mine closure, page-61

Oh, boy. The joys of doing business in PNG!

Gorgor puts a stop to gold mine operations
By ELIZABETH VUVU
OPERATIONS at the Lihir gold mine in New Ireland province ground to a standstill last Friday as two groups of landowners planted gorgor (sacred plant) at various mine sites in a demonstration of stop-work defiance.
The dispute is over outstanding payments that the landowners said the company owed them.
Over the weekend, police officers – 10 from East New Britain and 17 from Kavieng – were flown into Lihir to protect company assets and maintain security.
According to Lihir police station commander Chief Sgt Kelly Rovi, the first landowner group, Kapit, shut down the water pump near the beach at the mine site last Friday night.
They planted gorgor near the water pump.
The Lihir Gold Limited company was quick to respond to their demands.
The water supply was switched on again later that night.
Chief Sgt Rovi said the second group, comprising landowners from Putput one and Putput two, where the mine is situated, planted gorgor at the gate and various other locations last Saturday.
Police held a meeting with the landowners’ representatives at the police station yesterday.
Lihir corporate affairs general manager Joe Dowling confirmed that there was a dispute between the company and landowner groups.
However, the company “was pretty confident” all would be resolved quickly, he said.
Mr Dowling said the dispute was about the expected distribution of money from the mine operations to the respective landowner groups.
He said the company was not likely to be looking “at a big, meaningful impact” even though operations had stopped.
Employees were staying in their respective campsites amid the negotiations.

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