Mining Minister, Byron Chan, says amendments to the Mining Act 1992 have been completed.
Speaking to Business Advantage PNG, Chan says the amendments are complete, however, there are contentious issue that still needed to be deliberated on.
“Those amendments are there ready for any government to enforce, or to take up. I suppose you have to have the will to do it.
“There are some issues there that are maybe a bit controversial. It is to do with equity, and the compulsory acquisition increase (in) governments’ equity over the next 25 years of the mine life.
“Those major issues are concerns at this time which we could not really attend to right now, so the PM has deferred the matter to later,” Chan said.
During the 2016 PNG Chamber of Mining and Petroleum Investment Conference in Sydney, Australia, Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill announced that no decision will be made on the amendments to the Mining Act 1992 until after the elections.
He said the interest of all stakeholders will be considered before a decision in made.
"I want to state categorically that there will be no changes to the Mining Act prior to the 2017 National Election.
"It is only right that the new Parliament be granted the mandate to carry forward any changes to the existing mining legislation. Again, I stress that industry will be fully consulted,” said O’Neill.
The PNG Chamber of Mining and Petroleum welcome the announcement by the O’Neill reiterating that PNG legislation needed to favour investment and not scare investors away.
Chamber President, Gerea Aopi, in a statement said: “As the PNG economy is going through weak economic conditions, the importance of maintaining a viable resource industry and attracting new investment becomes paramount.”
"What we need is investor friendly policies and laws to support economic growth," he added.
Picture: Business Advantage PNG