Lihir CRA stakeholders receive term sheets

All parties to Lihir’s Compensation and Relocation Agreements (CRA) have received term sheets or summaries of the draft CRA.

The term sheets, received on December 19th, 2018, outline terms of the package that Lihir Gold Limited (LGL) is offering. This is a significant milestone for the business, as it moves towards the final stages of the CRA review process.

The CRA and the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) are part of the revised Integrated Benefits Package Agreement (IBP2) reviewed in 2007.

In addressing the stakeholders at the Meri Divelopmen Senta in Lihir, Independent Chairman for the Lihir Agreements Review (LAR), Sir Paul Songo, thanked all stakeholders for pushing through time to see the delivery of the term sheets.

He acknowledged the LAR Independent Advisory Team; Tanorama, Newcrest Executive General Manager for Lihir & Cadia Craig Jetson and the Lihir Business Leadership team for working with the stakeholders to achieve this milestone. These stakeholders are Nimamar local level government (including all ward members), Lihir Mine Area Landowners Associations (LMALA) and the Tenement Landowners.

“We celebrate the collective efforts you put in to see these term sheets handed to all parties,” he said.

Sir Paul said the signing of the agreement may take place in March this year as captured in the revised schedule. All parties have six weeks to review the terms in consultation with their legal representatives. Tanorama’s technical team have been on site since last month to provide technical advice upon request.

Meanwhile, a series of 30 negotiation meetings have been scheduled for this month to mid-March.

“We also plan for additional meetings to discuss any issues between you and the company. However, I expect you all to agree on more than 80 percent of the agreement components before you come to the negotiation meetings. I will chair short negotiation meetings to deal with specific outstanding issues,” said Sir Paul.

“We should review these term sheets with one objective in mind; to improve the quality of life for the present and the future generations of Lihir. This is my humble plea to all groups,” he added.

In delivering the term sheets on behalf of LGL, Felix Kipalan said the company is committed in maintaining a direct relationship with all its stakeholders.

“That is essentially how the agreements are done because we want to talk directly with you, understand issues, and address them accordingly. The company will do its best to address majority of the issues by taking this approach. This is because we value ‘Working Together’ and we are committed to it,” he said.

Kipalan explained that the agreements have been structured in tiers or levels. Tier 1 captures the termination deeds, allowing stakeholders to decide whether to use the agreements or not. Tier 2 captures the principal agreements; compensation, relocation and resettlement, and community developments, that act as guidelines on how much each stakeholder will receive and why they are receiving the amount.

(Lihir Agreements Review Manager Felix Kipalan and Community Relations Manager Leonard Lagisa presenting a copy of the CRA term sheet to Londolovit Community Representative Roselyn Arau)

Author: 
Press release