Islands Business - WE SAY: Ruthless big business tactics

‘It is time PNG’s Government stood up to the ruthless big business tactics of the Chinese companies and
other global mining companies operating in their sovereign land and stop being pulled into the vortex
of their inhumanly commercial games. It is a shame that the PNG Government needs reminding that its
first duty is to its people who have put it in power in the first place and to its pristine environment’

An environmental disaster of gigantic proportions may well be unfolding in the region. One that not only has the potential to have a huge negative impact on marine and littoral life but also to permanently damage or even completely destroy several fragile ecosystems that have evolved over millions of years. And all that could very well happen in the space of the next few years.
In its quest to exploit its mineral wealth, the government of Papua New Guinea has played squarely into the hands of unscrupulous big ticket investors especially from the Peoples’ Republic of China, working mostly under the auspices of its own government.
The Chinese have poured billions of dollars into PNG’s mining sector to feed the unsatiable double digit growth of its economy that is known to require natural resources at a scale unprecedentedly large in the history of industrial development anywhere in the world.
Exploiters of PNG’s natural mineral wealth have taken complete advantage of the poor standards, procedural and even legal framework relating to the exploitation of natural resources in the country.
Activists have alleged that planning and development of mining and natural resources exploitation projects have been carried out and implemented in a great hurry. There has been little environmental impact assessment done and almost no public consultation especially in the rural areas from where the natural resources are mined and transported through giant pipes to processing centres.
No proper geological assessments seem to have been made before laying the pipelines, causing the potential danger of lethal leakages in the event of earthquakes and landslides that could affect local rural populations in an environmental disaster that they are not even aware about how to deal with.
The mining of precious nickel, one of the most in demand metals in China and one of the most crucial for its growth, is a case in point. In Madang, where the Ramu Nickel project has received a more than a billion dollar investment from China, government departments have been accused of not assessing the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) submitted by the miners.
Worse, in the Ramu Nickel project, there is no declared plan of action in the event of a pipeline burst and no plans for erosion control during the construction of the mine.
Villagers and the leaders as well as environmental activists have been complaining about these poor practices that have already led to large scale pollution affecting both the natural flora and fauna of the surrounding areas. And with the scaled up activity, it has the potential to affect the health of the people living in the area.
The response from the authorities has been far from convincing. One prominent scientist has voiced serious concern about dumping effluent—tailings of Ramu Nickel mine operations—at Basamuk in Madang: “Not only will there be heavy metal pollution—it will kill all the reefs anyway with the fine sediment from the tailings. Are they really only putting 150 metres off shore? Seems amazing that this was allowed to pass the EIS process. Unbelievable.”

Poorly informed and powerless people, their distance from the power centre, corrupt leadership and an apathetic central government in far away Port Moresby that seems to care little about human rights and dignity have all conspired to set in motion the biggest environmental disasters triggered by industrial exploitation of natural resources in the modern world. Complaints and representations have so far fallen on deaf governmental ears and all responses from Port Moresby have proved to be little more than lip service.
The flavour of the season in PNG over the past year or so, of course, is LNG and the government cannot seem to think anything beyond petrochemical exploitation at the moment.
Admittedly, it has the potential to accelerate the country’s growth and propel it out of large scale poverty. But that will happen only if it puts in place proper mechanisms to let the mineral generated wealth trickle down to the grassroots—something that shows no signs of happening in the country.
And even if that happens eventually, what good would it be if by then the people have lost their pristine environment that they have depended and thrived on since times immemorial?
Worse is yet to come. The international mining giant Nautilus, which has received several mining licences in PNG and is looking to establish its operations at several locations around the Pacific Islands region is about to start their world undersea mining operation. This is a world first and there are no laws or procedures governing the process—at least not in PNG.
That the existing Mining Act does not cover undersea mineral exploitation was recognised by the department of mining as early as in 1999 and there were concerns raised and many discussions surrounding the subject but the government simply chose to ignore the debate and awarded the leases in an unseemly hurry to begin operations.
The project entails digging 20-metre deep trenches across the entire sea floor in the area covered by the mining lease, taking up to the surface 6000 tonnes a day and then extracting and spewing back down 4000 tonnes of the mashed up rock, silt and seawater every day in what can only be seen as a lethal cocktail that will exterminate the entire coral ecosystems.
No one seems to care about the unfolding crisis in the government and especially its Department of Environment or Mineral Resource Authority.
It is time the PNG government stood up to the ruthless big business tactics of the Chinese companies and other global mining companies operating in their sovereign lands and the people and stop being pulled into the vortex of their inhumanly commercial games. It is a shame that the PNG government needs reminding that its first duty is to its people who have put it in power in the first place and to its pristine environment.
Nobody suggests here that mineral exploitation should be stopped. That would be disastrous to the economy. But the government should stop taking its poor, ill informed and helpless citizens for granted by allowing its corrupt officials to exploit the country’s non-renewable mineral wealth with neither a care for the people nor the environment.
If this is allowed to go unchecked, the responsibility for the consequences will squarely lie at the government’s door.