There seems to be an open secret in relation to mining along the north coast of Papua New Guinea.
That is the existence of a major yellow fin tuna breeding grounds in the Magadus Square bounded by the north coast, Manus Island and New Ireland. Please click:
These are eaten by the small yellow fin tuna.
The Amazon River pushes fresh water and nutrients over a hundred kilometers into the open sea from the estuary. The Sepik is a small Amazon.
The adult fish move around the Pacific Ocean travelling through polynesia, the west coast of America and the east coast of Asia and back to the Magadus Square.
But mining is poised to destroy what should be on the World Heritage Listing.
Once mining from Marengo destroys the Ramu River by poisons and Frieda mining destroys the Sepik, there will come to be no more breeding of yellow fin tuna in the Magadus Square.
Add to this the deep sea disposal from Ramu Nico entering the sea at Madang.
And deep sea mining within the Magadus Square. Surely the land and sea belong to generations to come.
The matter has never been raised in Court not even by lawyer Tiffany Nonggorr. Strange. It was almost as if she did not want to win.
12 October 2010
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That is the existence of a major yellow fin tuna breeding grounds in the Magadus Square bounded by the north coast, Manus Island and New Ireland. Please click:
Ramu Nico threatened us say landholders - Keith Jackson & Co ...
asopa.typepad.com/.../ramu-nico-accused-of-threatening-landholders...
12 Oct 2010 – She knows that the tuna from the Magadus Square will migrate
along ..... the Ramu River that supplies nutrients to the yellow fin tuna grounds?
Key feature of the Magadus Square is the Ramu and Sepik Rivers that push nutrients into the sea for several kilometers from the north coast.
Key feature of the Magadus Square is the Ramu and Sepik Rivers that push nutrients into the sea for several kilometers from the north coast.
These are eaten by the small yellow fin tuna.
The Amazon River pushes fresh water and nutrients over a hundred kilometers into the open sea from the estuary. The Sepik is a small Amazon.
The adult fish move around the Pacific Ocean travelling through polynesia, the west coast of America and the east coast of Asia and back to the Magadus Square.
But mining is poised to destroy what should be on the World Heritage Listing.
Once mining from Marengo destroys the Ramu River by poisons and Frieda mining destroys the Sepik, there will come to be no more breeding of yellow fin tuna in the Magadus Square.
Add to this the deep sea disposal from Ramu Nico entering the sea at Madang.
And deep sea mining within the Magadus Square. Surely the land and sea belong to generations to come.
The matter has never been raised in Court not even by lawyer Tiffany Nonggorr. Strange. It was almost as if she did not want to win.
12 October 2010
Comments
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Poor PNG, she needs a very good Captain of State now!
The Frieda River mine, if it does build a land-based tailings facility, will do so, not at the request of Highlands Pacific suddenly seeing the light and getting all tree-huggy on us, but Swiss company Xstrata. The environmental and human rights conscience of Xstrata is far more evolved than that of Highlands Pacific.
The Ramu mine environmental plan of 1999 was prepared by Highlands Pacific. John Gooding has claimed that without the use of DSTP the project would be unviable.
There are two things of interest here. Firstly, a paragraph extracted from Xstrata's sustainability report for Frieda River:
"In line with Xstrata Copper’s Environment Policy, the Frieda River Project is committed to achieving the highest standards of environmental performance.
"In 2007 we recommenced baseline environment monitoring and consulted with local communities regarding our monitoring programme.
"We also highlighted our environmental policies and approaches to our stakeholders during project briefings, and we have confirmed that we will not consider riverine tailings disposal."
And the link for the company's sustainability policy:
http://www.xstrata.com/sustainability/community/policyandapproach/
So, if Xstrata can build an on-land tailings dam for waste from a massive copper mine, why can't MCC-Highlands Pacific build one for a nearby nickel mine?
I just hope the Swiss use fine Swiss engineering in the building of the dam and don't leave it to Highlands Pacific or its consultants to manage.
Tiffany is on a roll here, I think!
Pena has been warned off, and Ramu Nico are facing contempt of court charges.
There seems to be something of a family feud between the Nonggorrs and Pena. He published a vitriolic article in response to this:
http://www.actnowpng.org/content/sir-michael-somare-right-thing-do-step-aside-prime-minister
But he has since been alleged to be the person behind the 'interference' with the original plaintiffs, and of being Somare's legal adviser (although this was kept under wraps)during the Moti inquiry.
(1) There is a committee of villagers being set up in the Madang area to promote the safety of Deep Sea Tailings Placement. It will consist of five members supporting the Provincial Mines Director, John Bivi.
They will represent women, NGOs, youth and community leaders. There are two DSTP sites planned for Madang - Ramu NiCo and Marengo (?). Bad news is coming out in bits and pieces.
(2) Vudal Agricultural University has signed an MOU for the University of Natural Resources and Environment. The signing was held in Waigani between the Department of Mineral Policy and Geo-hazards Management. Focus is on vulcanology, seismology and engineering geology.
(3) A cargo ship with 23 Chinese crew has gone missing off Japan’s southern islands. The 17,000 ton 'Nasco Diamond' left Indonesia last Thursday carrying 55,000 tons of nickel. That weight of cargo would seem to make a ship overloaded.
(4) The United States is going through severe economic problems with President Obama about to inject another $US600 billion into the economy. The US is sinking in economic strength. China is rising.
I wonder if the new Department above will teach students of pollution of rivers, estuaries as fish nurseries and the importance of the Magadus Square.
Or will it produce a generation of ‘yes men and women’ for mining industries.
Of more interest is to ponder on your background and reason for writing. I think you may be writing officially in whatever organisation you are in. But you are on our side.
It is obvious to me that the Chinese navy is not ready for confrontation with US. It seems quite strange too that, economically, China and the US need each other.
China reminds me of one of the gigantic fat dragons we see breathing fire in cartoons. A little boy hits him over the snout and he bursts out crying. No one had ever done that to him before.
China goes well behind the walls. But now she is coming out to reveal a hungry imperialism.
There is definitely a flurry of activity in both camps in recent months. I would love to have been a fly on the wall in the recent meetings of Ms Hillary Clinton and Sir Michael Somare and Ms Julia Gillard et al.
I do think that the advice from the Chinese admiral on the division of the Pacific into East and West of Hawaii is only mild sabre rattling. China has plans for South America which should be east of Hawaii.
But we find a renewed relationship between US and Australia as seen in the new policy on Fiji. The harbour in Suva may make an interesting naval base for China. And the Fijian population would rise by a million in 12 months.
The perception of Commodore Bainimarama is that the response of the Australian Prime Minister to the Fijian dictator has changed.
True. He should have shut his mouth on China. He is not the mouse that roared as we might remember from the old movie. He may be the mouse that was eaten - by China.
Both leaders of Australia and the USA know that as soon as the war in Afghanistan is over, China will move into the Indian Ocean.
There is a PNG mining conference in Australia. Advertisements have appeared in the PNG media applauding the exciting new developments
in PNG of the nickel-cobalt project and the Nautilus Minerals plans for undersea mining.
The Australian mining industry needs to be warned of the possible sabotage of the sovereignty of PNG despite the support from the PNG Prime Minister. Perhaps the view is that weak countries are easier to exploit.
The mining industry may be opening the door to Chinese takeover that is not in the interests of Australia and Papua New Guinea.
We should forget the old perception that the Chinese will invade Australia by walking over the ocean on the heads of millions of comrades. That is old hat. They are here by economic invasion.
But the time may come when the conduct of Chinese mining management in Africa and PNG merges as the news of misconduct reaches out by internet.
