document was not signed, they would not spend money to start operations,” he said.
He was speaking at the opening a consultative meeting on the review of the Morobe government’s 2019 position paper on the project in Lae yesterday.
Saonu said he would hold discussions with Prime Minister James Marape as well as the ministers for Mining and Environment Conservation and Climate Change on their reviewed position paper.
He said his government was still against the mine’s deep sea tailings plan (DSTP) but were otherwise supportive of the developer’s plans.
He said despite signing the environmental permit, it was a matter of finding feasible and practical means of wase disposal other than DSTP.