Month: October 2024

Before we get started some small print: This is a weekly update about events in Porgera. Before we get started a few caveats: I’m not in Porgera and I’m only relying on my own knowledge of the valley and open sources. I am not a lawyer. I do my best to keep the dates straight but they may get a day off due to my being in a different time zone than Porgera. Thanks to everyone who sent me links and articles. I’m always interested in hearing more about Porgera if you have information to share. With that out of the way, let’s talk about what has happened since around roughly the 6th of October:

A major story this week was a conflict at Mulitaka. According to posts on Facebook, it occurred 10 October. Harry Pearl and Harlyne Joku explain what happened in their pice “PNG security forces shoot 6 people, kill 1, near lawless Porgera gold mine“: There was a roadblock at Mulitaka, preventing the passage of “four light vehicles and six 30-seater buses destined for Porgera”. Attackers opened fire and “officers escorting the convoy returned fire, filling one of the gunmen and injuring five”. The convoy reached Porgera, but two vehicles were destroyed and a helipad was damaged. People refer to the vehicles as “Moxys” — off road haul trucks made by the Norwegian company Moxy — but in pictures of them aflame, they say “Komatsu” on the grill. So there’s that. The Facebook posts about this incident agree very strongly with the reporting. I believe this makes Facebook a credible source on this incident (assuming it is not the only source for this article).

According to Pearl and Joku, 62 “illegal miners” were arrested in Porgera. The Post has more details. It appears that SOE personnel are arresting people in the open pit in an effort to deter unauthorized miners. David Manning, the police commissioner, says he still supports Joseph Tondep and has full confidence in his leadership.

This story was also covered on TVWAN, The Post-Courier, The National, a longer piece at the Post-Courier from Miriam Zarriga. David Manning, the police commissioner, says he still supports Joseph Tondep and has full confidence in his leadership. The Post has an op-ed asking “Are we on the cusp of another national crisis?” I am optimistic that this incident is a sign of continuing conflict in the region and not a crisis which is deep in a novel way. But I would say that. I am just finishing up a piece on the renewal of the Porgera Gold Mine arguing that it was not another Bougainville. So I hope I manage to get that published before Porgera becomes another Bougainville, if it does become one.

There are images on Facebook of a memo from James McTiernan, the mine Porgera Mine manager, dated 12 October. In it, McTiernan writes that the mine suspended operations on 11 Oct “due to ongoing disruptions to fuel transfer operations at Mulitaka and illegal roadblocks on the Highlands Highway”. One video on Facebook shows men cutting a pipe in half. One man seems to try to stop another man from continuing the work and a scuffle ensures. This repeats itself with another pair of people. This seems to me legitimate. In the comments of various Facebook posts people argue with each other about whether the mine owes Mulitaka people something, or if the mine has paid them off, and it is Ipatas and Marape who have eaten compensation money which was supposed to be for Mulitaka. I don’t see a strong consensus about whether it was wrong to sabotage the mine or not.

On 15 October posts appeared on Facebook showing the Tauipaka bridge restored. One has a video of “Jerry Yaka a chief principal owner” where Yaka says he restored the bridge and his group had nothing to do with the people who attacked the convoy.

I’ve heard two references now to a private company flying from Tari to Kairik and then on to Hagen — on Facebook someone even listed prices (around K350 iirc). I’ve also seen a post claiming that NPL has no claim on Kairik airstrip. So it may be that something is happening there. If you know anything about this, feel free to contact me on Facebook or via email.

In other news, PNG has a new Mining Minister, Wake Goi from Jimi electorate.

There has also been progress (perhaps?) on the CDA, or Community Development Agreement. MRA announced that it has been “initialed”. It was initialed by SML landowner representatives (except two of them), representatives from Porgera Urban and Rural LLGs, and GoPNG (the national government of Papua New Guinea). NPL (‘the mine’) and EPG (Enga Provincial government) have not initialed it yet. “Initialed” apparently means that the initialers find it acceptable, and it will then be run past civil servants to ensure it is all legal and makes sense financially. Then it will be endorsed by the NEC (‘cabinet’). It’s not clear to me if NPL and EPG must sign this agreement, and why this is a step forward if they must but didn’t. It’s always hard to understand what is happening inside a negotiation when you are watching from the outside.

