The Wafi- Golpu Mine Joint Venture project in the Morobe province is one of the major mining projects in the country that is progressing towards its construction phase, despite calls from environmental groups and landowners to halt the process until a sustainable method of mine waste management is sourced out and approved by all parties concerned. Just this week at the 16th Papua New Guinea Chamber of Mines & Petroleum Conference 2022 in Sydney, Australia, the Mining Minister Sir Ano Pala announced to the audience and potential investors that the projects going through the permitting process are the K5.3billion Wafi- Golpu copper project, comprising K 2.5 billion sustaining capital expenditure, and the K7.2billion Freda River copper and gold project in the West Sepik Province. Now this means that the Wafi- Golpu project along with the Freda River project are in the process of getting the go ahead for eventual construction phase. However, this has not settled well with the people who are trying to make the government and the developers see the potential risk of environmental damages that could occur if the mining projects go ahead without properly managing the tailings from the mines. The case with Wafi-Golpu, concerned groups have argued that the developers’ Environmental Impact Studies did not fully disclose the potential damages and that the independent studies have shown that there will be potential damages to be experienced, should the mine fully develop and starts production. The Executive Director for the Center for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR) Mr. Peter Bosip, is one of those who are against the proposed Deep Sea Tailings Placement in the Huon Gulf waters and the one thing he said that the developers did not do before going ahead with the project, is getting the consent of the landowners. “Deep Sea Tailing Placement proposed by Wafi- Golpu, as far as we are concerned, there is no prior informed consent given by the people who will be largely affected by the tailings that will be discharged into the ocean,” he said. “Prior informed consent is the universal human rights, all of us have the right to express, give our consent for the Wafi- Golpu mine to progress.” He argued that there are more than 200, 000 people living in the Huon Gulf district that have never given their consent on the proposed tailings method. He also argued that the Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (CEPA) did not consider these issues and has already given the Environmental Permit to Wafi- Golpu mine. Nevertheless, despite these matters raised, the negotiation of the Mining Development Contract and assessment of the Special Mining Lease (SML) application are expected to be completed with results releases soon. The outcomes will then decide the next phase of the project, which include the Development Forum and the Memorandum of Agreement negotiations. The mine life for Wafi- Golpu is 32 years of production of copper in the Morobe province.