morobe miner edition 24.indd

MOROBEMINEREdition 24, 2013 Creating a world class mineral province in Papua New Guinea

Bringing you stories of our people, operations and the communities in which we work.

Hidden Valley completed a crusher circuit project which has seen the OLC back to its best

OLC back online

GIVEKES COFFEE

In this issue...

15

CYANIDE TRAINING

11

CRUSHER COMMISSIONED

4

Crusher and OLC back on track

Communities learn about cyanide

Farmers receive fi rst ever training

Morobe Mining Joint Ventures (MMJV) is equally owned by Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (50%) and Newcrest Mining Limited (50%). MMJV comprises of three joint ventures - Hidden Valley Joint Venture (HVJV), Wafi -Golpu Joint Venture (WGJV) and Morobe Exploration Joint Venture (MEJV).

2013 marks the 5th year of the Morobe Mining Joint Ventures operations in Morobe Province.5

MOROBE MINER is produced by the Media & Communications Department of MMJV.

Permission must be obtained for the reprinting of articles in this employee-stakeholder newsletter.

Editor: David Wissink

Contributors: Clive Hawigen, Nancy Kalimda, Samuel Toposona, Gordon Warvi & Jeremy Mark

Send comments or contributions to:[email protected]: 472 1703 Ext 240PO Box 4015 Lae 411, Morobe ProvincePapua New Guinea

P3. HV GM’s message

P4. OLC back on track

P5. Debottlenecking gets results

P6. ERT committed to safety

P7. Baby born on helicopter

P8. Alluvial miners graduate

P9. First tree seedlings planted

P10. Think, eat and save

P11. Stakeholders learn about cyanide

P12. Wafi Primary School reopens

P13. Villages get health patrol

P14. Farmers reap rewards

P15. Coffee farmers get training

P16. MMJV opens Gingen bridge

In this month’s newsletter

As part of MMJV’s road safety campaign, the ITC team has begun installing road safety screen saver messages throughout MMJV.

The screensavers consist of images and messages from posters designed by Bulolo school children during the National Mining Safety Week in March. Screen savers were also derived from winning messages by staff that took part in the competition run in April.

On top of this, MMJV will be installing three billboards containing selected messages along the Lae – Bulolo Highway to encourage

and reinforce safe driving behaviour among MMJV employees, contractors and the general public.

Over the last three months we have been focusing on getting our Morobe Mining structure and reporting lines realigned and working to deliver our business plan.

We’ve created a new executive management structure to operate the business which demonstrates our commitment to ensure we create an effective and effi cient PNG mining company that can not only deliver Hidden Valley as a successful business, but also have the capacity and capability to bring on our Wafi -Golpu project.

The support services for the organisation, Commercial, Human Resource, and Community Affairs have been centralised. These central functions are closely working with the site departments in Hidden Valley, Wafi -Golpu and Exploration to maximise opportunities to further improve our business indicators and relationship with our stakeholders - a critical aspect for us moving forward.

We’ve also been through a diffi cult change period with the rationalisation of our 2013 Regional Explorations program and the change in focus on Wafi to ensure that we improve our business case before we take the project into Feasibility Study. This has required some diffi cult decisions and I commend everyone involved for their efforts to make sure these changes were implemented in a professional and transparent manner consistent with our MMJV values.

We have also seen progress with The Way We Work (TWWW) process, with continuing improvement in the physical delivery of the Hidden Valley mine plan and the commencement of a wide range of cost reduction and improvement programs across the business. These programs are key to us delivering on our $1,200 per Oz target by the end of the 2013 calendar year.

On that note, we’ve had many positive outcomes in our community programs, as you’ll fi nd out inside this issue. Our tireless health support teams carried out a successful health patrol into remote Upper Watut. Our project teams successfully renovated a health centre and primary school at Pokwaluma Village and this was celebrated at the opening in July. We opened another bridge in the Wafi -Golpu area at Gingen which gets us one step closer to getting out of the rivers completely as river crossings pose risks to both ourselves and local community members.

The agriculture programs have been one of the highlights too with a lot of effort put into cocoa and coffee trainings and advice. The Givekes Village has one of the largest coffee plantations in Middle Watut and it’s good to see farmers led by Reuben Mete venturing back into their land to rehabilitate their coffee trees and begin their fruitful journey to one day harvesting millions of kina worth of coffee, with support from CIC and MMJV. Other success stories include the cocoa farmers in Lower Watut as you’ll fi nd in the newsletter.

With those successes in our communities, we’re continuing to focus on our staff as well. It’s important that we maintain a good corporate and safety culture alive within ourselves as we want to go home safe every day to our families. Safety is everything and we want to drive the message through our daily tasks by ensuring we obey our rules and regulations set out for us whether we’re on the road, on the fi eld or in the offi ce.

Let’s continue to be proactive in safety and all areas as well to ensure that as a team, we’re achieving our individual, team and organisational goals to improve our business.

We hope you’ll enjoy reading this edition of Morobe Miner and look forward to your support to make Morobe Mining the most successful mining company in PNG.

Greg Jackson - Chief Executive Offi cer

CEO’s Message

MMJV steps up road safety campaign

Screen savers like this will be installed in the coming days.

2 Morobe Miner Newsletter Edition 24

The performance of Hidden Valley has come a long way in the last twelve months and there are many positive trends to the KPI’s of our operation.

Unfortunately the numbers of Signifi cant Injuries (MTI’s and KPI’s) is not one of them.

In the last quarter we had 4 MTI’s and were very fortunate they were not more serious. Three of these incidents were hand injuries. This is particularly disappointing considering our focus in recent times on preventing these types of incidents.

I would like everyone to spend some time refl ecting on what it would be like to live without your hands and your ability to provide for your family without them. They are a gift and

something we all need to look after.

In the next quarter turning around this alarming safety trend will be the focus of all people at Hidden Valley.

Getting our safety results back onto a downward trend will only come from a concerted effort and each one of us looking out for our work mates and using our safety tools to keep us all safe.

The effective use of LLB’s and Hazard reporting will help us achieve our target of no injuries - ever.

The 4th quarter of FY13 saw a general improvement and Hidden Valley meet many of its production targets along the way.

Total Material Movement and TSF placement targets were exceeded, Mill throughput was only 7,000 tones short of our target - this represents less than one day’s production short of meeting this elusive goal.

Unfortunately we did not quite meet our revised gold target of 174,000 ounces for FY13, coming in at 170,000. But there has been some very positive trends and daily demonstration that our current production levels are in line with what has been budgeted for FY14.

The Hidden Valley crusher upgrade is now completed and has been working at levels that give me confi dence in our ability to move the required tonnage from HV to Hamata and achieve our overall targets. This is

going to set us up for success to achieve both our Production and Cost imperatives.

