Australia’s national cabinet has agreed to reopen its Pacific Labour Scheme, Ok Tedi is confident mine will reopen, and concern over COVID-19 funding. The business news you need to kickstart your week.

OTML has said that it will reopen operations in mid-September. Credit: OTML/Linkedin

Resources

Ok Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML) says that it plans to restart its operations on 14 September almost six weeks after it suspended operations due to a number of COVID-19 cases. The company made this decision after an extensive contact tracing, testing and isolation program at the mine site. (OTML)

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Conic Metals Corp announced that it has received an updated mineral resource and reserve report from Ramu that has shown a solid increase in resources.

‘We are pleased to see that ongoing drilling activities in 2019 have increased resources by almost 50 per cent to 145 million tonnes” stated Justin Cochrane, Conic’s President & CEO. ‘We expect continued drilling to take place going forward which should upgrade these additional resources into reserves, which remain essentially unchanged from the period ending Dec. 31, 2018 to 2019 at 54 million tonnes.’ (Business Wire)

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Oil Search has announced a US$25 million (K87.1 million) core profit after tax in the first half of the financial year despite the impact of COVID-19. Managing Director Keiran Wulff said: ‘We are coming through these challenges, more focused and disciplined and better positioned to advance our growth projects going forward.’ (The National)

International

Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) has raised serious concerns on the Government’s lack of follow-through on its promise to conduct and table a proper audit of COVID-19 State of Emergency or SOE funding. TIPNG Chair, Peter Aitsi, said iit has  yet to see a financial report which comprehensively captures all the various contributions provided by both the international and domestic community. (NBC News)

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Last week, the US Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper spoke with the PNG Minister for Defense, Saki Soloma. It’s been reported that Esper and Soloma discussed the importance of ‘upholding international rules and norms and their commitment to defending a free and open Indo-Pacific region’. (US Department of Defense)

Business

PNG businesses have received a double hit in the first half of 2020 with the pandemic and the absence of major resource projects impacting the economy reportedly said Bank South Pacific‘s Group Chief Executive Robing Fleming. ‘In PNG the main sectors have been transport, airline and road transport and another one is the hotel and accommodation sector,’ he told The National.

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The Australian Government has reached an agreement with the states that might open up more opportunities for Pacific Island workers to come to Australia.

The national cabinet agreed that the Seasonal Workers Program and the Pacific Labour Scheme would be able to resume, but workers will still have to quarantine when they arrive.’With appropriate state and territory plans and quarantine arrangements in place, seasonal and Pacific workers can safely support farmers facing critical workforce shortages,’ Australia’s Agriculture Minister David Littleproud reportedly said. (ABC News)