Looks like the PNG government going to take on the case on their behalf. I never much liked Ramu, have held HIG in spite of it, not because of it. Its been appallingly managed by the Chinese imo, they haven't made many friends in PNG and any chance to take a shot at them will be taken. Still the issue is a very important one for investors in PNG. How they can stop it at this point in time is beyond me. If there were environmental issues they should have been raised long before the project got to this stage.
I guess the chances of Xstrata not taking up their option on Nena are about zero, but what's the likelihood of bringing it into production before Frieda?
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=52607
Posted at 00:41 on 23 March, 2010 UTC
Papua New Guineas government says it will challenge the national court injunction to halt a Chinese nickel miners construction of a massive pipeline to dump waste into the sea.
Following a legal bid by a group claiming to be landowners, the national court in Madang ordered work to stop on the Chinese Metallurgical Construction Companys previously approved submarine tailings disposal system from the Ramu nickel mine.
The deputy Prime Minister and Mining Minister Dr Puka Temu says the government has already approved the project on sound advice, and will continue to support it.
He says there are ill-informed groups among the projects opponents and believes the government will need to step up what he calls "awareness" efforts around the plans.
But our view as a state is basically that we have given the clearance. I mean many different church groups and NGOs can have their views but our view is that if we have the right design and monitoring requirements are met and complied with, we believe that it should be safe and have less impact on the environment.
Dr Puka Temu
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