Update on MCC chromite shipments

ABOUT 160,000 tonnes of chromite is currently waiting in Kurumbukare for immediate shipment out of Madang by China Metallurgical Construction Company.

Under these current rainy conditions the chromium is already posing threats to lives in Kurumbukare, along the Ramu River and now Madang town. CMCC proposal to ship out of Lae has been turned down and it must now use the Madang port.

The problem with shipping from Madang is that the road section between Usino and Tapo River near Madang town is at its worst. Madang Provincial Government is being pressured to fix the roads quickly.

In Madang town, CMCC will be stockpiling some 10,000 tonnes  of chromite at the back of its office complex grounds and they plan to transport half of that to the Madang habour some 2km away at nights. They plan to do this for the next six months.

In the approved Environment Plan the chromite was to be buried in the ground. CMCC however, wants to get rid of the minerals now that it is raining continuously and may leech and cause environmental harm.

CMCC has managed to get clearance to ship out of Madang and is currently preparing a holding place near the Madang Habour amid concerns from town residents and Madang government officials.

MCC’s permissable environmental impacts for Madang

Nancy Sullivan | Nineteen Years and Counting

Someone has slipped me a precis on the Ramu Niko Environmental Impact Assessment amended to permit chromite export from the mine. And it is a real eye opener.

It would seem that all the noise local NGOs made during their trial about differences between environmental plans and environmental impact assessments has finally been translated for management at MCC.

Unfortunately, however, we now learn that impact assessment in Chinese does not mean impact mitigation.

I think the real theme is clear up front, on page 2, as MCC makes the case for moving this substances down our highways to the Madang or Lae port.

“Annual production of Chromite is predicted to reach 160,000 tons and this was proposed to be buried on site in the original approved Environmental Plan. If this large quantity of Chromite is not safely removed from the site, it may cause serious environmental impacts because of the possibility of Chromite (VI) leachate run-off into the downstream water bodies and its ecosystems.” (p24)

Note also:

• Chromite to travel the roads only at night—and the details of the plan tell us the trucks leave the plant in the morning and return by 5.30 PM {?} (p 21)
• Transport in DRY season [good luck figuring that out----for extended RAINY SEASONS we will therefore see chromite STORED at mine site] (p 18/23)
• Trucks will carry 20-40 tons each, not the reduced-for-caution amounts we heard about in the public meeting (p 20)
• Transport calculated at a 200 day/year period which roughly DOUBLES our estimates of trucks on the road PER DAY from 40 to 80. (p 21)

And we learn that:

• A storage port for 5000 tonnes of Chromite storage is to be built at MCC offices to contain 5-10,000 tonnes covering 5 Ha of land (p 9/20) [As the notes here indicate Bates oval is 1.5 Ha----so an area more than THREE TIMES THE SIZE OF BATES OVAL will be set aside 'at MCC offices' ----here in town-----to store this highly dangerous substances before transport to China]

Finally, in a gesture of generosity form the State of China to the State of PNG:

• New road signs to prevent accidents will be erected (p 20)

Phew. Now I really feel safe. Luckily we have all kinds of fresh water bottled at Ramu to wash the filth of this message away…. Wait for it to yield that special chromite kick in a few months!

Madang to block miner’s access to Lae

Dorothy Mark | The National

THE Madang provincial executive council is against the Chinese nickel and cobalt developer in Madang Ramu nickel export chromite using Lae port facilities in Morobe.

Deputy Governor Bob Wati said the provincial government discouraged the export of chromites through Lae port because it was generating revenue for Morobe province rather than Madang, the home of the project.

Wati said Ramu Agro was based in Madang but using Lae and giving revenue to Morobe.

A landowner at the Kurumbukari mine site, Thomas Monda, said Ramu Nickel was extracting chromite apart from nickel and cobalt as agreed to.

