Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) now has a new boss after the mining company’s Board made the appointment recently. The Board of OTML appointed Mr Kedi Ilimbit as the company’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), which comes into effective today Monday 17th April. Chairman of the Board, Mr Jeffrey Innes said that Mr Ilimbit was appointed following an international search campaign and a thorough assessment of candidates. Mr Ilimbit was originally employed by OTML from 1995 to 2004 starting as a graduate mechanical engineer and working in various roles. He left OTML and worked at various mines in Australia including Blackwater, Peak Downs, Saraji, Prominent Hill, Cannington and Koolyanobbing, in senior and managerial roles. He returned to OTML in 2015 and has worked in Mine Maintenance, Processing, Asset Management and Operations & Community Support and is the current Acting CEO. “The Board looks forward to working with Kedi and the leadership team to ensure the continuing success of Ok Tedi and the satisfaction of all our stakeholders’ expectations,” Mr Innes said.

The Alluvial Mining Sector in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has grown significantly under the Mineral Resources Authority’s (MRA) supervision and care to contribute over K600million per annum in export revenues. MRA Acting Managing Director, Mr. Jerry Garry said the MRA run small scale mining college in Wau in the Morobe province, has trained and certified over 6, 000 artisanal miners since its establishment and he attributed the excellent growth of the sector to the efforts of the training college and its hardworking team. “When you look at the statistics, they are contributing more significantly then some of the established industries we have in this country,” said Mr. Garry. “The alluvial gold mine sector apparently put out less than K100million export revenue until MRA stepped in and brought the export revenue from the alluvial sector to K640million per annum.” He said the sector has contributed more significantly to the country than some of the established industries in PNG. Mr. Garry also said that the success of the alluvial gold mining sector is one of the success stories of MRA since its establishment 15 years ago.

The BSP Financial Group Limited (BSP) has admitted that the implementation of the new system has seen issues pop up, but customers have been assured that the BSP team will continue to work around the clock to fully address these technical issues faced this week. “BSP would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding while we address some technical issues that have impacted our service standards,” announced BSP Group CEO Mr. Mark Robinson. “We understand that for some customers, your recent banking experience during the implementation of BSP’s new Banking System has not been as smooth as we had hoped.” This week alone the interruptions to BSP banking services include delays in processing transactions that has impacted payments and available balances, longer than usual wait times due to longer processing times in the branches and while contacting Customer Call Centre, and intermittent availability of the BSP Internet Banking service. “Our dedicated teams are working with our global vendor partners around the clock to address these issues and obtain the service levels you deserve.” “Our 87 Branches, 320 ATMs, EFTPoS, Agency Banking, Mobile Banking and Internet Banking are available to serve you across PNG.” “We apologise for the inconveniences caused and thank you for your patience and understanding.”

The Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) now has access to mineral data from mining operations in the country in real time to ensure transparency and accuracy in mining operations following the launching of its new Mineral Production Data Repository Hub on Friday 14th April. MRA Acting Managing Director, Mr. Jerry Gerry, said the new system should enable full access to what goes on in the mining sites from the crusher to the plant and the exporting of mineral ores. "This will give us additional capability to monitor what leaves the country, we can ascertain what profits paid for, proper taxes, royalty passed to the nation,” said the acting managing director. The new system sees the MRA have its officers sit in the hub at the Mining Haus in Port Moresby, where they have access to the same data in real time, which their counter-parts at mine sites will have access to. The new system not only allow the MRA and the government to independently monitor the minerals mined and exported. It will also give mining companies greater leverage on their transparency scale in the international stage. It will ensure there is transparency and all minerals leaving the country are accounted for. However, currently the live feed is only implemented in three mining sites in the country, which are Ok Tedi, Lihir and Simberi mines. “The next two mines that we want to tap into are Ramu (Ramu Nickel) and Kainantu (K- 92), they’ve given us the green light to go ahead,” he said. However, Mr. Gerry revealed that the systems of these two mines are little bit complicated then Ok Tedi, Lihir and Simberi, but he has confidence that the MRA engineers will have the live feed installed eventually. “I’m very confident that after Simberi, they will upload Ramu and Kainantu onto our system.” “By the end of this year, we should have all of them locked up in our system,” he said. Meanwhile, the new hub system is transforming the way the MRA monitors what goes out of the country and what is being received. This is because in the last 40 years, mining companies have been submitting a form to MRA stating the amount of mineral they have been exporting. However, the MRA as the regulator has had no way of verifying the data given in the forms, but this has changed as of Friday.

