This potential change to the PNG Mining laws doesn't affect IndoChine since it only applies to new exploration and mining licenses. read below.
I can't wait to see the upgraded JORC Gold Reserves that IDC releases in coming weeks. That poor Canadian company spent $60m and 4 years drilling Mt Kare only to have IDC pick up all their work for next to nothing. an excellent business decision by the IDC board to take on this very prosperous tenement in PNG.
Cheers Nectar
While it has not become law, that bill proposed amendments to key mining and oil and gas legislation with the word �state� often being replaced by �customary landowners� or �landlords�. The existing regime gives the PNG government ownership of all resources 6 feet under on land and in its territorial waters.
But recently-appointed Mining Minister Byron Chan, who is not known to have any previous mining exposure, has plans to change this fundamental aspect of existing mining laws.
�We'd like to replace that, possibly almost immediately, to revert the ownership back to the landowners and relinquish the state from owning anything from 6 foot below land and sea, that's what we're looking into right now,� he recently told the ABC�s Radio Australia program.
************************************************************************************* Chan further told the radio program the proposed changes would not affect existing licences, but future ones.
He said there would not be �chaos� as the current agreements with resource companies would not be affected, and even suggested that landowners would have a better relationship with mining companies because of this approach. *************************************************************************************
Chan, son of ex-PNG Prime Minister Sir Julius, also aims to introduce the proposed amendments to the country�s mining laws before the election due mid-2012.
PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum executive director Greg Anderson got the opportunity to express his dismay with this proposed fundamental shift in mining policy, calling it �extremely naive�.
�You have to have central government control on issuing leases and an organised system,� he told the radio program.
�If we tried to deal with landowners on exploration titles, I think it's just going to be a nightmare.�
Anderson also raised concerns of how PNG could host a dual system, with one system keeping the existing landowner agreements and level of ownership in place for committed projects and existing mines, and a separate new system where landowners owned all the resources for less advanced projects.
Ultimately he does not think the policy is workable and told the radio program it would �scare off explorers like you wouldn�t believe�.
Anderson, due back in PNG today after recently speaking at the PNG Advantage conference in Brisbane and taking some holiday leave, aims to discuss the policy directly with the government.
In his detailed presentation at the conference, he highlighted that the government introduced its competitive taxation regime in 2003, which coincided with the growth in global commodity prices from that time.
He further stated that PNG�s mining and petroleum industries generated about 80% of the country�s export income and remained a major source of tax revenue.
The under construction PNG LNG project offers the opportunity to transform the nation�s economy and considerable work has gone into stitching up landowner agreements.
However, a spokesperson for highlands villages Simon Ekanda, according to the ABC, was also enthusiastic about the proposed changes in resources ownership.
�You see how this country can move [in] the next five years when this law has been changed and people will have money in their pocket,� he told the radio program.
Unnamed mining company executives and analysts have reportedly also expressed dismay about the unexpected policy changes to the The Australian.
Meanwhile, an underway Supreme Court challenge to the election of ex-Treasurer Peter O�Neill as prime minister earlier this month could result in the dissolution of the new government if its formation is found to be unconstitutional.
Friday, 19 August 2011 miningnewspremium.net http://www.miningnewspremium.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=2421826
