Yulai Landowners Association

In a media conference following the signing ceremony, Mineral Resources Authority Managing Director, Phillip Samar said the MoA is a completely separate to the commercial agreement between the mine operator as well the state, province, and landowners.

“The commercial operations is permitted under the license that the Government provides which is the mining lease. This MoA has absolutely no connection to that. The MoA is simply a benefits distribution mechanism,” Samar said.

Chairman George Gusi snubbed the long overdue revised MOA, claiming there are still outstanding issues to be settled.

Facilitated by the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA), the signing ceremony was attended by Mining Minister Byron Chan, Central Province Governor, Kila Haoda, Executive Director of Asidokona, Vincent Siou, Woitape LLG President Joe Geru, and MRA Managing Director, Phillip Samar.