Nasfund Contributors Savings and Loans Society (NCSL) Limited is still unable to process their members’ withdrawals or loan drawdowns to BSP bank accounts at this time, but it continues to work towards fixing this issue. NCSL’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Vari Lahui said they continued to work closely with the BSP Financial Group Limited team to sort this matter out as soon as possible. “We started the payment process, but there are some members (NCSL members) that are being left out of receiving their funds. So, we are working closely with BSP on this.” The CEO explained that NCSL made the payments as per the withdrawal requests from members; however, the payment process for members who are BSP customers did not go through. That is why NCSL asked BSP as to why this has happened and has since been closely liaising with the BSP team to get some positive results, hopefully by this weekend. Mr. Lahui also said that this week alone NCSL made a total payment of K1.2million in members’ withdrawals; therefore, the savings and loans society would like to see this issue cleared out as soon as possible so that their members can access their funds. The CEO said that NCSL will advise its valued members on the outcome as soon as this matter is resolved.  

The Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) of Papua New Guinea (PNG) will be launching its Mineral Production Data Repository Hub soon to coincide with the Authority’s planned 15th anniversary celebrations. The Mineral Production Data Repository Hub is a new system that will allow the MRA, to have access to mineral data from all operating mines in PNG, in real-time. This means, MRA will have dedicated officers sit in the hub at the Mining Haus in Port Moresby, where they will have copies of the same data in real time, which their counter-parts at mine sites will have access to. The type of information shared will include the tonnage of the mineral ore that goes through the plant and the amount going out through exports. According to the MRA, in the last 40 years mining companies have been submitting a form to them stating the amount of mineral they have been exporting. However, the MRA as the regulator has had no way of verifying the data given in the forms. The system will not only allow the MRA and the state to independently monitor the minerals mined and exported, it will also give mining companies greater leverage on their transparency scale in the international stage. It will ensure that there is transparency and all minerals leaving the country are accounted for. But more importantly the country stands to benefit more from its resources.  

The production of bulb onions locally got a boosting with the support from British American Tobacco (BAT) PNG that would enable better cultivation of the crop. This after BAT PNG and Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA) signed an agreement to increase the quality and volume of bulb onions that all local farmers produce, which in turn will increase the revenues for the farmers. BAT PNG General Manager Vadim Makismenko said the signed agreement enables both organizations to work in partnership to achieve this through the supply of solar dryers to farmers in order to improve production and sales of bulb onions. “BAT will fund K1million for the construction of 50 bulb onion solar dryers across Papua New Guinea over two years,” Mr Maksimenko explained. “The FPDA will manage this fund by arranging for the construction and placement in bulb onion farming cooperatives they already work with across the country who currently supply the urban market”. “As a company, we at BAT PNG are committed to being a responsible corporate citizen and investing in initiatives that support our local communities while being compliant of the laws that regulate the tobacco industry,” he said. “BAT PNG also believes that we have a corporate social responsibility for investing in programs that support the government’s development agenda.” He said the government's goal of "Reclaiming PNG Through Agriculture" highlights the crucial role that agriculture plays in the country's food security and economic stability and for that, BAT is pleased to partner with FPDA who has experienced and credible partners in this space.  

The National Fisheries Authority (NFA) is looking forward to working towards full delivery of the long awaited Pacific Maritime Industrial Zone (PMIZ) in Madang through its partnership with the new Ministry of International Trade and Investment.  The NFA Managing Director, Mr. Justin Ilakini said it’s been 15 years now and still nothing much has been done to fully establish the PMIZ project, which would lead to good trade and commerce and job creation for many Papua New Guineans.    “We look forward to working with the Ministry, the Minister responsible and everyone to see that we can finally deliver this project for the people of Madang, for the people of PNG (Papua New Guinea) and the region because this is a project that extends not only within the boundaries of PNG but throughout the region,” said Mr. Ilakini.  The Director said that the upcoming inaugural Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Summit will be a good platform for NFA to push for the PMIZ project to be one of those first SEZs to be implemented in the country.    The NFA Director made this known during the recent presentation of K100, 000 to the Ministry of International Trade and Investment as sponsor for the SEZ Summit coming up on the 8th and 9th of May.  Minister for International Trade and Investment, Richard Maru thanked NFA for its contribution towards the Summit and he called on the entity to come up with a domestication policy.  “We have a situation right now in the country where all the fish that are caught in our waters are not processed onshore. Only up to about 10 to 15% of the catch is brought back to the canneries and the fish processing plants in Papua New Guinea, while over 80% leave our shores and are processed in other countries and this is totally unacceptable.  Minister Maru also said that in the future he wants to see 100% of catch from within PNG waters, processed here in country.  “The Ministry of International Trade and Investment is going to partner NFA, and we are going to go all the way to legislation and policy and whatever that needs to be done to ensure that we unleash the fisheries industry and maximize the benefit,” added Minister Maru.  The PMIZ project is a fisheries industrial project that will retain a large portion of the tuna caught in the pacific for processing. The project was approved in 2004 and is one of PNG’s first proposed special economic zones.   