The enthusiasm of the teams in The Way We Work initiative has been pleasing and the progress has been visible.

I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all involved with the implementation of this process.

The only way to improve our operations is by working together as a team and I look forward to your ongoing contribution.

Bevan Jones - General Manager Hidden Valley

Great progress at the mine

By David Wentworth - Business Improvement Manager

Those of you that frequent Hidden Valley and Lae will see change occurring.

“The Way We Work“ program is in full swing, with all departments engaged.

What you will see and hear is the focus of the MMJV teams aligning on business critical issues, identifying the bottlenecks, discussing, planning, generating ideas, validating ideas, and driving a program of business wide cost reduction and productivity improvement.

To do this, the business functions have had to communicate, not just talk or just listen about their own working environment, but to participate and collaborate in the whole of business cycle.

Several tools, now becoming habits, have been introduced into many of the teams.

Visibility

Team boards are up and running in all of the line departments at Hidden Valley, and the Business Services functions on site and in Lae.

The team boards portray the business process health with suffi cient depth to identify variations from the budget requirements or to identify bottlenecks to future expansion.

Each KPI (Key Point Indicator) on the board has an owner. An owner is responsible for the status of that KPI and the progress to achieve alignment with the budget requirements.

Department meetings, Daily and Weekly, review the results and develop actions to remedy the situation. The actions are tracked on the board and represent short term achievable

milestones so that progress is visible and continuous.

RAR’s

The performance KPI’s on the Team boards are also discussed outside of the team meeting with the individuals responsible in a process we call RAR’s, “Results, Action Review”.

RAR’s are a communication tool between the KPI owner and their immediate leader or constituent in another department or division. RAR’s are held between all leadership positions from Coordinator to the MMJV CEO.

The RAR is a summary discussion, but with enough detail in the documents to “deep dive” in to issues as and when required. The summary page is broken into fi ve topics that

facilitate the discussion, called a “HELP” Page.

The summary details the Highlights, Emerging Issues, Lowlights from the previous week, and Priorities for the forthcoming week. The fi fth topic is your opportunity to ask for support or direction from your leader for the issues you need to resolve.

Each week, the RAR session reviews the priorities of the previous week with the owner to ensure we continually progress towards resolution.

Performance Visibility and RAR’s are two components of the MMJV wiring and Continuous Improvement cycle, and form part of the Management Operating System going forward.

The Way We Work effort steps up

Hidden Valley’s management team having a ‘team board’ discussion as part of The Way We Work initiative.

3www.morobejv.com & www.morobeminer.com

The Overland Conveyor (OLC) at the Hidden Valley mine is a 5,500 metre-long pipe conveyor with a diameter of 300mm, which stretches and winds from the Hidden Valley Kaveroi pit down to the processing plant adjacent to the Hamata pit.

Since the commissioning of the mine in 2008, and due to the confi guration of the two jaw crushers in series, the OLC has been plagued by oversized rocks entering the 300mm diameter pipe causing extensive damage to the belt, the steel idler brackets, the idlers and other associated equipment.

This has severely hampered production and has subsequently resulted in exorbitant costs being incurred to haul the ore by trucks from the two pits to the plant.

To combat the problem of oversized rocks, a project was designed where alterations were made to the existing crushing circuit, ensuring that only rocks of diameter 100mm or less were able to enter the OLC.

Wobbler feeders were installed to replace the problematic grizzly screens. The wobbler feeders are now increasing throughput by screening oversized rocks and sticky crushed ore, thereby increasing the operational safety of the crushing plant.

The oversized rocks are now sent to the new cone crusher, constructed by contractor Tenix, for further fi ne crushing before moving to the OLC.

These improvements have ensured the OLC is more reliable, and no longer experiences the

breakdowns and damage to the infrastructure as it has in the past.

The project, which was under construction since early February 2013, was commissioned in early June and is now operational and successfully transporting the ore from the pits down to the processing plant.

The people working within the

department are all eager and excited, and looking forward to the improvements that the project will realise, knowing full well that this will have a positive impact on the output of gold ounces, our jobs, as well as the well-being of the stakeholders of the Hidden Valley mine.

The project cost AUD42 million for this maintenance and improvement work.

Stan Bierschenk, OLC & Crusher Manager, writes about the successful commissioning of the new crusher at Hidden Valley mine in early June.

HV improves crusher circuit

The new wobbler screen in action (top) and the completed crusher circuit (below) shows the new cone crusher (far left) that was constructed this year.

Every morning the Mobile Fleet Maintenance team meets in the workshop to report the performance of the business for the previous day.

This 30-minute meeting has replaced the old two-hour morning maintenance ‘Roast’ and provides a visual display of the safety, fl eet maintenance, planning, attendance and actions performance for the previous day.

The Way We Work Team has been actively involved in this process and

has designed a number of reports and charts to assist in this process of keeping the business open and transparent.

This allows the team to remain current and up to date with performance information at a glance.

The ‘Actions’ board details daily short term actions which address immediate actions required to keep the business moving toward the achievement of its collective KPIs

and the drive to achieve $1,200/oz by the end of 2013.

Much work has been done recently in order for the department to regularly interrogate the daily, weekly and monthly department costs.

Relevant and meaningful reports are being designed to enable timely reporting of fi nancial performance and this will form the basis of the next phase of openness and transparency reporting.

MFM implements ACTIONS board


Debottlenecking initiative gets results

By Gareth Peachey - Metallurgical Project Superintendent

Hidden Valley’s processing department have been implementing a number of initiatives to increase average throughput, recovery of gold and silver and to reduce plant variability.

One initiative is identifying the ‘bottlenecks’ of the plant that have prevented optimal operating conditions for recovery because of their limited capacity.

Progressively these bottlenecks are being upgraded to remove capacity restraints from the circuit. For instance, concentrate thickening pumping capacity has been improved by operation of the pumps in series confi guration, allowing higher solids concentration in the concentrate leach circuit.

The reduced water content in leaching, increases concentrate leach effi ciencies by extending available leaching time; lower reagent consumption is also a benefi t.

Similarly, a rearrangement of the pumps in the refi nery has allowed greater removal of barren solution (solution from which

gold has been recovered). This has increased the refi nery’s capacity, driving improved wash effi ciencies in the upstream counter-current decantation circuit.

Future debottlenecking opportunities include increasing the volumetric capacity of the fl otation circuit, allowing operation at lower solids concentrations. This additional water will improve fl otation effi ciencies particularly while processing oxide and transitional ore types.

Another initiative is an improved reliance on automation by the process control system to reduce variability and to ensure each part of the plant is operating at maximum effi ciency under ever-changing conditions.

New instrumentation allows the team to automate sections of the plant not previously possible.

For instance, newly installed cyanide analysers are now continuously delivering cyanide concentration information to the process control system that automatically adjusts cyanide addition. This maintains concentrations at the optimal target.

