Value and risk profile for Frieda River project improves, claims excess kina is resulting in more domestic investment, and corruption estimated to have cost Papua New Guinea K1.5 billion last year. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.
PanAust has updated its estimate of the Frieda River copper/gold project, reporting the economic value and risk profile for the project ‘has been materially improved as a result of the updated Mineral Resource estimate, revised open-pit designs and optimised mine production schedule’. In its latest statement, the company says the mine has 12 million tonnes of copper and 19 million ounces of gold. It will have a life of 18 years.
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The Business Council’s Dover Henao.
Business Council of PNG Executive Director, Douveri Henao, reportedly says there is an oversupply of kina as a result of the shortage of foreign exchange which is ‘seeing investment firms and investment chief advisers and officers using this time to invest because they’ve got extra cash in their accounts,’ he said. He believes the medium-term picture for the economy is positive adding that, with the OK Tedi mine about to complete a full year of production, more US dollars will come into the country.
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The National Fraud Anti-Corruption Directorate Director, Chief Superintendent Matthew Damaru, has told The National that more than K1.5 billion in public funds went missing last year due to fraud-related activities. He was speaking at the launch of Transparency International Papua New Guinea’s Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre.
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Malaysian company, TZEN Group will invest up to K300 million to develop an oil palm project in Gazelle, East New Britain, the Post-Courier reports. TZEN Group CEO Tan Eng Kwee, says he is now seeking assistance on tax exemptions for the project.
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PNG Rubber Board Chair, Josephine Kenni, says the rubber industry has enormous potential and needs to be revitalised and transformed to become a major cash crop. She told Loop PNG she wants to see more planting of rubber trees ‘to bring back the forest that has been depleted through logging activities’.
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A coffee grower in the mountains of Afore in Northern Province has called for maintenance and sealing of roads, saying he is only getting half what he could obtain per kilogram. Ese Development Association, Activity Coordinator and coffee farmer, Machara Otosi, told Loop PNG that the current road conditions are forcing coffee growers to sell their coffee beans at very low prices.
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NASFUND’s Ian Tarutia.
NASFUND Contributors Savings and Loan Society has declared a profit of K4 million and an interest crediting rate of 3.9 per cent (about K4.4 million) for its members for the 2016 Financial Year. CEO Ian Tarutia said the result was lower than expected due to the requirement to increase its loan provisions by K1.5 million in accordance with International Accounting Standards (IAS). The crediting rate for the 2015 financial year was 5.2 per cent.
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Cocoa farmers in Northern Province will benefit from a subsidy program initiated by the Cocoa Board of PNG to help them access markets. The board now has an agreement with NGIP Agmark, as well as an initial payment of K50,000 to NGIP Agmark. Board executive manager corporate services Tony Vigil told The National that, since the introduction of the program, more than 10,000 tonnes of cocoa had been moved from rural areas to markets netting K101 million in export revenue for the country. ‘Without the program, the cocoa would otherwise have been left stranded in remote areas,’ he said.
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Trukai Industries CEO Greg Worthington-Eyre has praised the Chingwam Rice Growers Cooperative Society in Markam district, Morobe, for harvesting PNG’s first large-scale rice production. More than 200 tonnes of the long grain variety paddy rice called T-Breed (Trukai Breed) has been harvested. The partners also held a ground-breaking ceremony for another 500 hectares to be planted with rice.
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The National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) has released four new taro varieties in the hope of developing a commercial and weather-resilient taro crop. NARI’s deputy director general Dr Ramakrishna Akkinapally, says tests are being conducted in various communities in Madang, the Eastern Highlands, East New Britain and Morobe
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Kina Bank opens its new Vision City Branch in Port Moresby this week.
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What is Josephine Kenni, the Chair of the PNG Rubber Board talking about, that the rubber trees have been depeleted by logging companies? There is no such thing. She should get educated in the forestry sector before mentioning such ridiculous statement. There were some processing of rubber tree in Doa Plantation, Central Province of old rubber trees some years back but this has stopped. Certainly, rubber trees are potential wood sources, that’s for sure but only after their natural latex production life ceases.