The players in the Port Moresby Moni Plus 2023 Australian Football League (AFL) season, have been advised to make their decisions now as to which club they would like to play for this season. The Port Moresby AFL Association President Mr. Douglas Lai explained that from this week until the third round of games of the season, players have a grace period to make their selections on their preferred clubs to join. “If a player wishes to shift say from Lamana Dockers to the Kobonis, then that player can do so now. You have two weeks to move to another club.” This is because last year a lot of players made requests to move from one club to another despite being already registered for one club and to address this, the two weeks window period was given. This rule will also ensure that no club gets into trouble by losing points or having issues with player qualifications before the grand final, all because one player or players made a shift without authorization after being fully registered in another club. The AFL Association has a list of registered players per club and has advised clubs to stick to it throughout the season. The president made it clear that by the time its game three, everyone must be fully registered in the clubs of their choice. No more player movements after that; however, should players breach this rule, penalties will be imposed on the clubs that accepted them after the window period had closed.

Port Moresby Australian Football League (AFL) fans can expect the start of the proper season this weekend following the successful completion of both the pre-season and the Easter Cup Challenge over the long Easter weekend. Port Moresby AFL Association President Mr. Douglas Lai said that the proper season will start on Saturday 15th of April with time allowed afterwards for players to confirm their clubs for this season. “For player movement, you are given two weeks of confirming your club for 2023, after that there will be no player movement,” said the president. Mr. Lai said that everyone is excited and looking forward to the start of the proper season after warming themselves up in the pre-season and Easter Cup Challenge. This season is also important for everyone because this year the AFL scouts will be out making selections of the best players, both male and female, to fill in the slots for the national teams in preparation for the International Cup (IC24) coming up next year in Australia. Hence, 2023 will no doubt see some great competitions right across the country coming from the various AFL associations. Meanwhile, the long Easter weekend saw the Easter Cup Challenge in Port Moresby played out with players fitted into each regional teams. The players were selected from the pre- season matches on Saturday 08th April to form the regional teams for the Easter Cup Challenge. The Easter Cup saw at the end team NGI (New Guinea Islands) taking on team Momase in the grand final. It was a hard match especially in muddy conditions, but the NGI boys handled themselves well and defeated the Momase boys. Team NGI secured 4 goals and 3 behinds to score a total of 27, while Momase secured 1 goal and 2 behinds to score a total of just 8.

Residents of Lae city are glad to be out of the blackout after PNG Power Limited restored full electricity to the city as of 11.48am this morning following line patrol done on ground and using a helicopter. According to PNG Power, the line was cleared after tests were conducted at Taraka and Munum Power Station to give the all clear for supply to be restored. Residents on Saturday 08th April experienced total power outage after the fault occurred, the PNG Power team weren’t able to locate the fault on the line and have had to stop the line patrol late Saturday evening, but resumed today and fixed the problem. The fault was identified to be between Munum Independent Power Producer (IPP) Power Station and Taraka Substation and Power Station. The fault affected the supply of electricity into Lae city from the Mumum Power Station and the Ramu Grid. This was due to the fact that most of the transmission lines between Munum and Taraka run through the thick bushland.

The BSP new Banking System implementation over the long Easter weekend experienced some technical issues that resulted in accounts reporting incorrect balances, with some reporting cash amounts removed while others reporting increases to their current amount; however, all that should be sorted very soon. According to the BSP Financial Group Limited, the work is expected to be wrapped up by this evening or during the night. Once that occurs, BSP advises that the issues with the incorrect balances should be sorted out, meaning that those that had amounts removed will have their amounts restored and those that had extra and went ahead to remove the extra amounts, will have their accounts debited the next pay day, but only for the extra amounts that they removed. During this long Easter weekend saw people who reported extra amounts in their accounts, proceeding on to withdrawing the extra cash without considering the implications afterwards once the implementation of the new Banking System was done. Those who have done so would be regretting come next pay day. Meanwhile, BSP should have an update on the implementation of the new banking system later this afternoon to inform its costumers as to how the implementation is going and when everything should be back online and service fully restored.