Future process control opportunities include installation of fl otation solids concentration sensors that can be used to control water addition to maintain optimal fl otation effi ciencies.

Encompassing these two initiatives is the implementation of the short interval control (SIC) regime across the processing department.

The SIC program is standardising plant operation strategies across the process plant technicians reducing variation between crews.

The SIC program also drives regular review of the plant performance by the operation and metallurgy teams, identifying potential problems early and allowing effective actions to be implemented.

Alexander ‘Bones’ Wort inspects the Cyclone Overfl ow Screen (above left) and production and metallurgy teams (above) discussing plant data to maximise recovery and throughput.

Hidden Valley mine undertook the longest processing plant shutdown in its history to successfully repair and replace critical assets.

Fixed Plant Maintenance Manager, Jerry Abel, refl ected on the 10-day scheduled shutdown in April this year.

“The purpose was to repair critical assets and wear areas in the plant, and also to replace critical assets which have reached end of life,” Mr Abel said.

He said major tasks included:1. SAG Mill reline2. SAG Mill discharge end inner and outer

seal replacement3. SAG Mill discharge screen replacement4. CV002 head chute change out, and5. Flotation cell agitator assembly change

out.

Mr Abel said there were no incidents recorded from the 1010 jobs completed. “It’s a milestone because completing the critical work safely has increased the uptime of the mill, which in turn will help us reach the goal of $1,200oz by December 31, 2013.”

Mr Abel thanked FPM Shutdown Coordinator, David Wano for coordinating and maintaining control of 144 workers including external contractors without incident. He said an internal third party audit was conducted after the shutdown to capture future improvement opportunities.

“The report will provide us with the details required to continually improve on our shutdown management processes.”

Mr Abel said future shutdowns will focus on

• Tighter resource and cost management controls

• Improved contract management• Improved planning and resource

balancing• Pre work activities such as pre staging

of materials to work areas. He thanked Peter Curry (FPM Mechanical Superintendent), David Boyle (Processing Superintendent), and FPM foremen Frank Sakias, Pious Pilak, Sam Hussey, Mickey Sebenaia, Nathan Aku and Owen Portch for their hard work, ensuring safety and quality of work was up to fi xed plant maintenance and engineering standards.

Mr Wano also thanked everyone who contributed to the project’s success.

Team carries out shut down successfully

Fitters (above) remove the old SAG Mill discharge screen to replace with the new screen (above right).


By Bruce McClennan - Health Safety & Security Manager

Not only are there fi ve permanent members, there are 70 auxiliary members from many departments (including contractors) across the Hidden Valley operation.

Without the ER auxiliary there would not be an appropriate response to an incident or emergency.

The ERT conducts a lot of behind the scenes work at HV. Some of the tasks and duties permanent and auxiliary members perform are:

• Responding to fi re alarms, checking, refurbishing and maintaining all fi re fi ghting equipment, extinguishers, appliances on site

• Responding to vehicle accidents, fi res, HAZMAT/chemical spills and containment, medical emergencies

• Any other emergency or life threatening situation.

ERT also plan rescue and

processes involved in responding and also Process Plant planning for non-routine maintenance work, such as working at heights, gas testing, and confi ned space access.

The team also carries out training in the following areas:

• Use and maintenance of the Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA).

• Fire fi ghting.

• Use on hydraulic equipment (Jaws of Life etc.) for the recovery of trapped personnel.

• Chemical spill and fi re containment.

• Height rescue.

• Confi ned space rescue.

• HAZMAT spills

• First Aid

• Roping and working at heights.

So as you can see they are a busy crew, who are on call 24/7.

All of you will have met some of the ER Team members when you were inducted, as they went over Emergency plans, and instructed you on how and when you use a fi re extinguisher.

Others who are nominated as Fire Wardens work with the ERT as well.

Auxiliary personnel train twice a week. Some of them have been selected to represent Hidden Valley mine at the PNG National Mining Emergency Response Challenge this August. The team will participate in the “Rope Rescue” event.

This will be a great exercise for our team to learn from other mines’ ERTs. This will be an exciting event, I know the HV ER team will do well and do their best.

To improve on our performance, we plan to purchase new equipment in the next fi nancial year. The equipment will include PPE for auxiliary personnel, Confi ned Space Access gear, extra SCBA and other equipment to support the ER response.

The ERT is a vital part of the HV operations response to an incident or emergency and we are doing everything to ensure it is better equiped to carry out its responsibilities.

The team is motivated, trained and keen to respond to incidents and emegencies.

Committed to safety

By Carl Hayes, HV Environment Superintendent Projects

Thousands of litres of bottled water are consumed at Hidden Valley every month at a cost of more than K1 million per year.

In line with Hidden Valley’s objective of reducing site wide costs, a project has been initiated to reduce the site’s reliance on bottled water. This will not only reduce purchase costs but also transportation and waste management costs.

Other benefi ts include a reduction in the mine’s environmental footprint and a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions.

The site’s reliance on bottled water stems from the inability of the current potable Water Treatment Plant (WTP) to consistently supply safe drinking water to meet the site’s demands.

Although the current treatment process utilises multiple treatment barriers which is effective in controlling health risks associated with the raw drinking water

supply, the system often does not cater for the population exceeding 850 people.

Following consideration of several options to improve the site’s drinking water, the preferred option is to replace the existing WTP with an entirely new WTP.

The new WTP is housed in two 40 feet shipping containers and has the capacity to supply the entire ridgeline potable water distribution system including camp and workshop areas with a consistent supply of safe drinking water.

The new system is vastly more sophisticated and incorporates carbon media fi ltration for the removal of tannins, organics, and algal toxins, ultra-fi ltration involving 0.02 micron absolute fi ltration, followed by chlorine disinfection to prevent pathogens and bacteria

from surviving and multiplying within the water supply.

The current ridgeline water treatment plant will be relocated to Hamata to provide improved water quality for the Hamata potable water distribution system.

This will see water supply provided site-wide eliminating the requirement for bottled water consumption on site, and saving Hidden Valley more than K1 million per year.

Reducing the costly bottled water


Wafi -Golpu’s Dr Corney Casper (right) attending to the mother while baby ‘BeeKay’ is being carried by relatives. Captain James (below) having a cuppa after the successful medivac.

“It was all in a day’s work” is what helicopter pilot Captain James McKinstry would have been thinking about when he set out to work on Tuesday June 4.

Yet never would he have envisaged too that he would have a very eventful morning. Simply put, that morning was epic.

During a routine medivac of a pregnant mother at Maralina Village in Lower Watut, the mother gave birth in the BK-117 helicopter on their way to Wafi -Golpu camp.

Captain James recalls: “The woman patient at Maralina village was experiencing problems with the birth of her child. She was placed on a stretcher and then put in the helicopter for a 10 minute fl ight to the Wafi camp.

