National Gold Corporation Bill

Senior Vice President of the PNG Chamber of Resources and Energy, Richard Kassman, clearly articulated their stance in yesterday’s stakeholder consultation on the National Gold Corporation Bill.

The PNG mining industry has no objection to a new gold refinery being built. This was the general consensus expressed during Wednesday’s consultation.

The chamber, however, is of the view that a refinery can be built without the need to create special new laws or under an environment of a regulated gold monopoly.

Prime Minister James Marape, in addressing the controversy surrounding the bill acknowledged the significance of the opinions expressed. 

Marape said “due to conflicting views on the present bill that is on parliament notice, government feels that those views need to be heard. Hence, we have public consultations coming up, so we can ascertain from public and concerned stakeholders what exactly are their areas of concern," he explained.

In a letter delivered to the Minister of Mining and copied to Prime Minister James Marape and Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso , Smare wrote, "The NGC Bill is extremely complex with 966 clauses and is the longest legislation that the PNG Parliament has ever attempted to pass. It impacts over 26 important existing laws as it vests control of PNG’s monetary policy, gold industry and banking industry in the hands of a foreign controlled entity with limited capacity, capability, or resourcing in any of the sectors it impacts.

Members of the Morobe Goldfield Small Scale Miners Association Incorporation, armed with placards and banners, convoyed to the Wau Oval on Friday and appealed to the Wau-Waria MP, Marsh Narewec, to fight for their rights at the national level.