Photo credit: PNG Mine Watch
According to Mining Minister Johnson Tuke, alluvial mining will be reserved for Papua New Guineans through policy initiatives.
He said he wants to support alluvial miners by making it a reserved business for locals during an alluvial mining conference at the University of Technology in Lae.
He claimed that the mining law set to be introduced in Parliament in November would provide the alluvial mining sector with the necessary backing.
“I’m trying to make alluvial mining a reserved business for Papua New Guineans,” Tuke said.
“We also want international partnership in this business but all we want is fair equity for locals.”
He urged locals to invest in it.
Tuke explained that alluvial mining required a shift in business practices.
“We are only producing 120,000 tons per year and we need a collateral effort. We’ve got to develop the economic base that will substantiate us to borrow enough from banks. “We sit down and complain too much. Let us get up and make this sector grow.”
He claimed that alluvial mining has been around for decades and that the sector needed to be developed in a coordinated manner.
Reference: Pacific Mining Watch (27 September 2021). “Alluvial mining to be reserved for Papua New Guineans, says Mining Minister Tuke”.