What goes around comes around. China's greedy economics may alienate the world.
The 'powers that be' have even tried to censor her blog, plus a few others.
He has been warned against continuing such unprofessional conduct. Scroll down to "Peter Pena warned to stay away from Ramu plaintiffs":
http://nancysullivan.typepad.com/my_weblog/
Interestingly, he represented Somare in the Moti business and is the author of an astonishing attack on John Nonggor published a few months back. He has also been heavily involved in the Exxon-Mobil LNG project.
All children born to national parents or expatriate parents or both will get a birth certificate on application to the Office of the Registrar-General.
My kids are mixed race and have birth certificates. How would they get a passport without a birth certificate?
Some time back Asian loggers had been caught with their pants down in their camp with some local women who were appeared to be acting as prostitutes.
After a few days of being locked up and having seen their lawyer, provided by a huge logging company, the men told police, “We are married to these women!”
I wrote a letter to the Post-Courier that was edited so much that it failed to reflect what I had tried to tell. What I wrote was from my own experience.
After five years of marriage I went to the Moresby Register Office to obtain birth certificates for my two mixed race daughters. I was told politely that under PNG law, customary marriages between expats and national spouses are not recognised and he could not issue birth certificates for them.
I asked him in all seriousness, “How can I regularise my two bastards then?” he looked ashamed and disappeared behind scenes.
In fairness it seems logical that a foreigner is not fully conversant with his or her fiancée’s tribal customs and that alleging to be so is a deliberate falsehood.
Thus claims by any expat to be customarily married are void. I smile when reading of Mr X from Oz paying K50,000 bride price for his beautiful Highland lass when they will not be legally married.
In my case, young Patrol Officer Karnups as adviser to Lavongai Council in the late 1960s had managed to get passed a Council Rule allowing for registration of marriages on the island.
I had one of these in my possession and this form apparently satisfied the clerk who soon reappeared from the back office with my daughters’ birth certificates.
MCC listed on Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges in October(ish) 2008. And despite the 'arms length' persona of a listed entity, it clearly is still operating much like a state-owned corporation.
From memory, the majority of its shares are held by state-owned corporations and/or banks.
Tom - I can't stand reading 'Islands Business' because I can't find a date on anything. There are a couple of errors in the article including the distance of the pipe. But logic suggests, if they were shipping slurry to China, they wouldn't need a refinery at Basamuk.
My cursory search turned up this story, dated February 2007, which is when I suggest the 'Islands Business' story ran - although who can tell?
Can someone tell me where they hide the date on those stories?
President Hu's 8 nation Africa tour - story dated February 9 2007.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/china_07huvisitsafrica_page.html
That's my take Tom - old story and not quite the story.
Although, who knows what is going on. Defendants (MCC and government) in Ramu case are dodging and weaving. Have asked for adjournment again.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon says: "As China pursues the path of political reform and the building of a harmonious society based on the rule of law, I hope that the Chinese government will further expand the space for civil society and take further steps that reflect and uphold its commitment to international human rights standards.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/06/3058916.htm?section=justin
The environment plan - as is the case with all Coffey plans - says DSTP is the best option for mine waste disposal. This is the Environment Plan that is the subject of the Ramu court case.
Perhaps you could be the liaison person between Ramu NiCo, Highlands Pacific and the nation.
You are respected in the PNG community. This project is causing much worry in the nation.
She talked of the administration of resources. We have to take it that she is talking partly about Ramu NiCo mine and other Chinese mines that have moved in.
She may also refer to the tuna fishing. She knows that the tuna from the Magadus Square will migrate along the west coast of the US.
Let us hope that both Australia and the US are quietly rattling sabres in a most diplomatic way. They would have access to the latest aerial photos of the Ramu and Sepik River basins.
All the major powers have economic relations and need for one another. The Australian dollar is strengthening at the moment as the result of the lift of the Chinese currency.
But within that framework, there can be dispute. We read that the low value of currency in China is helping their massive level of exports.
But it is also being used to exploit resources from foolish developing nations that are not aware that they are not getting as much as they thought in the currency exchange.
At the same time, they say that the Chinese of earlier times were decent people who became committed to the nation.
I hope corruption is not such that newcoming Chinese can arrive one day, become naturalised citizens next week and stand for election the week after.
I would not want agents of China working in Government to take our national secrets.
They will not fear the Chinese or the corrupt government of Somare and company if they are stirred to the point where the people will take the law into their own hands to reduce the influx of illegal Asians into PNG.
For my own part, my contribution to the debate (and I believe my debut on PNG Attitude) began with this:
http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2010/08/png-must-hold-mining-companies-to-a-high-standard.html
I grew up with very fond memories of the Chinese in Boroko who, for as long as I could remember, owned most of the shops, and introduced me to salty plums and dried ginger. My best mate in school was Kevin Chow.
But I believe the fear of Chinese influence today has little to do with the Chinese of old. Given what we see of human rights and environmental abuses in China, the fear of that being brought to PNG, given the waste disposal of choice of the Ramu nickel mine, is entirely valid.
The fear of the power and influence of this massive Chinese corporation (until very recently state-owned) in PNG, given its track record of intimidation, bribes and removal of plaintiffs from an important court case, is also entirely valid.
Both fears are shared by PNG nationals and Australians alike.
I have said before, and repeat here, there is a very simple and swift solution. All MCC has to do is decide to implement world’s best practice in a tailings treatment and storage facility on land. That would mean no ocean dumping, no more court case, no more fear for tuna fisheries.
If the company also commits to and demonstrates a much higher standard of environmental and social care throughout its operation - from commissioning to closure - inclusive of ensuring the Ramu river is not contaminated, that dams and other facilities are built to withstand the seismicity and rainfall of the region and to full remediation and better employment opportunities for locals, it would go a long way towards settling a great many fears.
Hi Jesse,
your message raises a very important issue. It is essential to ensure that this discussion doesn't lapse into xenophobia.
Ethnic Chinese people were originally brought to New Guinea by the German administration prior to World War 1 as New Guinea was then a German colony. I don't recall any negative actions by the Australian administration against ethnic Chinese people living in PNG. In fact, I understood Australia offered citizenship to any ethnic Chinese person living in PNG at Independence.
The current Chinese government may govern the people in mainland China but it doesn't necessarily represent the Chinese people per se. In a previous post I intimated that the Chinese people may well want to do things differently if they had a freely elected government. China's current domestic pollution rates are clearly detrimental to her own people and this message is slowly becoming obvious.
The essential issue here is that the only authority who is directly responsible for ensuring the safety of the PNG people is the PNG government. The PNG PM and his cabinet must be held directly accountable for any subsequent, detrimental impact Ramu Nico or any other 'development' may have on PNG's natural environment. The PNG PM and his government has encouraged and permitted these activities to happen.
Foreign mining and business interests may also responsible and the Australian government and poeple should look at holding Australian companies and their owners and directors responsible and accountable for their actions in PNG and elsewhere.
Regrettably, that same opportunity is not possible in China at the moment.
I usually don't bother to reply to articles that I read, but in this instance what the heck, Keith, if my comments are printable.
I am an Australian citizen of Chinese heritage. The whole family was born in PNG. In fact we claimed PNG as our country, but PNG disputed that, so we were "forced" to leave.
In this current issue of Attitude, I see fear, uncertainty, uninformed comments and ignorance, but mainly fear.
Prior to PNG gaining independent, it was us the Chinese. Now the Chinese are going to overrun the country in ten years. Fear, hysteria, nothing more, nothing less, or could it be just wild imagination?