“Ramu NiCo signed the agreement to mine nickel and cobalt only and not chromite. And it must follow what the Madang provincial government decide on how to handle this product,” Monda said.

He said the poor condition of the Madang-Usino highway forced Ramu Nickel to use Lae port services.

Wati urged the national government to consider maintaining the highway thus allowing Ramu NiCo and Marengo to access port facilities in Madang to export the minerals.

“The two big mines are in Madang and all their revenue must be spent in this province. Madang people have full rights to enjoy the benefits that come out of these projects,” Wati said.

He said the Madang-Usino highway needed regular maintenance. He suggested that the Usino-Yal road was the alternative to the road problem.

Wati said the access road was flat all the way through Transgogol and to Madang.

He said it would be better for the national government to concentrate on developing that road instead of wasting millions every year to maintain the highway.

Marengo Mining receives EPC contract pricing for Yandera project; Shares Up 17%

Midnight Trader | NASDAQ

Marengo Mining Limited reports that it has received pricing for a fixed lump sum, turnkey, Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for development of its Yandera Copper-Molybdenum-Gold Project in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea from Chinese engineering, construction and mining Company, China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering and Construction Co Ltd.

Shares are up 2.5 cents (17.24%) to 17 cents late morning. Close to 1.2 million shares have been traded

Yandera plan to cost US$2bil

Gynnie Kero | The National

CAPITAL cost of the Yandera copper project in Madang is expected to be between US$1.8 billion and US$2 billion and developer Marengo Mining has already invested more than US$150 million.

According to a company spokesperson, the project was massive with much of the property still unexplored.

“The company has been working in PNG in developing a large copper deposit in the Yandera area 100km inland from Madang,” she said.

“To complete the project, it would usually be very difficult for a company of Marengo’s size to do it on its own.

“However, the company did not want to sell the project, so it entered into an agreement with a Chinese group NFC (China Nonferrous Corporation), which will provide a fixed price contract to develop the project”.

“NFC will assist in providing financing by Chinese banks for at least 70% of the capital costs of the project.

“So they are assisting in providing Chinese loans, which would be used to hire their construction company to do the work

“This way, Marengo maintains control of the project.

“NFC may participate in financing.

“It will also have some of the off take for a portion of the copper and moly concentrate –  but at the going prices, based on LME (London Metal Exchange)  prices at the time).”

The spokesperson said Marengo would expect to receive the fixed price contract from NFC by the end of June.

“In addition, Marengo is doing its own feasibility study – and this is expected by the end of the second quarter,” she said.

“We had two investment companies from Toronto visit the site before Christmas and they have their reports on the project.

“The company has also been followed by other investment firms.”

Marengo also had interest from PNG state-owned Petromin, which may invest up to 30% in the project as a contributory interest.

The company has just re-domiciled to Canada effective this month.

The shares are still on the Port Moresby Stock Exchange (POMSox) and Australian Securities exchange (ASX), but they are  under the new symbol” MMC” (formerly it was MGO).
Marengo is still on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol MRN.

Yandera is a world-scale copper project, which features, strategic, long-life porphyry copper asset with first production targeted for 2016.

Another activist against sea-bed mining

Pisai Gumar | The National

The Millennium Good Governance Madang chapter supports the two local parliamentarians’ call against sea-bed mining.
President and activist Steven Andambo supported Ken Fairweather (Sumkar) and Anthon Yagama (Usino-Bundi).

He backed former East New Britain premier and East New Britain Autonomy Committee chairman Sir Ronald Tovue who raised objections to sea-bed mining and urged all Momase parliamentarians to unite and say no to it.

 “It is not a matter of stopping the project, it’s too early for such mining, especially when it has not been done anywhere else; why not try it out in Canada.”

“Papua New Guinea is not a trial dumping ground,” Andambo said.

Marengo Mining acquires key PNG port land parcel for Yandera copper project

Angela Kean | Proactive Investors

Marengo Mining has entered into an agreement with wood-chip operations company, Jant Limited, to acquire control of 18 hectares of land, together with a shiploader and wharf facility, adjacent to the Madang Port in Papua New Guinea.