This is a weekly update about events in Porgera. Before we get started a few caveats: I’m not in Porgera and I’m only relying on my own knowledge of the valley and open sources. I am not a lawyer. I do my best to keep the dates straight but they may get a day off due to my being in a different time zone than Porgera. With that out of the way, let’s talk about what has happened since around roughly the 22nd of September:

Porgera itself appears to be relatively quiet. On the 27th the group Porgera SOE Operations 2024 was added to Facebook and really looks like it was actually set up by the SOE staff. The group is public and anyone with a Facebook account can view it, so I will describe its content fully and quote from it.

Around this same time, there was apparently an official launch ceremony held in Porgera to inaugurate the SOE. It was featured in articles by Simiky Yandapake, Phoebe Gwangilo and Miriam Zarriga. The articles cover Ipatas’s speech, who said the SOE would last two months. “We must make use of the… limited time and assisted them [SOE staff[ wherever we can in terms of investigation, prosecution and imprisonment because these are the same people who are continuously disturbing the peace in the valley and they need to be put behind bars”. Joseph Tondop also announced an emergency number (7492 1661) which people can call if there is trouble. The number was repeatedly shared around on Facebook.

It is very hard for me to understand, but apparently there are issues around Yonge, in Laiagam, where Sakar is based. Miriam Zarriga reports on “five held hostage in Lagaip” after they attempted to go through the area in an ambulance (rumors have it that police, ambulance, and other vehicles can be convinced to take people out of the valley, and this is how some people with money attempt to leave). There have been Facebook posts which seem to suggest Porgerans might be targeted if they try to leave the valley (in retaliation for the SOE being brought in the kick non-Porgerans out). Other posts which suggest Porgerans can travel freely, but warring Engan clans will not be allowed to pass. I am too far away to really understand what is going on.

On the 27th the Post published a long and detailed story by Simiky Yandapake entitled “First step taken to restore peace in Porgera” that detailed Tondop (the Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police) to visit “the parties involved in the brutal tribal clash” which are now listed as “Pianda, Sakar, and Aiyala”. Jospeh Minape (described as the Porgera Lw and Order Coordinator) was there as well. In this article and several posts on Facebook, Tondop and others express themselves very professionally and irenically. In contrast, I feel the coverage in the Post and the National has focused on, shall we say, the punitive power of the police. The article describes three institutions at work in Porgera: the Law and Order Coordinator, Operation Mekim Save (OMS) and the SOE staff.

Posts from around the 27th made on the SOE Facebook group describes discussions at Mungalep (Piande), Suyan (Aiyala), and then Laiagam. On the 28th SOE staff and Law and Justice Coordinator Nelson Lea were at Yonge meeting with “The Sakar Clan leader Cr Morbe” and other leaders who “expressed their willingness to collaborate with Cr Towa of Piande”.

In other news:

On the 24th, the Post printed an op-ed entitled “Benefit sharing the real issue in Porgera“. The piece argues “resource developers and the state must come up with a strategy that enables everyone in the district to gain one way or another from resource development” instead of “only the impacted community benefit [sic] and not everyone”. In this way, benefit sharing would be about “providing a sustainable livelihood for everyone in the wider project area”. The piece was widely shared on Facebook — or at least the sectors of it that I was on.

Over at Business Advantage PNG, Nadav Shlezinger interviewed Barrick CEO Mark Bristow (this is the CEO of the transnational corporation, not just of Barrick Niugini Limited). Bristow’s vision of the Porgera Mine envisages production 500,000 ounces of gold a year “if we can get all this [the mine’s operations] ]sorted out efficiently”. In terms of law and order issues, Bristow said Porgera “has 51 51 per cent Papua New Guinean ownership – government, landowners and Kumul – and they need to fulfill their side of the bargain. That is their responsibility… Security must be the top priority. Porgera is a fragmented community prone to tribal fights and disputes. Law and order and illegal mining are a constant challenge. Right now, there’s no magistrate, there’s no community policing infrastructure.” He emphasized that contracts with local people would not be given to people who “leave the valley… and don’t actually put anything back into the community” because some of “the value of the orebody… should go to building economic capacity for when the mine is already there”.