I totally agree with all. The nation of PNG is in a mess. We need to change the government from top to bottom.
Corruption is at all levels. Please don't make the same mistake as in the past. Don't use the Chinese as your whipping post. They're there because you allowed them. The ball is in your court, play it however you like.
My dream is that one day, PNG will attains all she and her people can now only dream about.
Despite its mission to support DSTP, the SAMS Report did at least state some observations made at Lihir:
http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2010/09/the-report-the-png-govt-doesnt-want-revealed.html
It is for this reason I suspect the SAMS Report has not been released by the government and was not used as evidence by defendants in the Ramu case.
Despite its mission to support DSTP, there is much in there that the plaintiffs can use to show the environmental damage of DSTP.
To state that no-one except PNG readers are taking up the issue of tuna fisheries suggests you have not read all that has been written on the topic in 'PNG Attitude' by Neil Appleby, Paul Oates, Dr Glen Barry, Dr Greg Brunskill, Keith Jackson and me.
My point in raising the overlooked issue of raw sewerage from 2,500 people for nearly three years also being dumped into the bay - which you dismissed as biodegradable - was specifically because this has an immediately detrimental impact on fisheries.
Fish do not like to swim in water contaminated with raw sewerage:
http://earthhopenetwork.net/raw_sewage_endangers_marine_life.htm
Most of the rivers in China are dead - that means there is no life within. So too are the much of the coastal waters because of the dumping of chemical, industrial and human waste.
The resulting impacts on riverine and marine environments are shown in the slideshow on the China Rising article on www.reputationreport.com.au.
This appears to be where PNG is headed. Astrolabe Bay will get all this and mine waste too if the issue of DSTP and riverine tailings disposal is not addressed urgently.
This is not just about environmental devastation, but economic as well. Lose the marine environment and you lose tuna and other fishing, diving and tourism.
I discussed the potential of calling for a global ban on DSTP with a number of marine scientists, and if not for the disservice of the Scottish Association for Marine Science in producing a report with the express purpose of supporting DSTP, this was a strong possibility.
The World Bank wants to see an end to riverine and ocean dumping of mine waste, and stated so in the Extractive Industries Review of 2004.
But those recommendations were not implemented as a result of pressure from countries and companies using DSTP.
Neil - Is there something you can do with the international tuna industry on calling for a global ban on riverine and marine dumping of mine and sewerage waste for their impact on fisheries?
There is a conference for Responsible Mining in PNG in Sydney at the end of November at which I am speaking.
This conference is targeting investors of companies active in PNG. To-date the investors are mostly unaware of the environmental and social damage to PNG their companies are doing because some of these companies (as is the case with Highlands Pacific) are deliberately misleading in their announcements to the stock market.
While we can bring attention to the facts, we cannot take the action that you can.
For example, have you signed or organised petitions in your area? Have you shared the information you have found here with others? Have you demanded your local Member of Parliament and opposition leaders put a stop to riverine and DSTP mine waste dumping in PNG?
Are you standing as a united people to stop the sell out, the intimidation and the destruction of your environment by joining the plaintiffs in the legal action against Ramu’s planned DSTP operation?
This legal case is pivotal. It is not just about Astrolabe Bay. It is about all the rivers; all the bays; all the other industries including tuna fisheries; the whole environment and human rights in PNG.
If the plaintiffs win this epic battle, it will put a stop to Ramu and Yandera dumping mine waste into Astrolabe Bay, and it will stop the use of DSTP by all other projects that are planning to do so throughout Papua New Guinea that have not yet been announced.
But if they lose...
http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2010/10/mine-will-lead-to-armed-conflict-villagers.html
Let us hope that it never comes to this. The villagers are concerned with toxic pollution. Not only will the Madang villagers suffer. So too those of the Sepik, Manus, New Ireland and the Admiralty Group.
If the mine goes for 40 years, the villages will be empty and covered in jungle. There will be no place for their children. There will be no fish to eat. The tuna will be long gone.
It means that they will be among the last paid. The landowner group does not get dividend until the mining income starts.
But that has been explained by Belden Namah that the mineral will be sold to another related company at dirt cheap prices.
Landowners will get their share of the dirt cheap profit after the costs have been taken out. There may be no money left.
It sounds like the Panguna scenario over again. Pollution and no royalties saw Bougainville Copper Limited out of there and their mine going to rust.
History may repeat itself particularly once the Ramu River is polluted and the tuna fishing stops as we read on this blog. Some of us who write on this blog are not as grass roots as we seem.
"Five million tonnes of hot tailings will be dumped into Astrolabe Bay each year for the life of the mine which is estimated at 20 years, totaling 100 million tonnes of toxic tailings.
"The tailings will consist of mainly sediment and fines with high levels of heavy metals such as manganese, chromium, nickel and mercury, with high levels of ammonia and sulphuric acid."
Five million. The currents here are extreme and stratified with documented upwelling which will bring heavy metal sediment to surface or near surface levels.
With the high undersea tectonic seismic activity, the dangers of the discharge not staying where Ramu says it will is even more likely.
Not a thing that Coffey Natural Systems - the environmental consultant of choice for all DSTP projects - claims will be the case.
But it won't bother them because the new Environment Act excuses any environmental damage that was not expected.
It pointedly encourages the companies to say no damage will be done. If ratified, it over rules the injunction, which was of course the point.
I have written extensively about the Ramu DSTP in various ways here:
http://www.reputationreport.com.au/2010/05/reputational-risk-inseparable-from-environmental-risk/
http://www.reputationreport.com.au/2010/07/economics-of-ecosystems-and-biodiversity-the-australian-and-rio-tinto-way/
http://www.reputationreport.com.au/2010/09/mine-waste-war-reputation-under-fire/
Any trace of toxic substances found in flesh of the fish will cause our fishing operations to be closed permanently. Legal action will follow.
Our companies were not advised of the future use of the deep sea tailings placement when we started our negotiations 15 years ago.
Why would a government-owned Chinese mining company care what pollution is caused by its operation since its government doesn't appear to care much about what happens in its own country?
No debate is allowed as long as the operation enhances China's advancement.
But having said that, the Chinese are not alone. Almost any developing country with natural resources and cheap labour has been adversely affected by foreign mining and manufacturing companies.
It is clearly the responsibility of host countries to look after their own citizens and their natural environment. That's the nub of this issue.
The PNG government has effectively abrogated its responsibility and has actively encouraged what is fast developing into a 'fait accompli'.
Can anyone really expect that once the tailings disposal pipeline is built that it won't be used?
The facts are these. The sewerage at Basamuk will be raw, not treated. It will not be discharged at depth but from shore to surface or near sea surface.
Further, there is nothing being dumped at 1,200 metres in Astrolabe Bay. The depth of the discharge pipe outflow from the Ramu DSTP will be just 150m below sea level.
Here are a few more facts. As a response to environmental degradation of the global marine environment (the sea and life therein knows no geographic boundaries), the UN Conference on the Human Environment was held in Sweden in 1972.
It is significant for its resulting call for a global agreement to try to prevent marine pollution.
This agreement, defined by a statement of guidelines drafted at a subsequent conference held in London in November 1972, became known as the London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter into the Marine Environment; commonly referred to as the London Convention, or LC ’72.
The LC does not cover land-based originating marine pollution - only the dumping of pollution from sea-faring vessels or from activities at sea. But this is changing.
This background is important to understand the following.
In 1996, the ‘London Protocol’ (LP) was adopted, replacing the LC. The London Protocol came into force in March 2006 and currently has 38 signatory countries. Under the Protocol, all dumping is prohibited.