Gaining access to this land will facilitate the proposed development of centralised infrastructure to service the company’s Yandera copper-molybdenum-gold project.

The Madang site will host the concentrate storage and shipping facilities, power station and associated transformers, office and warehouse facilities, and staff accommodation.

Consideration

To acquire the land, Marengo will pay 22 million kina (A$9.9 million) in stages up to 18 months from the date of the agreement.

The company has already made the first payment of 500,000 Kina on signing the agreement.

Marengo is well funded following the completion of a share placement earlier this year that raised C$20 million.

The company held cash reserves of around A$24.5 million at the end of the June quarter.

Feasibility

Marengo is nearing the completion of a Feasibility Study, with the majority of the study due to be completed in the September quarter of 2012.

Some of the critical aspects of the mining engineering in the Feasibility Study will extend to October.

New drilling data, in particular from the Omora zone, which has highlighted significant copper and molybdenum grades could possibly have a positive effect on the mine design and scheduling.

Initial evaluation of the Omora and Imbruminda infill drilling has confirmed targeted grade interpretations and provided scope for additional shallow and medium depth increases to resources and grades.

Yandera at a glance

The Yandera Project, which covers 1,730 square kilometres, is one of the largest undeveloped copper projects in the Asia-Pacific.

Less than 5% of the structural corridor has been drilled to date, and mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike.

The project hosts an updated Resource of 5 billion pounds of copper, 140 million pounds of molybdenum plus gold, silver and rhenium.

First production from the project is targeted for 2016.

The development plan envisages an open cut operation with an initial 20 year mine life.

The initial focus will be on higher grade “starter” zones to maximise cash flow and rapid payback.

Ore processing will begin at a rate of 25 million tonnes per annum, with the potential to increase to 50 million tonnes per annum.

Marengo to raise funds in Canada

WWF report stresses the significance of the threatened Madang Lagoon

A WWF report from 2006 emphasizes the ecological diversity and the global significance of the Madang lagoon which is now threatened by several large-scale developments including the Ramu nickel mine (which plans to dump millions of tons of toxic mine waste into the sea) and the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (which could house up to 10 tuna processing factories and other industries).

The report notes that marine ecosystems in general around PNG are among the richest in the world in terms of marine biodiversity and Madang Lagoon in particular has a “highly heterogenous, diverse and rich reef system”.

The lagoon has been designated a priority area for conservation and the study which is the subject of the report found the lagoon “is still in a relatively pristine state” although threatened by “coastal population growth, intensive agriculture, urban development and intense logging” – a list to which now can be added the Ramu nickel and Yandera mines and PMIZ.

The report was prepared by WWF as part of its South Pacific Program and was funded through grants from the UK Department for International Development, McArthur Foundation and the Packard Foundation.

Madang women pray for our ‘weak leaders’

From a local correspondent

“We pray for our leaders in Parliament to understand that Mining and other industries will greatly affect our lives and our children’s lives and their children’s lives if they are not careful in making decisions.”

That’s from the women of the Bel Islands (Bilbil, Yabob, Kranget, Kananam and all the way to the Iduwan island) in Madang Province, at their annual ‘Women’s Fellowship’ meeting.

Their prayers expressed their fears about the trend in the country that’s seeing a lot of industries coming in at once especially in their Province. There have been 5 mysterious deaths recently from around the islands, and the women are concerned about a lack of education services that are a must to help young people make wise decisions in looking after their resources and to control the ever-increasing population.

All the women who attended the meeting, along with their daugthers, husbands and sons, paddled all the way to Iduawan Island where the meet was held to pray for what they believe is affecting the country.

“Our leaders are weak, help them to hear our cries for help, and make them wiser to think of us in their decision-making for the country,” was another of their prayers.