“Only a couple of minutes after take-off, Dr Conny Casper announced through the intercom that we should return to the village as he thought the patient had now given birth. After a quick “U-turn “we landed back on the village playing fi eld. Upon unloading the patient I noticed we now had an additional crying passenger.

“The doctor assisted the woman to lie on ground to complete the birth. 15 minutes later, mother and baby were fl own to Wafi for a thorough check-up. All in all a rather eventful morning!”

As Tim Vincent, MMJV Aviation Transport Services Manager, jokingly said: “MMJV’s aviation team will now have to come up with FM’s for birth in fl ight.”

The baby has been nicknamed “BeeKay” after the registration of the helicopter ‘BKA’, and model BK-117.

Wafi -Golpu nurse, Wessy Girinde, said the mother and baby were kept at the Wafi clinic for a short time before they were transported down to Angau Hospital for further check-ups.

Baby born on chopper

A mosquito net distribution program has helped to reduce the number of Hidden Valley mine employees from getting malaria.

The bed net distribution is part of an on-going malaria awareness campaign for all MMJV employees.

Mosquito nets have also become an essential standard Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). In the past year, over 5,000 mosquito nets have been handed out to employees and contractors at all MMJV sites including Hidden Valley mine, Wafi -Golpu Project, Wau Exploration base and Lae.

Dr Erica Opu from the Hidden Valley mine medical team, said since the launching of the awareness in January 2013, the number of malaria cases presented to the HV clinic has gradually dropped from 195 in January to 66 in the month of June with ICT (Malaria Rapid diagnostic Test) positive cases down from 45 in January to 32 in June.

She said malaria was still the leading cause of rest-off shift in HV but has now dropped from 75 shifts per month to 40 shifts off cases as of June.

“These fi gures show that workers are now taking care of their own health and protecting themselves against malaria, which tells us that awareness against Malaria and issuing of mosquitoes nets to employees have been effective,” she said.

Dr Opu said although the weather at HV was too cold to catch malaria, treated mosquito nets were still given to staff to use at their homes during their fi eld break.

Dr Conny Casper, attached with Wafi -Golpu Health & Safety Department, gave a presentation on malaria to MMJV staff at the 9 mile core shed recently, and discussed how to prevent the sickness at home and in the workplace.

“This is part of the ongoing awareness on

malaria that’ll be run in all MMJV sites throughout the year. We’re not only talking malaria but are taking steps to prevent it at the workplace,” he said.

Dr Casper said the medical team at Wafi aims to provide continuous health education to the workforce and the goal is to have a healthy workforce which also includes their families at home.

“Distribution of mosquito nets must always go with good education about malaria and the function of mosquito nets and how to take care of them,” he stressed.

Mozzie nets reduce rates

Wafi -Golpu’s Dr Corney Casper attending to the mother while baby BeeKay is being carried by relatives.


Small scale mining can become a very successful business if alluvial miners know proper techniques of mining and managing their income.

This was highlighted during a graduation of 16 small scale miners at the Small Scale Mining Training (SSMT) Centre in Wau recently.

The 14 participants from the Wafi -Golpu area in Huon Gulf District and 2 from Werewere Village in Bulolo District were urged to become successful business entrepreneurs and with the successful completion of the level two course they were in a position to do that.

“So you’ve gone from step one to step two which means you can really do semi-mechanised mining with the use of dredges and other equipment and not only water pumps. That certifi cate is for you as a small scale miner that you have to put into action to become a successful business person,” SSMT Manager Al Comparativo said.

The training was made possible through sponsorship from MMJV and this was the third batch of level two SSMT graduates.

MMJV’s Education Supervisor, Philip Chanei, congratulated the participants and reiterated the importance to implement what they learnt.

“You might also campaign about this

training centre and encourage other alluvial miners to come here to learn about safety, how things are done properly and business management. Not a lot of you will fi nd jobs but you can sustain yourselves with the knowledge you’ve received and to use it in the village to get an income,” he said.

Student representative, Lamis Sowi from Werewere Village, thanked the trainers and MMJV, saying that the level two training put into perspective what they learnt at level one, and that they understood the processes more.

Mr Sowi said they would go back to the village and talk about SSMT and encourage other alluvial miners to come to the centre for training.

Mr Comparativo also said they were looking forward to seeing more batches of trainees coming in until December. He said they were currently conducting an outreach program bringing level one to the communities.

The level two training offers knowledge and skills on the use of simple mechanised equipment like water pumps, high bankers and suction dredges, while Levels 3 and 4 are advanced business trainings for miners with Alluvial Mining Leases from the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA). The centre is owned and operated by MRA.

Alluvial miners graduate

Michael Joyce is the Warehousing Superintendent at Hidden Valley mine.Michael comes from Perth, Western Australia and has been on the job 16 months now.“I’ve seen dramatic changes in Hidden Valley since I got here and we still have challenges that we’re facing. I love my job and I have a great team here in the Supply Department.”Michael believes in teamwork and says working with the end users effectively makes everyone’s job easier.

Meet some of our employees...

When Somatha Jabba adventurously set foot at Wafi -Golpu 18 years ago, he never thought he would last so long at one place.

Today Somatha is in his 40s, and he remembers vividly the time he started.

It was the year 1996. He was slim, muscular and physically fi t for the tough conditions of an exploration camp. He says the decision to go there was a calling and was not by mere chance.

At that time the camp was operated by CRA Exploration and Somatha was one of nearly 200 personal to set base at the Wafi -Golpu exploration camp. As a nursing offi cer his job was to look after the welfare of the entire workforce.

Yet this role worried him. He felt he could not watch as the communities surrounding the camp were dying of preventable illness. From then on, he committed himself to working with the community.

“I saw there was a community need. They needed help when I saw there were a lot of people dying and told the company that it was about time we started to work with the community,” Somatha recalls.

A year into the job, he began working in the community. “The greatest achievement for me is seeing the successful implementation of the Village Birth Attendant program and a drop in deaths from treatable illnesses,” he said. The establishment of existing network between different stakeholders has also been one of the highlights of his career.

Since 2012, Somatha has been with the Community Regional & Development team visiting communities not just at Wafi -Golpu but as far as the Upper Watut area towards Hidden Valley and down to Lower Watut.

Along with a committed team of fellow health professionals such as Loncie Lautu (Health Programs Coordinator) they have facilitated health patrols into the remote regions of Bulolo District.

Describing himself as a ‘last man standing’ he would like to achieve his goal of seeing through Wafi -Golpu Project to mine operational phase.

Serving communities 18 years and on


Martha is a Graduate Accountant and comes from Wau District in Morobe Province.“In the mining industry it’s very challenging. As a graduate accountant coming across to the fi eld side, it’s a new thing for me. But I’m privileged to work with Morobe Mining as my superiors are always there to help me.”Martha says she hopes to become a fi nancial accountant or capital accountant one day.

