The O’Neill Government to appeal a National Court ruling ordering Ok Tedi to suspend dumping, Fisheries Authority makes K10m available for small business, and Newcrest cash-flow looking positive. Your quick digest of the week’s business news.

Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, says the government will appeal a ruling by the National Court which has ordered Ok Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML) to suspend dumping mine waste and tailings into the Fly River system. Deputy Chief Justice Gibbs Salika has also ordered the Government to provide details and records of how it spent the dividends it received from OTML from 2001 to 2013.  O’Neill said in a statement the ruling ‘could well have massive, and unintended, consequences’. The Institute of National Affairs’ Paul Barker says the potential loss of income from the Ok Tedi mine would be ‘a major blow’.

***

The World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes has registered PNGSDP’s request for arbitration following the PNG government’s expropriation of the company’s 63.4 percent shareholding in Ok Tedi Mining Ltd. A panel and hearing date has yet to be set.

 ***

The National Fisheries Authority (NFA) has earmarked K10 million to support small and medium enterprise activities in the fisheries sector. The NFA has given Nationwide Microbank and PNG Microfinance K5 million each, for loans worth between K50,000 and K500,000.

* * *

Gulf Province Governor Havla Kavo is promoting a new K16 million fish processing plant at Baimuru. Kavo says he wants to revive this once-thriving local industry.

* * *

The Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry, Richard Maru, says the government will soon issue visas on arrival for Indonesians arriving into the country. He says the arrangement is designed to boost small and medium sized business trade.

***

Anyone expecting Australia’s Oil Search to conclude a deal soon with France’s Total SA and InterOil to join their Elk and Antelope gas project may be thinking wishfully, according to David Winning, writing in the Wall Street Journal.

* * *

Gold miner Newcrest Mining is on track to be cashflow positive in fiscal 2014, after strong production numbers drove down costs. December quarter results show it is well ahead of schedule on its goal to produce as much as 2.3 million ounces in 2014. Despite that, gold production at Lihir mine was 4% lower than the previous quarter.

* * *

Further evidence of the devastating impact of the cocoa pod borer comes from Waiyu Ltd, East Sepik. Owner Kenny Samuel says cocoa shipments from Wewak dropped from 15 tonnes in 2012 to 10 tonnes this year. Samuel says exporters could save thousands if the Wewak port was upgraded so that cocoa could be sold directly to chocolate factories in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

* * *

An Australian company, Might & Power Australia Pty Ltd, and local firm Water PNG, are to carry out a feasibility study on a proposal to pipe water to the northern tip of Australia.

* * *

An Australian population academic, Dr Ron May, says Papua New Guinea’s current population growth rate is extraordinarily high and has serious implications for the country. The government has released census data from 2011, which reveals at that stage the country’s population had reached 7.3 million.

* * *

The Solomon Islands Government has appointed a Fijian as CEO of the Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau, with the aim of making the industry a top foreign income earner in the next 10 years. Tourism Minister, Samuel Manetoali, says the appointment of Josefa Tuamoto will bring a wealth of experience in marketing Solomon Islands to the world as a tourism destination.

* * *

Samoa’s largest employer, car parts maker Yazaki Samoa, is to cut working hours by one day a week during February, as speculation continues about the future of Toyota in Australia. General Manager, Funefeai Oliver Va’a, says his company is ‘at the mercy of what happens in Australia’.