CRA has counted SUS 2 million

CRA’s second strike out

By Davendra Sharma

damages at its alluvial mine oper ations at Mt Kare in Papua New Guinea’s southern Highlands, after viol ent attacks last month that forced the mine’s closure.

CRA’s managing director, lan Johnson, said on January 13: “We are not even convinced at this stage that we will get back into operation.”

The next day, a board of directors meeting resolved not to reopen the mine until everyone involved in the attack was brought to justice.

The directors of CRA Minerals (PNG) Ltd, which owns 51 per cent of the mine, closed operations on January 9 after gunmen attacked the mine site, about 480 km northwest of the capital of Port Moresby. All but 10 of the 70 staff at the mine were evacuated by helicopter after the attack.

CRA, one of Australia’s two largest mining firms, has suffered major dam ages in PNG before in May 1989 its Bougainville copper mine was closed after secessionist rebels blew up powerlines and shot at mine workers.

Prime Minister Namaliu related the Mt Kare attack to recent threats by dissident landowners to disrupt mining if CRA does not grant them more shares and benefits.

“There is a strong suspicion (hat there was a payback element in the incident,

possibly involving dismissed employees,”

said Namaliu. He expressed hope that landowners of the mine were not in volved because they would suffer most from production delays and costs of restoration, he said.

CRA had given landowners 49 per cent under a unique arrangement to avoid conflict over ownership of mineral wealth. The mine, however, had been the subject of an ongoing court battle over control of the landowner company.

Claims had previously been made by some landowner groups supported and funded by rival politicians and devel opers.

Rebel parliamentarian and former tourist minister Aruru Matiabe had been pressuring CRA to give landowners a greater share. Matiabe claimed that he met CRA’s lan Johnson, who offered to sell 51 per cent of the shares in the venture for SUSS million.

Matiabe, a registered landowner with the 6000-strong landowners’ company, Mt Kare Alluvial Mining, was dropped from cabinet after a October reshuffle. In recent months he has led a campaign to have the mining agreement scrapped and redrawn to cut CRA’s share and incor porate some villages not in the original deal. But Johnson has rejected the new demands: “With 6000 people involved you can expect a small group of dissidents dissatisfied with the leader

ship.’’

Johnson argued that CRA has an undertaking with landowners to sell at least part of its stake to locals but only when “they have technical or financial ability to assume control” of Mt Kare.

The reaction from Opposition leader Paias Wingti after last month’s attacks was blunt: “It seems CRA has not learnt a lesson after the closure of the Bougain ville copper mine to have improved its attitude and corporate dealings as an investor in Mount Kare, especially the aspect of dealing honestly with all landowner groups instead of just one.”

Ml Kare Alluvial Mining Ply Ltd general manager John Barlram said the violent attack has forced the company to consider whether to continue mining in the rugged Highlands.

The first deposits were discovered at Mt Kare in 1988 and CRA estimates about SUSI7S million worth of alluvial gold was taken out by prospectors by 1990. The mine has a projected lifespan of three to four years and production is expected to double to 60 kg a month.□