The Minister for International Trade and Investment, Hon. Richard Maru described his recent meeting with the full Board and Management of Mayur Resources at the margins of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Investment Week in Sydney as “highly satisfactory”.
Minister Maru said: “The meeting allowed me to clarify to Mayur Resources a lot of issues that the State needs sorted out between Mayur Resources and the State Negotiating Team (SNT) before we can progress to finalizing a Term Sheet that we would like finalized before January 18, 2025. This is critical so we can proceed to have the State, Central Provincial Government, and the Mayur Resources work towards signing a Project Agreement for the development of the Central Cement and Limestone Project.”
Minister Maru made it very clear to Mayur Resources that the Government wants the cement and the limestone project to be one project and commenced concurrently.
Minister Maru further stated: “The Government wants the project to cater for equity participation by the State, the Central Provincial Government, the landowners, superfunds, and ordinary Papua New Guineans to invest in this project which is critical to build our nation.”
Minister Maru stressed that Mayur Resources should raise capital in our local market using an IPO.
“Under the Project Agreement, the Government expects a very significant reduction in the price of cement which will be produced from this project which we will use for our roads and buildings to help build our nation. As a country, we should not be importing limestone and cement because we have the resources right here. We should be a net exporter of limestone and cement to other countries. We will consider the project to be a pioneer industry and offer protection to the project for a period of up to 10 years if the cement processing plant is built next year so we can replace all cement imports,” said Minister Maru.
“I firmly agree with Mayur Resources that Mayur Resources and the SNT must now meet and work towards finalizing an agreed Term Sheet for the Government to consider on January 18, 2025, so we can work towards finally having a Project Agreement signed between the State and Mayur Resources before the end of March 2025,” added Minister Maru.
“I want to thank the Chairman of Mayur Resources, Mr. Richard Pegum and his Board and Management for our meeting, and my subsequent meeting with the SNT Chairman, Mr. Dairi Vele, and I look I look forward to receiving the Term Sheet on January 18, 2025,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru also made it known to Mayur Resources that the Government was also considering interest from other developers in developing similar projects in the country including a proposed limestone project in Finschhafen, Morobe Province and another one in Central Province.