Clements Lawrence is from Zilani Village, one of the villages in the Wafi -Golpu district.He started work with the Wafi -Golpu Environment Rehabilitation team in November 2012.Clements says he is continuing to learn many new things in his work area and about MMJV.“Working for MMJV has provided an income for me. The company is good, especially with its medical

clinic at site that is supplying people with medicines.”

Final year students Osolele Menggenang, Bill Wasda, Naki Taiva, Giegere Hedziga, Moses Barigo, Lawrence Ko’ou, and Manape Yawip

recently completed their industrial training at various departments in MMJV.

They were Communication for Development students from the University of Technology (Unitech), except for Manape who came from Vudal University.

The students were attached with Community Affairs at Hidden Valley and Wau Exploration, and the

Community & Regional Development (CRD) Health, Education and Primary Industry teams.

Lawrence, who was attached with the CRD Health team said: “One of my best experiences was being able to work with the community. It was a really good experience to go out there and put to practice what I’ve learnt at Unitech. I am a changed person now then 5 months ago.”

Students complete training

From left: Lawrence, Naki and Moses cutting their cake during the farewell.

Environment team plants fi rst tree seedlingsThe Wafi -Golpu Environment team on May 30th planted their fi rst ever tree seedling near the Eikeng Laydown area, a milestone for the team’s nursery.

The fi rst lot of 70 seedlings of Mersawa (Anisoptera thurifera) was planted covering an area of 1,750 square metres.

Anisoptera thurifera is a native to the Wafi area and is a high value economic tree, used mostly for house construction. When the trees mature, they would provide useful timber for Hekeng village.

“It is a milestone for the Wafi Environment team. Just as the site prepared for the World Environment Day, the Environment Department planted well over 60 Wafi -Golpu Environment nursery raised tree seedlings. This has been the fi rst fi eld planting experience for the team and fi rst on the locally raised seedlings,” said David Bola, Environment Superintendent.

Wafi -Golpu Operations Manager Shane Richards

congratulated the team. “Well done to Environment crew and great to see all the hard work with the nursery has paid off. World environment Day went well, so two milestones, again well done,” Mr Richards said.

The team take a group picture after planting the seedlings.

Four third-year Geology students from the University of Papua New Guinea have been engaged by MMJV as part of its ongoing contribution to educate and develop the human resource of Papua New Guinea.

Jeffery Asa, Peter Essy, Molly Hazame and Deakin Tombil have been attached to

Hidden Valley, Wafi -Golpu and Exploration sites on a rotational basis over a six-month period as part of their industrial training, which ends in January 2014.

Student Jeffery said, “I will be attentive to my supervisors (Senior Geologists), ask many questions and do further research to become competent.”

All three students expressed their enthusiasm in learning and gaining the fi rst-hand fi eld experience and contribute productively back to the company.

Students undergo industrial training

Exploration Geologist Charles Kire (second from left) explains a Fact Geology Map to the three students in Wau.


On June 5 Wafi -Golpu marked World Environment Day with activities that promoted healthy eating by going organic.

Based on the theme “Think, eat and save,” the Environment team emphasised the importance of thinking about the portion of food intake and to reduce food going to waste, which can have an impact on the environment from organic and food packaging waste.

In the lead up to the day, the medical team did voluntary health checks on Blood Pressure (BP), blood sugar level and weight for staff and contractors. This was accompanied by awareness talks through food displays provided by NCS.

NCS Food Specialist, Melisha Titus, also gave a presentation on food nutrition to an attentive staff at the camp.

“Let’s think about what we eat to reduce the amount of waste we generate at Wafi ,” said Sarah Watson, Wafi -Golpu’s Environment Manager.

A ‘canvas’ of typically daily food wastage (segregated into piles depending on waste type) fi gures for volumes of each type generated as waste was displayed, showing waste on site with volumes to encourage people to think about waste and impact to the environment.

Another event that the Environment team took charge of was collecting rubbish around the Wafi -Golpu camp.

Led by Wafi -Golpu Environment Advisor, Imbi Tapame, the team cleaned up the rubbish, putting into action two of the MMJV values of ‘being innovative’ and ‘working together’.

“Rubbish like plastics and other non-renewable wastes destroy our natural habitat,” Mr Tapame said.

“Not only that but it also can bring sickness into our community. It’s our responsibility to look after our waste and dispose it in the right place.”

Dr Conny Caspar (right) performs a blood sugar level test on Jacinta Giling. A table showing the different food groups (top) was used to highlight food wastage.

Think, eat and saveDestruction of tailings liquor

Tailing effl uent containing residual cyanide (CN) is directed to the Inco Process tank where a combination of sodium metabisulphite and hydrogen peroxide in the presence of a copper catalyst converts the free cyanide and weak acid dissociable cyanide to thiocyanate.

Thiocyanate is non-threatening and stable in the environment. The discharge from the Inco Process is piped to the Tailings Storage Facility (TSF).

The current operation of the Inco circuit is aimed at maintaining a Weak Acid Dissociable (WAD) cyanide concentration of 50mg/L and 0mg/L CN in the TSF as stipulated by the requirement of International Cyanide Management Code (ICMC).

The treated effl uent is regularly monitored to ensure that the WAD cyanide is below 50mg/L.

The Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) has a capacity of 25 million cubic meters (25 billion litres). The TSF allows for the solids to settle while the liquid is exposed to the atmosphere and further degradation of UV radiation. The liquor is piped back to the processing facility, where it is further destroyed.

The last step in the decontamination process involves the use of Caros Process Technology. This technology is aimed at destroying WAD cyanide before the process water is discharged.

The ICMC requires that discharge to natural environment contains 0.50mg/L of WAD cyanide. This is the target discharge point and currently it is being achieved.

When there is heavy rainfall or sustained rainfall over several days, there is a potential for the TSF to fi ll up beyond its capacity.

The Hidden Valley Joint Venture must then seek PNG Government (Department of Environment & Conservation) approval to discharge treated waster outside of its normal schedule.

The programmed discharge is monitored to ensure that the cyanide concentrations remain below the discharge quality criteria imposed by DEC.

In this issue we feature ‘Topic 4: Cyanide Waste’ describing how cyanide is properly disposed at Hidden Valley

River monitoring stations get checksHidden Valley’s Environment team recently conducted checks on three of its 10 Automated River Monitoring Stations along the Lower Watut and Markham Rivers as part of its ongoing monitoring work.

The team of three offi cers, headed by HV Senior Environment Advisor, Cardie Kelau, visited monitoring stations at Pekumbe, Goraris and Markham. The checks were done to ensure the stations were functioning and carry out any maintenance work as needed.

