Sinivit landowners say no to review on MoA

LANDOWNERS of the Sinivit Wild Dog Mine, in East New Britain, have ruled out talk of an early review of the mine memorandum of agreement (MoA) until their demands are met.
At a stakeholders meeting at the Gazelle International Hotel in Kokopo on Tuesday, the Mineral Resources Authority suggested bringing the MoA review, which is due in August, forward.
But landowners strongly opposed that, saying there would not be any review until their demands were met.
The two-day forum had aimed at getting definite responses from stakeholders concerning issues raised in previous meetings.
The landowners told the forum there was an attached business plan in the MoA that had not been implemented since the mine began operations.
They said their concerns had been raised with the provincial government, the authority and other government agencies to direct mine operator New Guinea Gold Ltd to address their demands but that had never eventuated.
“Mipla no kisim wanpela benefit, na mipla ol pipol blo we?” (We have not received any benefits, where are we from?) they said.
They argued that there was no monitoring system enforced by relevant authorities resulting in unregulated mining activities and unlawful degradation of their environment and cultural heritage.
“The business plan nicely stated benefits to landowners but where are the benefits,”
they said.
The landowners said the lack of a monitoring team had contributed to environmental problems.
“How can we achieve developments in the province when such issues were not properly outlined,” they asked.
They claimed there had not been any royalty payments since the mine started operations nor had there been any payment of the 25% landowner equity and no efforts to promote landowner participation in business spin-offs.
But MRA representatives confirmed during the forum that the landowners’ royalty of K1.4 million was with the authority.
It is understood that the landowners demanded that their royalty payment with MRA be released and paid to them tomorrow.