Growth in the resources sector in Papua New Guinea is driving parallel growth in the businesses that provide mining operations with the services they need to function.

LCR Group has been operating in PNG since 2009, providing crane services for engineering group Clough on the gas processors and docks that will service the PNG LNG project.

In response to the rising demand and skill shortages created by the continuing PNG resources boom, LCR Group is expanding operations from supplying cranes to training and providing PNG staff to operate and service the cranes. The training operations will involve the use of a virtual-reality crane simulator.

Clough and its partners in various contracts for PNG LNG won $209 million worth of work in 2011 and announced a further $145 million in new work early in 2012.

After a record year in 2010, the local branch of Malaysian heavy equipment supplier UMW is using a brief hiatus to consolidate its systems and processes and rebuild its facilities in order to take advantage of the next wave of opportunities in the mining sector.

‘Our strategy moving forward is to focus on service, planning, parts supply and training; to become the representative of the manufacturer in PNG,’ Andrew Cooper, Divisional Manager—PNG tells Business Advantage.

This article first published in Business Advantage PNG 2012/2013