However, signatory countries (also known as contracting parties) may issue permits to allow dumping of the following specified materials, subject to certain conditions:
-- dredged material;
-- sewerage sludge;
-- fish wastes;
-- vessels and platforms;
-- inert, inorganic geological material (e.g., mining wastes);
-- organic material of natural origin;
-- bulky items primarily comprising iron, steel & concrete;
-- carbon dioxide streams from carbon dioxide capture processes for sequestration (CCS).
In June 2009 the Scientific Groups of the LC and LP called an extraordinary session to discuss urgent issues with regard to coastal marine pollution specifically associated with riverine and submarine or Deep Sea Tailings Placement (DSTP).
In January 2010, acting on the first priority action item arising from this process, the Secretariat of the LP asked signatory countries to report on environmental controls in place for sub-sea (submarine) and riverine tailings disposal operations.
Responding nations included Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, the Philippines, Poland, Sweden and the United States.
They did not receive a reply from the government of PNG.
The Secretariat approached PNG directly again in June 2010 with a new expanded, questionnaire aimed at collecting key information to gain a better understanding of the type and extent of this issue and about the environmental controls in place for these mining operations.
As yet they have still not received a reply.
The original simple questionnaire contained the following questions:
1 - Are you a party to the LC and LP?
2 - Any current discharges/placement of mine tailings into marine waters under your jurisdiction through pipelines or natural run off?
3 - Any discharges/placement of mine tailings into marine waters under your jurisdiction that have now ceased?
4 - Does any environmental control exist and if so, what nature had these controls?
5 - Were these operations the subject of monitoring and reporting?
6 - Would you need any information or assistance that would help you in minimizing the environmental impact of such operations?
7 - Views on environmental controls to address discharge/ placement of mining tailings?
China’s answers were thus:
1 - Yes
2 - No
3 - No
4 - Marine environment protection laws and regulations on control over dumping of wastes in the ocean
5 - No
6 - Yes
7 - In China at present discharge or placement of mine tailings into sub-sea environments is strictly forbidden by law.
[Direct quote of the Chinese government to the joint Scientific Groups dated August 2010]
That would be about the time Ramu NiCo (MCC) Ltd and the PNG government lost their second appeal against the original injunction against the building of the Ramu DSTP pipe in Astrolabe Bay, PNG, wouldn’t it Dexter?
And just for you, the table of answers provided by all respondents to the original questionnaire is here:
http://www.reputationreport.com.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/LPanswers.pdf
Any other facts I can assist you with, Dexter?
BTW, my information is that DSTP is not banned in China, please check your facts.
All the smelting will be done in China because in China you can get near slaves to work slave wages w\in cess pools of toxins.
In PNG you cannot find workers willing to be paid so little to suffer so much!
The photos I have in my China Rising story on Reputation Report show what raw sewage from a few hundred people looks like from one factory. Imagine nearly 3,000 people for nearly 3 years...
Anyway, what I did not include in the slide show were Lu Guang's photographs of the sick, the deformed, the dying. It is indeed shocking.
It should also be remembered that DSTP is banned in China.
Other links that answer some of your questions:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2846875.ece
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/jul/17/china.internationalnews
http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/27607-Water-Pollution-Scarcity-Top-China-s-Environmental-Challenges-Says-New-Circle-of-Blue-GlobeScan-Global-Public-Opinion-Survey
I was working on something with regard to the giant groupers dying on our FNQ beaches a few months ago but had to put it aside. Will revisit in the coming weeks. Someone else will have to speak for prawns.
Highlands Pacific Managing Director, John Gooding, said that the partners - MCC Ramu Nico Ltd, Mineral Resources Ramu Ltd (representing the state), Mineral Resources Madang Ltd (representing the landowners) and Highlands Pacific - supported the decision.
Gooding said this would be an opportunity for the facts on DSTP to be presented some of which included [with my comments in brackets]:
(1) Tailings are of low toxicity which are treated and neutralized prior to release. [Massive misrepresentation of the real situation. Tailings are at very high temperature on release. Other companies will use the pipe for a range of toxic material not yet specified.]
(2) The depth of the pipe outflow will be 450 ft below sea level with the neutralized slurry dropping to much deeper depths. [A depth of 450 feet is as deep as my block of land in urban Port Moresby. The waste will then be released at massively high temperature to fall and be dispersed as it falls. Much of this will be toxic liquid caught by the currents. There are strong currents in the area that deposits sedimentation. See below.]
(3) The annual tailings represent less than 7% of the 80 million tones of sediment deposited annually in the same area by the rivers which had occurred for thousands of years. [Is Gooding of the junior partner firm talking of the sediment from the Ramu and Sepik? Is he suggesting that the waste will be covered by sediment from the rivers? Or is he talking of waste that will fall into the Ramu River that supplies nutrients to the yellow fin tuna grounds?]
(4) The significant number of independent studies undertaken as part of the approval process which occurred in 2001. [Let the junior partner firm reveal the independent studies. Do these refer to the toxic pollution of the Ramu River? Is any response made to the fear that the tuna breeding grounds will be destroyed?]
(5) Monitoring systems and compliance standards will be in place for the projects duration. [This is false reporting. Even if this did happen, there will be other mining companies using the pipes to discharge waste into Astrolabe Bay. Will the present permit cover them too?]
If the companies tell lies now and promise to do the right thing, the government has legislated that they will never have their licenses revoked and never be required to pay compensation - whether to the villagers, government, and European Union and Asian Development Bank with two tuna fish factories in Kavieng and Manus Island.
The PNG government has allowed a toxic mining enterprise to exist on the rim of world heritage tuna breeding grounds. Has the EU been consulted on the dangers of the toxic waste in destroying the tuna breeding grounds?
Greetings to Dexter Bland.
According to the Ramu Nickel Environmental Plan 1999, Ramu Nico (MCC) will dump 5 million tones of hot tailings into Astrolabe Bay each year for the life of the mine which is estimated at 20 years, totalling 100 million tones of tailings.
The tailings will consist of mainly sediment and fines which will contain among other substances high levels of heavy metals including but not limited to manganese, chromium, nickel and mercury.
It will also contain high levels of ammonia and sulphuric acid. It will additionally dump waste rock and soil directly into the sea at Basamuk during the construction and life of the mine as well as raw sewerage from 2500 people for 30 months.
As is done in China. That's the point of the slide show. This is what it looks like when you dump shit (technical term) in the bay, river, ocean. And this is what they do across China.
On Friday the court imposed an injunction on dumping mine waste until the hearing in February. So Ramu can (sadly) build the pipe (destroying the coral and fisheries inshore) but they are prohibited from using it for mine waste dependent upon the court decision next year.
Nothing has been done to stop the dumping of raw sewage or waste from the construction of the refinery into Astrolabe Bay as the government gave approval for the company to do so some time ago.
Imagine this from 2,500 people for three years. Do the sums. Raw sewage is the carrier of disease, flies, and smell! It will mean a stop to swimming, fishing, diving and tourism. And how pleasant will all of this be to skim over in a boat? Eeeeuuu.
All this, and no benefit to the country - to the people of PNG - whatsoever. It is a disgrace. It is a pity the opposition - with the exception of Belden Namah - appear to be impotent, or at least mute.
If I were living in PNG, no matter where, I would be signing on as a plaintiff in this case. Now is the time for nationhood, for all clans to act as one to protect the environment for all - and join the legal action against Ramu's DSTP plan.
Sure, dig a hole and sell the dirt, but dispose of all waste responsibly, not like this.
