Simberi Mine

MRA Managing Director Jerry Garry visited Simberi mine for the very first-time last week. He said he was impressed with the use of geotagging in the monitoring of the DSTP line and the In-Vehicle Monitoring System (IVMS) which records operator activity in the equipment.

Mr Garry said the improvements were indicative of the mine moving beyond compliance requirements to values-based commitments as it transitions from oxide mining to sulphides.

Early learners at Munun Elementary School on the northeast coast of Simberi in New Ireland Province have increased their appetite for knowledge and the desire for good careers since their new classroom was opened early this year.

The classroom was co-funded by St Barbara, operator of Simberi gold mine and the Simberi Mining Area Landowner Association (SMAA).

Two grade two students are excited to complete the year and enrol at Simberi Primary School in 2023 to start grade 3.

Over 150 employees have rolled up their sleeves for their first and for some, their second AstraZeneca vaccine.

The number includes contractors and expatriates, mostly Australians, working at the mine, which is in the Tabar Islands of New Ireland Province.

The vaccine campaign is supported by an extensive awareness program in support of the PNG Government’s appeal to citizens to protect themselves from a possible third wave of the Delta strain.

The works include haul road maintenance and pit traffic management controls, these activities are addition to grade control drilling and blast activities, which have restarted. 

Other regular maintenance work on vehicles, heavy equipment and the process plant have also been conducted at this time.  

Meantime, investigations are continuing into the fatality, which involved a female mine operator. 

Mining Minister, Byron Chan, said this during the signing of the revised mining project Memorandum of Understanding (MoA) for Ok Tedi.

Chan, however, said this figure will exceed once Wafi and Frieda come into production in five years’ time.

“I have been working closely with the government team to approve these MOAs that have been completed for existing mines and new mines and for the State’s commitments, amounting to K155 million over the next 5 years under each of the MOAs,” he said.

Deputy Governor and Chairman of the Natural Resources in the Provincial Executive Council, Ambrose Silul, said: “We in New Ireland are sick and tired of being misled, of being lied to, by the State Team negotiating the new Memoranda of Agreement for both Simberi and Lihir Gold Mines. We insist that the State keep its word, and until it does the New Ireland Government will not sign any new MoA.”

He said the New Ireland Team had been renegotiating the Simberi MoA for over four years. 

A statement from the Mineral Resources Authority says the two major projects in this line of initiatives are the construction of the Simberi business centre at Maragon on Simberi Island, and the Polytechnic and Industrial Training Institute at Fissoa, near Kavieng on the mainland of New Ireland.

The others are the upgrading of the Simberi Ring Road, construction of the Central New Ireland LLG chamber at Konos, construction of a police holding cell at Mapua and development of Simberi communal water supply and sanitation system for Simberi Island.