Where miners fear to tread

By Robin Bromby

MINING and oil companies con tinue to tread their way warily with landowners in Papua New Guinea, but there continues to be en

couraging signs.

The latest is the deal between the Au stralian company Seamet Ltd and Masur ina Ltd, a company formed by landown ers at Alotau in Milne Bay Province.

They are to become joint owners of a new entity, Masurina Mining Pty Ltd, to pursue alluvial gold projects. Seamet is also involved in another listed Australian explorer, Porgera Gold Dredging, which has struck a deal with landowners near the Porgera mine to jointly develop allu vial gold fields in Enga Province.

As part of the Milne Bay project agreement, Masurina will hand over three gold mining leases, GML 1150, GML 1151 and GML 1152, to the joint venture. Previous work by Seamet within these GMLs involved mapping and bulk and reconnaissance sampling. More de tailed work will be carried out and is expected to confirm this average grade and delineate a resource of 1.5 million cubic metres of gold-bearing alluvium.

The company said access to the area is extremely good with local landowners being well-organised, and there was a well-established local infrastructure avail able at Alotau.

Seamet also holds two prospecting au thorities in Milne Bay Province, at the Saqarai River Valley, both of which will be included in the joint venture arrange ment. Initial work there indicated a

highly prospective dredge-type gold and

platinum resource.

Meanwhile, landowners on Misima Is land also administered within Milne Bay Province have decided against

equity participation in the gold mine

there. They will opt instead for physical

development: better schools, hospitals

and roads in return for giving up their equity share. The landowners had been offered a 10 per cent share of the gold mine by the national government.

It was a feeling that similar demands had not been met that brought Porgera landowners to try and shut down that mine (now the alluvial project), but they

were thwarted by Wabag police. Their

complaint was that the Porgera joint ven ture companies had failed to meet de mands for a new hospital, high school, better roads and a new airstrip. An Enga police spokesman said the landowners were persuaded to form a negotiation committee.

There was also mixed news from the lagifu/Hedinia oilfield in the Southern

Highlands. The joint venture, led by

Chevron Niugini Pty Ltd, is now indicat ing that oil could flow by as early as mid-1992. A development proposal has now been lodged with the government in Port Moresby which, if approved, will involve spending US$BOO million which will include the oil field infrastructure, a 270 km pipeline to the Gulf of Papua and a tanker loading terminal on the coast. □