DSTP has already damaged Misima. It is happening at Lihir now. If Ramu proceeds, it will be joined by Yandera copper mine - which has already received government approval for its environmental plan that also includes the use of DSTP.
This court case needs your support; your solidarity PNG. It is too easy to threaten and intimidate 10 or 20 people as has already been done with great effect. But what if there were 200 or 300 plaintiffs? Or 2,000? Think about it.
But there can be no dumping of any waste without a National Court decision to come.
There is a very simple-minded understanding of the tailings pipes. The impression is that the pipes will reach over the continental shelf to the sea bed and carefully lay waste on the sea bed.
It will be nothing like that. It may be that the traditional Chinese management cost cutting will take the pipes just over the shelf. Then the waste will be sprayed to the sea bed in boiling hot effluent.
Much will not be solid but chemical waste from several Chinese mining operations with chemical waste not yet cited, that will not hit the sea bed but be carried back on to the beaches and up and down the coast in currents of warm to hot effluent.
The whole area will be spoiled including the electorate of Somare that will suffer pollution and loss of tuna that gather in the sea for the nutrients that come down in the Sepik and Ramu rivers.
But Somare and family will probably be living in Australia. Arthur will not stand a hope in future elections.
Officials in China respond by saying it was a "mistake".
It is certainly a mistake to allow these Chinese companies into any country; they have no respect for humanity.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zambia/8073443/Zambian-miners-shot-by-Chinese-managers.html
http://www.reputationreport.com.au/2010/10/china-rising-your-reputational-risks-with-it/
If the Chinese allow such pollution in their own country, imagine how careful they will be in PNG.
Let us not be fooled about the pipelines down to Astrolabe Bay.
They will turn Madang Province's shoreline and sea into a filthy industrial area and pollution will drift up the coast to Somare's electorate.
There is a report in the "Sunday Chronicle” from the Department of Environment and Conservation on Environment Impact Assessments.
It says “when carrying out an environment impact assessment the following must be satisfied:
(a) submission of an inception report setting out the issues covered in the environment impact statement
(b) submission of an environment impact statement setting out the physical and social impacts which are likely to result from the proposed activity
(c) assessment and public review of the environment impact statement … until approval
It says that, during the course of investigation, the impact of the proposed project on the environment, people and community, the proponent must consult with landowners and communities and communicate all potential impact of the project.
Yet we also know that there is a law that exempts the mining companies from responsibility from accidental environmental damage. Surely these two laws are in complete contradiction. Is it more a matter of who you know?
The second law must be seen as unconstitutional if taken to Court. This country has already seen environmental damage at Panguna and Ok Tedi. This time it will be permitted by permit. A permit will allow the lifestyles of people on the coast to be damaged.
We are finding out from Stephen Cox on this blog of the massive heating of the processing plant with enormous quantities of heated material pouring into the sea in Astrolabe Bay.
This will surely cause massive damage to the coastal waters of the entire north coast. Why was that never raised?
It will be like a volcano on the coast pouring waste forever. Why can not slurry not be sent by pipe straight from the mine to the ships? Why mess up our village areas?
It will raise the level of the ocean floor and cause a constant tide of hot material to kill coral, algae and fish.
Villagers will suffer health problems from the compounds that come from the massive amounts of sulphuric acid. Deep water will become shallow within a year or two.
I have no faith in the government. I know that if the Opposition got into power in the next election, they will make no changes. Australia will not help. All China has to do is remove its standing order for coal and iron and Australia will suddenly turn a blind eye.
In the "Sunday Chronicle" there is also a report of Asians taking logs from the Oro Province without a permit and at gunpoint. My country is becoming a soft target.
I also read in the report posted by Alex Harris that the lease for the Ramu nickel-cobalt site was sold to the Chinese by an Australian company.
If that were not so sad, it would be funny. Australia has put itself into danger by its own democracy and free enterprise.
There will be much cargo passing into Madang en route to the Ramu mine, it will be easy for smuggling to take place.
If any Chinese are smuggling weapons, these can be concealed among the mining equipment. Arms can be supplied to clans in opposition to Exxon-Mobil LNG operations.
A triangle will extend from Madang to Port Moresby and Daru. There may be a Chinese settlement developed in Daru with fishing boats that can carry illegal entries to Australia down to the Gulf of Carpentaria and on towards Darwin.
That will then enable them to travel south by road, rail or air and then travel to southern cities in style. This is as logical as night following day.
I read on this blog about Murphy’s Law that I have not heard of in years. It says that if they can, they will. So this letter may be spot on within a decade.
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At present, PNG Attitude is receiving some highly fanciful commentary about the Chinese in PNG. We ask readers to try to be factual and fair-minded, and to express views that are reasonable and moderate and which will not incite inter-racial tensions. This is a general remark and does refer specifically to Eric's observations - KJ
Most Chinese people who come to this country are young men who come in groups of five. They arrive and soon find a shop and borrow money from a Chinese friend to rent the shop. They have to pay interest on the loan that has to be finished in a short time.
So they all work and live above the shop while they are paying off the loan. They live in rooms above the shop that also serve as the warehouse. At night they come upstairs to eat, smoke and drink beer.
They have guard dogs they keep in darkened boxes and which bark all the time. These Chinese have no respect for animals and in many ways are quite primitive.
By morning, the room stinks of cigarette smoke and beer. There are cigarette butts all over the table. In the morning they go downstairs to the shop and send one or two young girls upstairs to clean up the mess, wash the dishes and their clothes.
They have no washing machine as they see no reason to make the lives of their shop girls easy. Most have no idea of women’s rights and see girls as servants, the prettier the better.
Most Chinese men like to employ pretty 16-year old PNG girls who need a job and will do as they are told.
The young men seem to be uneducated but know shops. They do not speak English but know enough rough Pidgin to give orders to shop girls and tell customers there will be no refunds on goods bought.
One of them has a driving license obtained from the police even though he could not have passed the test as he does not speak English. He drives a new Landcruiser.
The Chinese men drive around town as they are afraid of being attacked and robbed. I have to compare them with Australians who are friendly and kind and do not feel the need to have a bodyguard as they go around the town.
Within six months, they have bought another shop or internet café and two men now look after that shop. Within a few months, they are driving a Landcruiser. Two more Chinese men and a woman arrive to take their place in the shops. They may be cousins just arrived from China.
This goes on until all the Chinese men have shops and drive Landcruisers. If a several hundred Chinese men do this over a few years, all the shops in the town will be taken.
The hygiene of the kai bars is not high. Food that is not sold on one day is reheated and sold the next day or the day after. Use by dates do not mean anything. No speak English.
I have to compare all this to PNG men of the same age who smoke, drink, fight and have sex.
All the money from the Chinese and PNG men ends up overseas. The Chinese send profits home and PNG men drink beer that is made by a foreign company that sends profits home.
The Outcome Based Education of Chinese men is simple. They want money in, goods out, young shop girls and no use by date.
The method favoured to extract both cobalt and nickel is known as PAL, or Pressure Acid Leach, which involves the use of sulphuric acid (battery acid) with temperatures varying between 250~280 Celsius (give or take roughly 500 degrees Fahrenheit). The pressure used is up to 5,400 KPA.
It is used in Western Australia where the dry climate is advantageous. It is not a process suitable for high rainfall areas as a major impediment to its wider use is the production of toxic salts.
PAL has a higher production cost but this is offset by the fact it also produces cobalt. The value of the cobalt offset is approximately one-third of the overall running cost of a project.
The Cawse project is an example of the volumes involved.
250,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid is used to obtain an output of 8,500 tonnes of nickel and 1,700 tonnes of cobalt, the nickel being of LME grade.