The stations take continuous real-time data monitoring of the Watut to Markham rivers, measuring water quality including the chemical, physical and biological characteristics of water.

The parameters recorded include water level, water temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, and turbidity. Data is sent to the Environment offi ce at Hidden Valley.

Mr Kelau checks one of the stations at Pekumbe.


Hidden Valley is a signatory to the International Cyanide Management Code (ICMC). The objective of ICMC is to improve the management of cyanide used in gold mining, assist in the protection of human health, and the reduction of environmental impacts.

The ICMC focuses exclusively on the safe management of cyanide and its use in

the cyanidation of gold ores, discharge of mill tailings and leach solutions. Companies that adopt the Code must have their mining operations audited by an independent third party to determine the status of Code implementation.

Those operations that meet the Code requirements are certifi ed and audited results are made public to inform stakeholders of the status of cyanide management practices at the certifi ed operation.

The “International Cyanide Management Code For the Manufacture, Transport, and Use of Cyanide In the Production of Gold” (Code) was developed by a multi-stakeholder Steering Committee under the guidance of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the then- International Council on Metals and the Environment (ICME).

To read more about the code, visit the website www.cyanidecode.org

What is the ICMC?

Hidden Valley mine in Morobe Province recently conducted Cyanide Awareness trainings separately for about 90 representatives from various villages and government offi cers from Watut, Mumeng and Wampar local level governments.

The purpose was to make participants aware of the dangers of cyanide, its impacts if exposed to it, and its functions in extracting gold from ore.

During each session participants were shown the step-by-step process involved in extracting gold from the ore at the mine’s processing plant before attending a series of presentation and discussions in Bulolo.

Senior Project Metallurgist and Cyanide Code Project Champion, Dr Lemas Pangum, told the participants that Hidden Valley abides by the principles set out in the International Cyanide Management Code (ICMC).

Dr Pangum explained that to meet the code’s guidelines they had to comply with nine categories — production, transportation, handling and storage, operations, decommissioning, emergency response, training and community dialogue.

“These are stringent processes and steps to follow, to demonstrate to the auditors that all necessary steps have been taken to ensure proper cyanide use and disposal is being practised,” he said.

Dr Pangum said it was very important that cyanide is properly planned and managed and it was the company’s obligation to inform the communities about their strict procedures in dealing with cyanide.

Participant Jerry Apo said the training

was very important for river and highway communities and that there was a need to inform people about emergency procedures if an accident were to happen.

He was grateful for the training and said he was now in a better position to inform his community about the mine’s work towards being certifi ed by ICMC.

Manager Community Affairs & Lands, Stanley Komunt said the aim was to get community leaders and relevant government offi cers to go through these sessions so they can go back to their respective villages and work places and be able to explain to others when they have any queries.

“In the next phase, we’ll combine with a government team to go out to the Watut River and highway communities and carry out follow-up awareness sessions for all communities. We expect leaders to be there as well to drive the message home.”

There was also emphasis on the safe transportation of cyanide. On hand to discuss this were representatives from Orica and East West Transport (EWT),

responsible for transporting the chemical to Hidden Valley.

“Orica conducts an assessment of the (Lae-Bulolo) highway regularly,” Orica’s representative Joe Quagliata told the participants. “Every convoy we get a report on the road. If it is unsafe, for example if there’s a major landslide, we stop chemical transport. That is our commitment, our corporate responsibility to the community, to the environment and to MMJV. We want to keep you safe.”

He added that millions of kina were spent bringing the safest form of transportation into PNG. “I can assure you this form of ISO tank (used to transport cyanide) is the safest possible form of transportation in the world, not just PNG,” Mr Quagliata said.

EWT Safety Offi cer, John Nul supported Mr Quagliata’s comments and gave a detailed run-down of how East West transported the chemicals from Lae to the mine site.

Mr Nul encouraged the participants to inform their communities on what they learnt from the workshops.

Communities learn about cyanide

Wampar LLG participants (above left) listen attentively to Dr Pangum (above right) explaining the role cyanide plays in the milling process. Cyanide trucks (below) queuing up to enter Hidden Valley mine.


MMJV recently renovated classrooms at Timini Primary School affected by severe fl ooding in January.

The school was forced to close for almost eight weeks, nearly one term of school, after the nearby river burst its banks and destroyed classrooms in its path. The library and teachers’ houses were affected too and nearly all the desks were swept away.

Head Teacher, Mr Wence Wewa, said luckily all the teachers and students were away on holidays at that time thus no one was hurt.

“Even the curriculum materials were swept away. We were forced to close and many of the students transferred out,” Mr Wewa said. “But with the help of the community,

MMJV and its contractors we were able to get the school back up and running. MMJV assisted with the renovation of four classrooms. This has given hope to the 210 students from grades 3 to 8 to complete their education this year. We are so grateful for this.”

Grade 8 student, Pamela John, who hopes to one day become a geologist, said she was very grateful for MMJV’s assistance. Pamela now sits at one of the new desks in the renovated classroom, working hard on fi nishing and moving up to secondary school.

MMJV, through its Wafi -Golpu Project Community Affairs and Community Regional & Development teams worked

around the clock to get the school back on its feet.

Infrastructure Building Projects Supervisor, Gideon Roroa said 20 double desks and 72 single desks were a;sp delivered to the school for grades 6, 7 and 8.

Pokwana, Zilani and Pokwaluma villages of the Yanta tribe in Wafi area became the fi rst villages to be involved in a joint week-long Wafi -Golpu and government education awareness patrol that started on June 9.

The aim of the awareness patrol was to inform locals MMJV’s School Fee Assistance policy, fi nd a location for a suitable village to set up an elementary school and suitable nominees for elementary teachers to take

up training and teach in their local villages.

Education Supervisor Philip Chanei led a team of four offi cers including Bulolo District Elementary Trainer Jeffrey Job, who trains teachers in Mumeng, Watut and Buang LLGs.

Other villages that the team covered in the patrol were Venembeli, Hekeng, Livilivan, Bavaga, Gingen, Zimake, Dengea, Timini, Mazim, Wongkins, Wori and Kapunung.

“The response from the community was good,” Mr Chanei said. “Awareness was done in a thorough manner without any disruption. Villagers were happy with the program and were very participative.”

The locals appreciated the information that was provide and committed to working closely with the MMJV education team for their children’s education.

CRD conducts education patrol for Wafi

A Dengea village boy smiles for the camera while listening to the awareness.

Timini School gets renovation

Some of the students using the new desks.

School children from the Yanta villages of the Wafi area celebrated the re-opening of their school recently.

The Wafi Primary School, located at Pokwaluma Village, was closed for more than ten years after teachers left as a result of transport diffi culties. The school is remote and the only form of transport is by helicopter or bush trail to the Wafi -Golpu Project’s access road.

