Wenceslaus
Magun, national coordinator for a local not-for-profit group, Mas Kagin Tapani
Association (Makata), is calling for Nautilus Mineral Ltd to stop exploiting
the pristine Solwara 1 marine resources in the Bismarck Solomon Seas with its
experimental seabed mining.
Mr
Magun said, “Nautilus’s chief executive officer, Stephen Rogers, is calling on
the PNG government through its State-owned enterprise, Petromin to meet ongoing
project costs on a pro-rata basis. The costs are for the grant of the 20-year
mining lease in January 2011 amounting to US$47 million. The PNG government
should not adhere to this request.”
“There
is no justification for the PNG government to pay 30% to Nautilus. This
foreign-owned corporation does not own the resources by birth right. They
cannot ask the PNG government to make such a contribution to help develop their
experimental seabed mining project.”
“By
doing so, would imply that Papua New Guineans will remain beggars on our own
land: that we cannot determine our own
destiny but allow outsiders, particularly the multi-billion dollar corporate
industries, to dictate our future,” warned Mr. Magun.
Many
Papua New Guineans have voiced their concerns that the PNG government has for
decades failed to honor the goals enshrined in the preamble of our constitution
which calls for equitable distribution and PNG ways and self-reliance. (The
National Goal and Directive Principle No.2 and 3 respectively)
Mr
Magun said, “Such actions indicate that the PNG government does not remain
loyal to protecting and sustainably managing its resources enshrined in our
constitution and related documents including Vision 2050. It goes further to
show that the PNG government does not care about its own people.”
“The
PNG government should have never given away the exploration license to Nautilus
at such an insignificant fee. The fee was for no more than K10,000 and then
they granted the company a 20-year mining lease license and to buy back that
same property for a 30% equity or equating to K300 million.”
“The
PNG government issued the license to Nautilus based on a flawed Environmental
Impact Assessment and without ensuring that there were good marine laws in
place. This is both unethical and morally wrong.”
“By
honoring Nautilus’s request to pay 30% equity to mine the sea floors at Solwara
1, the PNG government will further alienate and disenfranchise its own people.”
He
cautioned that such ludicrous decisions will continue to push PNG a rich nation
further into the bracket of some of the least developing nations in the world
and put the very survival of the Papua New Guinean people at peril.
“Why
should Papua New Guineans be made to be spectators in our own land? Why is our
government hell bent to make hasty decisions based on weak policies at the
expense of the silent majority? Why
should our government make us losers in our own land when we do not choose to?
This is absurd!”
“Current
mining and petroleum developments in PNG indicate that our country will only
get one third of the benefits obtained from our natural resources whilst the
developer will leave the country with two-thirds, leaving our resources
depleted, devastated, and doomed,” argued Mr. Magun.