It is obvious that there will be a high temperature involved and a massive requirement for fresh water as well as an outpouring of toxic metal salts,sulphuric acid and elevated temperatures.
Even a 130 kilometer pipeline will not effectively dissipate that kind of heat when operated 24/7, 365 days for 20 plus years.
The bio-accumulation of toxic materials in plant wildlife and aquatic species is bad enough.
Then add in the potential of 100 million tonnes plus of waste being pumped into Astrolabe Bay, changing the seabed and increasing the potential effect of tsunamis because of the artificial raising of the sea bed.
When an earthquake strikes, shallow waters near land allow tsunamis to rise to dangerous heights.
What has been historically experienced will no longer apply in the area of the DSTP pipeline in years to come.
At least there are checks and balances involved in most western countries with these processes.
In PNG a process not recommended for high rainfall areas is to be utilised because it will yield both cobalt and nickel.
This will maintain the Chinese stranglehold on a valuable material used in high strength steels and machine tool cutting bits.
People who are being disingenuous about the process are not putting the facts out there for you to make a proper judgement.
This whole project will be the worst disaster PNG has encountered if allowed to proceed.
World body action may be required as international laws and treaties may have already been breached.
It is obvious to me that the Somare government is a Chinese lapdog and the Gillard Labor government is no better having allowed similar Chinese moves in Australia.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/papua-new-guinea-and-chinas-new-empire/article730180/singlepage/
I want to explain how I feel about this as I am afraid to think that my country will be taken over by the Chinese within ten years.
We people of PNG are not perfect and our priority is on family and the wantok system. We do not work hard but we do not accept that Chinese people treat us as if we are rubbish.
They ignore our customs and laws when it has to do with money. They come to PNG and buy kai bars and they employ young girls on a pay scale that has nothing to do with the law. Young boys are never employed in shops.
The turnover of young girls is regular in all the shops. Ask any young girl why they left and you will be told that they had to work too hard including Saturdays and Sundays. Many will talk about sexual harassment by Chinese men and they left because they were afraid.
They did not receive overtime and were not given lunch hour off. If money was short in the cash register, the amount would be taken out of their pay and no questions asked or explanations allowed.
They worked late every night and were afraid to walk home. There was no transport provided to take workers home.
We all know there are people who entered the country illegally hiding in many kai bars and the police are being bribed not to raid the kai bars.
So many of us know that we do not go into a Chinese shop to ask for a donation to our organisation because we will just get a strong look and be told in Pidgin Chinese to get out.
There is no interest in the community. A person who does voluntary work is seen as a fool. Why you no make money?
We see that there will be a flood of Chinese coming in under the Ramu NiCo and moving into the towns to set up kai bars. They will never be asked for their visas and work permits because the Transnational Crime Unit has probably been told to stop any check on Chinese.
Chinese ignore trade laws and they will do their own wiring of the shops with illegal connections made where they can. Money talks with bribes to police and traffic officers.
We know that with two billion people living in China, a million will flood this country.
We know the Chinese way and that is never to leave but bring more in. The Chinese wantok system will set them up in a shop and give them money for a Landcruiser.
We fear that Madang has become a Chinese town. All people living in houses will be forced into squatter settlements and houses taken by Chinese.
Governor Amet has a policy of zero tolerance of settlements, but the same is going to happen as in Port Moresby and Mt Hagen.
If these people were Japanese who came here to take over in 1942, they could be fought. But Chinese people are the ones in the shops, sitting watching the money going in and out of the cash register.
Watching money and goods is their days work. They cannot be fought because they are the shop owners and will sack PNG people who argue with them.
We do have fear that this country is being taken over. China gives little aid that helps the people and they will probably only build a good road from Madang to the nickel mine.
We read that the Chinese built a road the length of Sri Lanka but that was probably for the benefit of Chinese shopkeepers going to Colombo to get their containers of goods for their stores.
Now that the war is over, there are probably plenty of empty shops for the hundreds of Chinese who will come in as they are doing here.
The Chinese are like a hungry lion. If there are 10,000 here this year, there will be 20,000 next year and if they run 700 kai bars this year, they will run 2000 in five years until they have all shops. Total control is their aim and democracy is not their friend just a tool to use to take control.
This report has taken me a long time to write. Do not think I am racist because I am just afraid of forces that my country can not control.
China's reputation for human rights and environmental devastation precedes it for good reason.
The other type of deposit that requires smelting is a sulphide deposit, these are more common in Australia but I don't know of any in PNG.
This is from Highland Pacific site:
http://www.highlandspacific.com/pdf/Ramu_Nickel_Cobalt_Project.pdf
"The Ramu project is premised on mining and beneficiating the nickel and cobalt ore at Kurumbukari which is located in the foothills of the Bismark Ranges approximately 75km south west of the provincial capital of Madang.
"The upgraded ore will be pumped, as a slurry, through a 134 km pipeline to a high pressure acid leach processing facility at Basamuk Bay on the Rai Coast.
"The resulting high value mixed hydroxide intermediate product will be exported for refining to produce saleable nickel and cobalt products."
This discussion thread shows the debate has degenerated into hysteria. People need to calm down and do some research of their own.
I have read many reports on Google and conclude that nickel mining is a dirty industry that no-one wants. The USA has no nickel mine and relies on a mine in Canada.
There is a no-man's land around this mine. Nickel causes lung cancer. In smelting, the process will spill nickel dust across the environment. One report refers to 35 miles around the mine.
It will poison forests, jungles, lakes, rivers, groundwater and gardens. Forget about the pipes to the sea for the time being.
The winds up the Ramu Valley will blow the airborne dust up the valley and down the Markham Valley.
Nickel occurs naturally and is essential for body health but not in the masses of nickel dust that will come from a mine twenty four hours a day.
But politics prevented an environmental impact statement. Within a decade of operation, there will be major health problems in PNG mainly up the Ramu and Markham Valleys. It will be a no-man's land just like the mine in Manitoba in Canada.
As an "exile" in Australia?
Japan had needed coal, oil and iron and found what was needed in Manchuria. This would have provided the raw material for war machinery.
Enlistment of men solved the unemployment problem and sent them off to die for the Emperor for the first time in the history of Japan.
America produced war machinery for US soldiers and supported the war effort of the USSR and Britain. Debt repayment continued for decades.
Germany needed coal, oil and iron and took back the Saar valley lost in the Treaty of Versailles. Manufacture of war machinery had begun.
Now the world exists in a different economic configuration. The nations of Europe live under one currency. China is racing to be the major world economic power. The USA came out of the war with economy strong but has suffered in the last decade.
Japan came out of the depression with a policy of setting up the Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. This was to consist of all the small nations of South East Asia that were colonies of major powers.
Japan had the experience of having its oil supplies cut in an economic blockade by Great Britain and the United States. The bombing of Pearl Harbour was no accident.
Formation of an empire is the way to maximize availability of resources. China has massive reserves but has learned from the United States that it is important to have massive stockpiles.
It may need to follow the strategy of Japan in the Pacific but with an approach that starts within the target country and does not involve bombing the navy of another major power, having its military forces destroyed and nuclear weapons dropped on cities. China is used to the softly, softly business approach with a big stick.
There are enormous stockpiles of oil in the US to be used only in the event of war or massive depression. China really does not have an adequate supply of mineral resources for industrial use and stockpiles.
It needs to build reserves. Chinese industry has consumption needs, increasing rapidly. Global warming is a side issue.
All the major powers know they are all paddling the same economic boat. There is no profit in fighting one another. It is more profitable to sell weapons to small countries and let them fight one another. And occasionally send troops to fight.