Today, children are able to go get an education thanks to the rehabilitation of the teachers houses and classrooms by MMJV through its education program. MMJV also renovated an aid post there

under its health program. A health worker and three teachers are now based at Pokwaluma, serving people there as well as the nearby Yanta villages of Pokwana, Zilani, Hekeng, Pekumbe and Venembeli.

School Head Teacher, Robin Boas, urged parents to send their children to the school and support it. “We must contribute to our children’s learning by taking ownership of the vital services provided by the government, company and others,” said Mr Boas.

Yanta leader Gelam Lautu said: “About 30 years now, we’ve not seen one child from here reaching tertiary level. I thank MMJV

for ensuring the school is up and running to provide learning for our children and set them on the path to receiving a tertiary education.”

GM Sustainability & External Relations, David Wissink said MMJV was working with the government to help make education accessible not only to children but for adults who wanted to go back to school.

Bulolo District Education Advisor John Tjipet expressed similar sentiments. “We have a good team so let’s make sure that this school continues for many more years,” he said.

Wafi Primary School reopens


Giving talks on health issues and prevention methods is just as important as curing ailments with medication.

This was the message government health workers in partnership with the MMJV’s Community Health team brought to rural communities during a month-long health patrol in June.

The health patrol comprised 12 medical offi cers who visited about 18 villages starting at Winima, in Upper Watut and down to the Middle Watut area.

They team emphasied to the villagers that taking care of basic hygiene and sanitation practices will prevent them from getting sick.

“Prevention is better than cure,” said paediatrician and consultant Dr Nicholas Mann, who accompanied the team on the patrol.

Dr Mann, a former Health Secretary, said the most important thing for the community to know and to change is the health information.

“Medicine and drugs are secondary. It’s only to treat those who are suffering but the most important thing is to prevent you from getting sick. The idiom that says ‘prevention is better than cure’ is very true. We have

to associate long life with our messages. If you want to live long that this is what you should do.”

He said most of the children that he had seen were suffering from anaemia or lack of blood either from malaria or worms in the stomach. Dr Mann explained to the villagers that effective hygiene and sanitation awareness carried out can prevent this problem.

During each visit to the communities the team also talked about healthy eating, HIV and AIDS, family planning, immunisation and eye care to attentive locals who wanted to know more about this issue. After the health ‘toktok’ a make-shift aid post was opened for medical check-ups and treatment.

One village visited was Hikenangowe, which had received no government services for a very long time.

Local Jaken Yoliam (pictured left), his wife and two children all came for the check-up. Mr Yoliam said it usually took them almost a day’s travel to visit the nearest hospital at Bulolo.

Jaken and the rest of the community thanked MMJV and the health workers for the awareness and service as it gave them the opportunity to check on their health status.

Health patrol for mine area and Upper Watut communities


Later this year, cocoa farmers from Lower Watut will do a fi rst trial shipment of 60 tonnes (900 bags) to Kraft Foods in Singapore.

This is a major fi nancial impact project for the people, a project that will raise the way of life for these villagers.

And this success was a result of MMJV, through its primary industry program, linking up with B4MD and through B4MD, Kraft Foods, creating a strong partnership keen on seeing locals reap the rewards.

Recently Kraft through B4MD donated a set of instruments to the farmers. The instruments include a moisture meter for getting readings of the moisture content in the wet beans, temperature meters for the dryer and fermentery, and a knife used to check the required bean colour. Other items include a grinder for scent testing and a camera, wireless modem and solar panel for capturing

the monitoring process and transmitting the data to B4MD.

B4MD’s Commercial Manager Paul Voutier visited Tsilitsili Village to present and train farmer Tony Giowen on the use of the equipment.

“The purpose this time was to do three things. One is that we wanted to collect a sample and ship that to Singapore. Kraft will use that sample to assess the quality of the beans, a fi rst for Kraft to take a full technical analysis of what’s available on the Watut now and what work needs to be done to meet Kraft’s specifi cation.”

Paul said they have installed equipment that will ensure colour monitoring and send data back to Australia and to Singapore, moisture monitoring and dry temperature monitoring which are critical.

“We’ve given the farmers a grinder to grind the beans and that’ll allow them to start to get a sense of scent coming off the

beans and look for the sour or acidic type of smell, or maybe a smoky smell, to get them thinking about the fl avour and the smell of the cocoa. It’s about helping the farmers become conscious of quality issues, aware of what drives quality and how it’s measured.”

The use of the instruments is the start of the learning process to get the farmers to do the right thing. Over time, they will no longer rely on the machines but on the knowledge and

skills gained from using and observing the results shown by the instruments.

After the training, Tony explained what he had learnt from Paul to other farmers, the fi rst step of imparting the knowledge to others, which is the reason he was chosen to pilot the project.

“These instruments will help us to produce quality beans,” said Tony.

Paul (right) explaining to farmer Tony Giowen how to use a moisture meter while other farmers look on.

Cocoa farmers on track to enter world market

A cocoa farmer from Maralina is earning a substantial income thanks to all the trainings he received from MMJV-funded cocoa training programs.

Farmer and Village Court Magistrate, Bulu Andrew has so far earned about K7,000 from his dry beans.

Andrew said what he had learnt from the trainings and awareness has helped him to understand cocoa farming and apply the correct farming methods.

In May he travelled down the Watut River on his way to Lae to sell 11 bags of dried cocoa

beans estimated to fetch about K3,000. This was his second lot. He had already sold about a tonne that earned him around K4,000 the fi rst time.

“I’m happy that this would help out my family and I thank MMJV for the drive in promoting cocoa farming in the region,” Andrew said.

Mrs Kiriwin Titus is also another female farmer from Tstilistili benefi ting from cocoa. After two years, the hybrid cocoa seedlings she received through MMJV’s primary industry program have started to bear the fi rst pods.

“I’m grateful for the agriculture program which has helped me to be a better cocoa farmer for the benefi t of my family.”

Kiriwin is one of many others in the Lower Watut area of Morobe Province who have benefi ted from the seedling, tools and

nursery materials distribution through the program. Trainings have been also conducted as part of the program.

Primary Industry Coordinator, Steven Mantari said that seeing the trees bearing their fi rst crops was an achievement for the farmers and the program as a whole.

“The next project will be to harvest and sell the beans. Post-harvest quality control and seeking better marketing opportunities for the farmers is another challenge that we’re working on with our partners to enable farmers to produce quality beans and get better returns,” Steven said.

Primary Industry Supervisor, Sophin Malaku, who spent weeks in the Lower Watut communities throughout the distribution project, said after all the hard work it was indeed satisfying to see that it is now paying off.

Since 2011, MMJV has assisted 971 cocoa famers from 8 communities in the Lower Watut region to plant 197 hectares of cocoa trees. The value of the cocoa trees will be worth an estimated K5.4 million by 2015.

