Mitsui Still Interested

In Solomons Bauxite

Problems of finding a market and the finance have been the main reasons for a closure of a Japanese company which was involved in a Solomon Islands $3OO million baux ite mining project.

Mitsui Mining and Smelting Company, which began researching into the project seven years ago, de cided to withdraw after two-week long negotiations with the Solomons Government and the people of West Rennell, an atoll where the deposits had been found.

Another company. Pacific Aluminium of Australia, which worked jointly with Mitsui, first pulled out because it did not con sider the project viable.

Mitsui director Hideo Yoshida said that although “we have now withdrawn from the project, I will definitely not close our office in Honiara.

“And the Solomons Government has assured us that it will not close the door to our company.”

Mr Yoshida hopes that the com pany will reapply to develop the deposit when the government re tenders it. He has asked the govern ment’s permission for the company’s heavy machinery to remain in Ren nell.

“In the meantime, we will be looking for a market so that we know where to sell the product if we are given another chance to develop the deposit,” he said.

Mr Yoshida said, “We have de cided to stay on in Honiara because we know there is bauxite under the ground.”

He disregarded, however, the local rumour that the company had pulled out because the landowners were asking too much for com

pensation.

Mitsui received 700 applications to work on the mine before it with drew, but Mr Yoshida would not reveal how much money the com pany had spent on the project.

It had built a 40 km road for the Rennellese who hardly use it.

Six experts to

study PNG fisheries

The Food and Agriculture Organ isation will provide six technical ex perts to evaluate the status of exist ing fisheries operations in Papua New Guinea. The experts will also assess the potential of the op erations, and decide the institu tional framework most suitable for the long-term expansion of the in dustry.

The Asian Development Bank has agreed to pay for the project on a grant basis. One of the aims of the project is to expand fish and pearl production to generate increased in comes and employment oppor tunities in fisheries. The main com ponents are expected to include shore facilities for the skipjack fleets, pole and line fishing boats, fish collection facilities for the ar tisanal fisheries sector, pearl culture expansion and consultant services.

Oil search to

resume in Tonga

Oil drilling in Tonga is expected to be resumed early in 1977, Mr Robert Birdsong, president of Webb-Tonga, the drilling company, said after an agreement was signed in Nukualofa.

The company, under the agree ment, is committed to drill three ex ploratory wells on Tongatapu in a 53.5 million programme. The drill ing rig will arrive in Tonga in about four months.

Micronesians want

200-mile zone

The US Trust Territory and the United Slates are at issue over Micronesia’s claim for legislation fv>r a 200-mile fishing zone. Mr Charles Domnick, chairman of the Micronesian Law of the Sea delega tion at recent round-table dis cussions in Honolulu, said the US had given two reasons for disap proving the 200-mile zone legisla tion.

The first was that the Micronesian Act was inconsistent with US inter national responsibilities. However, the US and Micronesian interests over tuna were opposites.

Micronesia did not believe that the conflict of interest constituted a valid basis for the veto under the

United Nations Charter and Trusteeship Agreement.

Mr Domnick, referring to the sec ond objection which covered US obligations, said that while the Trusteeship Agreement gave the US responsibilities for peace and security in the area, there was no mention of foreign affairs in the agreement. The peace and security responsibility of the US should not prevent protection of Micronesia's marine resources.

Congress of Micronesia Senate President Senator Tosiwo Nakayama, said the Micronesians believed the marine resources belonged to them.

‘Sniping’ for

PNG Tourism

Papua New Guinea’s Office of Tourism has appointed Harrowgate Associates, Sydney, to represent it in Australia.

Harrowgate managing director, Mr George Lynch, said: “Based on past experience, we know broadly what to do for PNG. What we have to work out are the relevant techni ques and the potential segments in the market. It does seem certain that at this stage in PNG’s development as a destination or stop-over, a sniper’s rifle is needed rather than a shotgun.”