The conflict in the Middle East is more about oil than Islam. All countries need there to be a balance of power in that part of the world to allow access to oil at a reasonable price.
Papua New Guinea is an obvious source of resources to be mined as soon as possible and as intensively as possible. And here we see a sense of urgency in commencing the mining in the Ramu valley.
Perhaps China sees as the other major nations already do, that a world economic meltdown can happen again. There have to be stockpiles of mineral resources.
But the danger to Papua New Guinea is that China will damage the nation in its voracious and greedy haste. They will never leave. Possession is nine-tenths of the law.
It is supported by several world currencies that include the currency of China. World economic stability rests on the prosperity of several currencies.
There has to be a stable relationship between the United States and China. This may have deep implications in any Chinese move into the South Pacific.
Please remember that if the US dollar is not supported, the world including China may drop into deep economic depression. No country wants that. All major powers are walking on a tight rope.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/20/3043812.htm?section=world
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See Tok Save in ATTITUDE EXTRA for details of an information session in Brisbane next week to discuss the Ramu NiCo - Highlands Pacific case and related matters - KJ
So, no, there is no justification for damaging reefs in PNG "just because they are dying anyway". Quite the opposite, they deserve a higher level of protection because they are so unique.
And, yes, reefs do recover as the marine environment adjusts to different cycles. But it may take thousands of years.
It's also worth noting that, if the Marengo mine goes ahead, the tailings dumped in the same area of sea will be many times greater than that produced by Ramu Nico alone. No one has considered this.
Yet once the infrastructure is in place there will be tremendous pressure to allow Marengo to do the same thing.
Here's a recent report from the Centre for Coral Reef Studies which was widely reported by many news sites.
"Coral reefs in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean are being wiped out by what scientists are calling the worst bleaching event to hit the area in more than a decade.
"According to experts at Australia's Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, the bleaching event was the result of a massive pool of extremely hot water, which was swept into the ocean back in May."
http://www.news-about-space.org/environment-news/cluster6717522/
The solution probably isn't to speed things up by dumping toxic mine waste over thousands of square kilometers of ocean.
Napoleon thought he was an emperor and said, "I am the state". So if a French peasant told Napoleon, "Monsieur, vous ete une silly old twit", he could be executed for treason.
Now we have a lot of old men in China who have formed a politburo and regard themselves as "the state". Oh when will we ever learn"?
Does that mean that we can call Ramu NiCo and all the other Chinese companies in the Ramu valley, the Chinese capitalist running dogs?
That is only fair.
The Malaysian owned newspaper “The National” ran a report a week later that the coral in the ocean is dying. Thank you, “The National”, for publishing a report in support of Ramu NiCo.
Thank you to Robert Palmer for advising us of the evidence of the Chinese in court. Let us hope that the Chinese are not getting fifth column support from the PNG media.
The massive Chinese industrial race is running counter to the need for nations to reduce emissions in an era of global warming.
The Chinese do not care. Somare is pretending to care.
When there is no coral, there will be no fish in the sea. No massive hauling of PNG tuna by China based companies - in Madang.
This meant the emperor was at the centre of the world with all people living under him as vassals or servants.
All people of the world had to kowtow to him in court. They lay flat on their faces before his throne.
This made difficulty when the envoy arrived from the British monarch. He flatly refused to kowtow. There was an eventual compromise when he agreed to go down on one knee.
The view has long been held among Western scholars that China still has a Middle Kingdom concept of their place in the world.
Now we read a statement in “The National” that the law of China has to be strengthened for the “operation of the world’s factory”.
Is this saying that China sees its industrial base as the centre of the industrial world? Can we see a ghost of Middle Kingdom coming back?
PNG has become first vassal state of the Chinese politburo. Not a smart move. No need to kowtow. Just give your country away.
When a criticism is made, a new report is published to counter the criticism. There was a question on Chinese becoming exempt from PNG law. Next day there was a report of Chinese businessmen making illegal power connections. No mention of arrests.
There was criticism of the Chinese attitude to churches. Immediately there was a photo of the dear late Pastor Kingal conducting prayerful hands-on to a Chinese person at a youth conference in China. The Chinese do not arrest praying tourists – bad for business.
The Chinese authorities have what seems to be a quite childish response to criticism. It is superficial and silly. They think that the thinking population of the world is an amorphous blob of idiots who will swallow anything.
The advertorial mentioned by Peter O’Donnell talks of law in China defending the 'operation of the factory'. Do these people not know the right words to use to defend their system? Operation of the factory? Out of the mouths of dictatorial babes. What hope does PNG have?
Adolf Hitler used to promote a message that in private life, he was a caring man who loved to paint. He would stop his vehicle in a procession to receive bunches of flowers from little blonde girls whose eyes shined of adoration for their Fuehrer.
The article stated that poor mine management and cost cutting was the cause of 2,600 mine deaths this year.
This disaster was made worse by massive clouds of dust. So much for dust extractors. I can feel sad about the lack of concern for the ordinary grassroots worker in China.
If they go on strike they will be arrested for crimes against the state. Confucius did not teach the leadership that.
Deaths like that will occur in the Ramu mines. There will be a cluster of mines over the next few years. But do not worry. It will only be the deaths of prisoners and natives.
The country needs a new prime minister and political leadership.
This cannot be found within the NA coalition so a vote of no-confidence is much needed now to bring about a real change in government decision-making.
We need a good leader for PNG now to steer the country away from its corrupt ways.
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The focus of international relations (IR) has very much shifted to East Asia in context of the rise and influence of China in the post cold war era.
Increasingly more significant is the rise of China in the east, which now poses a more intensified challenge to conventional IR theories.
The question one would pose is: What would IR be with the rise of China? Will China replace US as the global hegemon?
Conflicting theories predict different scenarios about these questions. Realists predict that the rise of China is a threat to the USA and may cause future conflict and instability.
The new non-conventional theory argues that China may not be a threat to the west, premised on the argument that shared common norms may play an important role.
However, they are cautious that the rise of China may conflict other shared norms.
In contrast, Chinese scholars are disputing these Western theories and working to develop its own hybrid theory premised on Confucian thought.
According to IR scholars, China has been miscalculated as a threat to USA. This is because of Confucian philosophy of “peace and harmonious society” ultimately constrains conflict and instability.
While Chinese scholars are indulging in designing a theory of IR to best explain its position in world politics, other scholars, particularly from developing countries, should bandwagon the new school resting on the conventional school.
It is not about how they should play high politics but generally construct a peaceful and harmonious society under the global governance framework.
The Pacific region has been one of the “playing fields” of low and high politics. After the end of WW2, the expansion and influence of China has dramatically tested the US regional hegemony.
PNG, in the true interest of the Pacific region, should learn to work closely with emerging China and some African countries to theorise its new approach in the context of emerging powers.
It is suggested that an international studies institute within the University of PNG dedicated to this project should be the way forward.
Once your reputation drops, gang rape is all that is left to you. All your old friends will leave you to do what you want. You will be past help.
They do not speak English, show no respect and seem to think that Madang is theirs to be taken as they want. Many arrive and are driving landcruisers in two days.
This is no longer a country town. It is a mining frontier town full of men. I am very afraid of the future.
Why has our Prime Minister allowed this to happen?
Is he getting too old to understand and to give the right instructions to Foreign Affairs and Labour? How can foreigners come in without a visa?
That surely happens nowhere else in the world. Is corruption open now in the government? Who cares if everyone knows? What can we do?
Australia please help us. Our beautiful coast is going to be poisoned and spoiled and the town will be changed forever.