Above: Kiriwin proudly showing off her healthy hybrid cocoa plants.

Left: Bulu from Malarina Village transporting his 11 cocoa bags down the Watut River to sell in Lae.

Farmers reap rewards from hard work


The local women line up at the Wafi -Golpu camp mess to sell their produce to NCS staff.

A fresh vegetable buying venture is now putting money directly into the pockets of village women from the Wafi -Golpu area.

The project is a relief for the women who have no markets close by. They are now able to save money for their children’s school fees and other family needs.

Wafi -Golpu Community Affairs through its Women Development Program (WDP) team is facilitating the project between the women and the National Catering Services (NCS).

The project encourages local women from the

landowner villages of Yanta and Hengambu to sell their produce to the mess at the projects camp.

The fresh vegetable buying project aims to encourage supply of quality produce to meet NCS requirements and encourage the local women to cultivate introduced variety of vegetables like Chinese cabbage, carrots and potatoes.

WDP Coordinator, Grace Bini, said this is just the start to see local women participate meaningfully through such incentives to improve their livelihoods.

Coffee farmers from three landowner villages of Hidden Valley Mine in Bulolo District were recipients of a two-week training on quality organic coffee production and marketing.

These villages were Nauti, Kwembu and Winima all located around the footprint of the mine.

Funded by MMJV’s Primary Industry Program, the training was conducted by Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) with support from the Bulolo District Rural Development Offi ce and New Guinea

Coffee, Tea and Spice Company.

Primary Industry Coordinator, Steven Mantari, said a total of 147 coffee farmers attended of which 37 of them were females.

The training covered topics on coffee nursery establishment and management, block management and rehabilitation, post-harvest quality improvement and control, and marketing improvement and certifi cation programs.

MMJV also supplied tools and materials including 70 coffee pulping machines, 50kg each of high yielding Mundo Nova and

Typica coffee variety seeds, 20 visqueen rolls for solar drying facilities, 2 shed cloth for nurseries and other accessories.

Coffee farmers learn to produce quality organic coffee.

Givekes coffee farmers have the potential to produce over 86,000 tonnes of coffee worth over K1 million annually.

Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) training offi cers revealed this when they ran week-long coffee rehabilitation training program for 50 Givekes villagers recently.

According to the trainers, John Kabuba and Clement Mira, Givekes coffee has the potential to change the lives of the villagers forever.

The 100-hectare coffee plantation was planted more than 30 years ago at the top of what villagers call ‘Bisnis Maunten’, two hours walk up a steep slippery track. Over the decades the trees have been neglected.

“The fi rst component is garden management and that’s what we taught them throughout the week,” said Mr Kabuba.

“The second part is to revisit the plantation, select suckers and show villagers what needs to be done to these suckers. Then we’ll come again in mid-2014 and identify old stumps and cut them to allow for regrowth. This

would complete the cycle of rehabilitation.”

He said if the rehabilitation is successful to a stage where the farmers can produce green bean and export themselves, the could be producing over 86,000 tonnes of coffee generating a lot of income.

“If we get the coffee to be recognised by the International Standards Organisation and get it certifi ed, we’d help the community get two separate incomes. The extra income would be specifi cally for community development which would go into their corporative society for projects in the community,” Mr Kabuba said.

Community development advocate, Reuben Mete, who comes from the area, thanked MMJV for funding the training.

“With this training provided by CIC and funded by MMJV, we’re able to complete level one. We believe that coffee will become a primary source of income here and we hope that MMJV will support us to continue with level two and three,” Mr Mete said.

MMJV Primary Industry Coordinator,

Steven Mantari, said this was the fi rst time for MMJV to come into the Middle Watut area.

“Previously we’ve conducted similar trainings in the Upper Watut and Biangai region. I’d like to thank Givekes community for identifying the need to rehabilitate your coffee gardens to improve your livelihood. You have taken the step to empowering yourself and that is great for the community,” said Mr Mantari.

He said MMJV acts as facilitator and that the company works together with stakeholders such as CIC to achieve the target of the local, district, provincial and national governments agriculture development plans.

Mr Mete (right in white t-shirt) and some of the coffee farmers in one of the coffee blocks undergoing rehabilitation.

Givekes coffee a potential bonanza

Landowners get coffee training

Veggie sales earn income for women


We’d love to hear from you!

If you’d like to provide feedback or send in contributions, please contact:Clive HawigenP: 7030 6388E: [email protected]

Media & Communications Offi ceP: 472 1703 ext 240E: [email protected]

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Morobe Mining Joint VenturesNine MilePO Box 4015, Lae 411, Morobe ProvincePapua New Guinea

It wasn’t exactly the welcome the delegation from MMJV, district and local level government, contractors and landowner representatives were expecting when they arrived for the opening ceremony.

Young local boys soaked in red clay (mud) rushed out from the nearby bushes with war cries and swarmed the surprised guests.

The boys jumped, rubbed and hugged the offi cials, giving them a good dousing of ‘face paint’ while traditional singsing went on in the background.

It was certainly a good laugh for everyone present and marked the start of an entertaining ceremony with lots of positive messages from the speeches.

Landowner representatives Gelam Lautu from Yanta, Yaing Akwila from Hengambu, and Yawising Anunga and Chester Inoa from Babuaf had one message to say – working together was the way forward for development.

“The company has brought this service to our doorstep so we thank MMJV for this as we won’t be stranded anymore when the river fl oods,” Mr Lautu said.

“We must put our differences aside and work together to see more benefi ts.”

Mumeng LLG President, Mathias Philip

echoed the landowner’s remarks, saying MMJV was here to stay and the people had to embrace the project and participate fully in any business or social programs.

Mr Philip called for stronger cooperation and consultations between all parties to move the project forward.

GM Sustainability & External Relations, David Wissink, said the opening of the new bridge marked a strong partnership between the company, government and local people.

Mr Wissink said the bridge would link other vital services and reiterated the call for stronger cooperation between all stakeholders to realise more developments to take place within Wafi -Golpu project areas.

The bridge was opened by Mr Wissink and landowner representatives drawing cheers from locals as the guests and vehicles crossed the bridge to complete the ceremony.

The 45-meter Compact 200 Bailey Bridge took about three months to complete and

now ensures vehicles and people have a safer passage over the Waim River.

The delegation (above) are given a red clay welcome by the local boys and the fi rst PMV crosses the bridge (below) after the opening.

Just two months after opening the Demakwa Bridge, MMJV through its Wafi -Golpu Project achieved another milestone when it opened a second bridge near Gingen Village on Saturday June 29.

Locals try out the second bridge to open under the Wafi -Golpu Project

Safer crossing nowMMJV opens Gingen Bridge

morobe miner edition 24.indd

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