Local landowners from the Yandera Copper Project in Madang have stressed their concerns and objections to the upcoming renewal of its project exploration license EL 1335.
Most landowners are adamant to have the renewal refused by any incoming Minister for Mining, as they want an innovative developer to come into the project that can do actual work on the ground and have a better approach to community relations.
Located 95 kilometers southwest of the northern seaport of Madang and situated within the highly prospective New Guinea Copper-Gold Belt, the Yandera Project area was the subject of intensive, drill-based exploration programs during the late 1960s and 1970s up until the early 2000s by several companies.
The recent acquisition of Carpo Resources by Canadian junior Freeport Resources was finalized in August 2021, as Freeport’s report confirms. Since then, they have been the full owner of Carpo Resources and all shares in Era Resources (formerly Marengo Mining), the current holder of EL 1335, which currently has an application for renewal still pending for the past year.
A spokesman for the Yandera Landowners Association, Mr. Greg Gambu, raised concern earlier this year that EL 1335 Yandera expired in November 2021, and appealed to the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) not to renew the license to any company except a genuine developer.
“Our pristine environment has suffered tremendous damage under the pretext of exploration while the exploration companies have made a lot of money on the stock exchange over the years,” Mr. Gambu said.
“With no road access we depend on our rich environment for our survival, and the exploration activities have disturbed our means of survival in a very big way.”
“We cannot let them (exploration companies) continue to keep us in suspense and become rich on the stock exchange market at the expense of our suffering by destroying the environment that we depend on for our daily needs.”
“It’s time now that they act on the results of their exploration activities – they should decide whether to Pack up and leave us alone or mine the deposit now,” Mr. Gambu added.
In response to these statements, MRA Managing Director Mr. Jerry Garry stated: “There is no mining activity in the exploration license (EL 1335) at Yandera Copper mine in Madang Province.”
Mr. Garry confirmed that the exploration license is still undergoing extension application, which is deemed ongoing until a determination is made by the Mining Minister, currently Johnson Ibo Tuke MP.
“The exploration license is for exploration only and does not extend to mining deposits. EL 1335 was first granted in 2003 and has remained active since,” he added.
“The EL has been reviewed for consideration by the Mining Advisory Council, if not it will be reviewed to renew their licenses,” Mr. Garry said.
As far as many locals are concerned, they still have a lack of trust in Freeport’s ability to develop Yandera. This was due to reports that showed Freeport’s continued share price decrease since 2021, so they seem uncertain on how Freeport would fund any mining activity at Yandera, even if they obtained a renewal of EL 1335.
Before this, officials of the firm have not made any contact with landowners at Yandera during the signing of the acquisition last August.
About this issue and the underlying concerns from landowners from Yandera, former Marengo Mining CEO Les Emery commented on the current situation.
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Photo: Former Marengo Mining CEO - Les Emery
Emery said: “From 2005 until my team and I were replaced in May 2014, Marengo Mining undertook a vast amount of exploration within the Yandera Project area and the one aspect that was of paramount importance was that we worked to ensure that the local communities were kept continuously informed of what was happening.”
“From the reports that I receive from many of my friends within the project area, Freeport has failed to make any sort of contact with the landowners, since announcing their involvement in the Yandera Project, almost one year ago.”
“My other concern is the capacity of Freeport to be able to fund the level of budgets required to take the Project to the next stage, given Freeport’s current stated cash reserves and market capitalization, should they be fortunate enough to gain a renewal of EL 1335, they would, in my opinion, struggle to even undertake minor exploration projects, let alone fund the completion of a bankable feasibility study,” Emery added.
The Yandera Copper Project and all concerned stakeholders will most likely still await an announcement, as the country is amidst the elections and the appointment and determination of a new Mining minister will see another inevitable delay in the progress to review and renew EL 1335.