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'PNG Attitude' warns readers about taking at face value the veracity of comments not signed by their authors but which use a pseudonym - KJ
The Australian media seem fixated on feeding on the spin and misinformation fed to them. We seem to have an increasing amount of domestic US news in our media for some reason.
The US seems currently more engaged with its so called war on terrorism and the flow on effects of an unquenchable thirst for oil.
The US people are turning in on themselves after discovering that a new President can't perform the miracles everyone expected of him.
What lessons can we draw from this?
In the 1920 and 1930's, the US turned in on itself and proclaimed it wouldn't get involved in a European war ever again.
It turned its back on Asia and ignored the rise of Japanese militarism and the Japanese march across China and the expansion of the euphemistic 'Japanese Greater Asia Co-prosperity Sphere'.
Only when it came to contesting resources like oil did the US wake up to the fact that Japan might be a potential threat to its Middle East supplies and try to contain Japan's access to oil. That eventually forced Japan into a war as the only alternative to accepting US domination of the Pacific.
The Australian public seems far more interested in football and the Commonwealth Games than in what is happening in our region and to our next door neighbour, PNG.
When British PM Chamberlain came back from Munich in 1939 and said, 'Peace in our time', his second statement about the Sudetenland was not as widely reported: 'It's a shocking thing that we have to concern ourselves with such a far and distant country.'
To go back further, when the Roman Army was at the gates of Carthage people were exhorted to defend their city.
Unfortunately, the bulk of the population were attending a gladiatorial games and refused to leave the stadium. After their city was sacked, the population massacred and the area around the city sown with salt to prevent any possible re-emergence, the few people (by then slaves) still alive might have regretted their short-sightedness.
So can anything else be learned from history?
Australians do not traditionally have a belligerent culture. I wouldn't call us a 'pussy', however, as has been previously suggested.
Once we have been pushed too far, we do react. And if forced to react, we can become a motivated and coherent nation with a purpose. That's a factor some have not understood in the past.
This year the Somare Government looked as if it would be put out of power. Even the election of a new Governor-General may have provided problems if the new GG would not sign legislation on Ramu Nico into law.
So the Somare Government was ordered by its Chinese bosses to do whatever was necessary to stay in power until the Ramu Nico project was given the go-ahead. PNG takes its orders from China now.
This is a great challenge to former Aussie PM Rudd, now Julia's swashbuckling roving ambassador who speaks good Mandarin to really understand the Chinese during his diplomatic cocktail circuits in Beijing, Canberra and the Big Apple (NY).
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Roving all right. The AusAID assistance cuts media release was sent from Brussels - KJ
Be warned that you have put yourself and family in danger from Chinese criminal elements. They will not forget. Disloyalty to PNG is a permanent requirement for you. You will escape disloyalty to PNG. You will never escape disloyalty to the Chinese.
If there is ever an uprising against the Chinese in this country, do you think that the Chinese government will stand by and do nothing? They will bring troops.
If they come, they will set up a puppet government. Did you watch the movie 'The Last Emperor'? The Japanese took over Manchuria and put the emperor Pu Yi in as puppet emperor.
Michael Somare may be the puppet emperor of PNG, obeying the will of the Chinese government.
The Chinese navy has already taken depth soundings of the ocean approaches to Port Moresby. We hear of weapons moving into highlands clans. How many of these are made in China? It would be possible that the Chinese want to drive out the Exxon-Mobil LNG project.
So they supply weapons to clans. Many of the illegal Chinese may be military intelligence officers who know exactly which are the trouble making clans and leaders. They may know weapons they hold and ammunition supplies.
The balance of power in the South Pacific is about to change forever. We can thank a generation of corrupt PNG politicians who have taken money and betrayed their people.
Having read the dozen or so comments before mine, I agree with all. But did no one else notice the Chinese Navy in town beginning 18 August - the same day of the last appeal hearing against the injunction - for the period of the injunction?
This was no coincidence. Nothing the Chinese do is without long-range planning, and the use of force is the State's way of getting its way.
The PNG government has hinted a few times that there are many more projects to come like this. That means many more mines using riverine and deep sea tailings disposal.
That is why it so important to the government to get this project moving. The Chinese are getting impatient - perhaps they have already threatened force. Perhaps the Navy was visiting not to threaten the judiciary as such, but the government.
In defending the amendments to the Environment Act allowing full scale devastation with impunity, Somare [quoted in The Australian newspaper, 29 July]:
"We cannot get mining going while this is in court. The Prime Minister's Department has been held to ransom by (the judiciary). The government will lose a lot (of money)".
This comment gives away much.
There is a precedent to what happens when the people of PNG do not fall into line. It is called Bougainville.
The PNG government, in concert with Rio Tinto and support from the Australian government, demonstrated to all that the rights of miners trump the people and that the people are disposable. Some of the Ministers who were in government at the time of the Bougainville war are in government today.
Rio Tinto is in court right now in San Francisco facing human rights violations, including damage to the environment which impinges on people's right to life.
Who will try the PNG Ministers, guilty of the same crime, then and now?
Who will try the Chinese?
The US will not get involved because this would lead to outright war. This is a crisis for Australia.
We have left a diplomatic vacuum in the Pacific that the Chinese have already filled. And this will soon be an economic crisis for Australia, as the Chinese won't need our resources, they already have PNGs.
That report from Sri Lanka on Chinese sending convicts overseas is frightening. The PNG villagers will face convicts.
The Chinese authorities will not worry if convicts are killed. They will send out a few hundred more.
Our country is becoming rubbish, and I blame Somare. The father of the nation is abusing his children.
Perhaps the Chinese will make him the PNG emperor and build him a palace.
It will never be legislated that way because the chief robber baron has not acquitted his fund in many years. He may have become a multimillionaire in the process. We will never know.
What kind of example is he giving to young politicians who may be busy sending their funds to overseas accounts?
People power put politicians into office. But after that the people are powerless to influence their interest in the electorate.
If parliament cannot influence politicians not to steal, it has to come down to the will of the people.
The problem is that politicians who steal the most will never go back to their electorate but will follow their stolen money to their luxury apartment at Surfers' Paradise.
It comes down to people to force the political will in this country. They are wasting their time at the ballot box. They are wasting their time waiting for the member to come back home.
The people must come to the politicians even to parliament house. Most politicians do not care. They have the money. Make them care.
The politicians are going beyond the will of the people. Papua New Guinea is being sold at bargain prices overseas.
PNG have been sleeping comatose for years while your government cartel sold their country out. At some point, both PNG and Australia will wake up one morning to a new country called 'Chinese PNG'.
The point I have made all along is that blaming someone else achieves nothing. Tom is right. The time to actually start informing and motivating the PNG nation, if in fact there is still one left, to achieve a peaceful outcome may fast be running out.
Gentlemen, you're understandable passion needs to be focussed on achieving something positive. We concerned outsiders don't have a vote in your country or a voice. What are you're Opposition members and your people's elected representatives saying and actually doing about the situation?
In relation to George's query and Tom's information about the Somare open door/look North policies, who would know what foreign representatives are already in your country? Historical precedents abound.
PNG seems so determined to give national sovereignty away. The Chinese have never done that. They fought for their sovereignty in the Opium Wars of the 1840s and gave in only after defeated by the western powers.
China must think that PNG is a backward Melanesian group of resource rich islands. If a nation does not look after its sovereignty no other country will do it for them.
Once sovereignty is gone, China will start to dictate terms. We will find that there is real fire in the dragon's nostrils.
This will eventually make PM Somare's ostrich government pull its head out of the sand to do something about its poor people's plight.
God bless them.