Lihir most productive mine, apprentice of the year named, and a public-private partnership for power in Hela. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.
Lihir Gold Mine in the New Ireland Province has topped the mining sector in the country as the most productive mine, according to Mining Minister Johnson Tuke. ‘In 2017, it achieved a record level of export revenue of K3.686 billion and production and revenue to date in 2018 are ahead of last year,’ he said.
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PNG Apprentice of the Year Perpetua Oseia. Source: Oil Search
Oil Search Process Technician apprentice Perpetua Oseia is the 2018 PNG Apprentice of the Year. Oseia was selected ahead of eight other contestants from industrial, mining and petroleum companies to claim the honour of becoming the top apprentice at the annual National Trade Testing Board end of year awards.
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A new public-private partnership with the goal of generating and distributing power in Hela has reportedly been formed. ExxonMobil PNG, operator of the PNG LNG Project, and PNG Power will undertake a joint feasibility study next year to assess the viability to provide power to the province.
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A tax on beche-de-mer in Papua New Guinea has been likened to ‘killing the goose with the golden egg’. The new tax is US$4.60 per kilogram. The Post Courier quoted the chairman of the Morobe Primary Producers’ Cooperative Association, Reuben Yapi, as saying exporting beche-de-mer is an excellent economic platform.
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BSP Capital announced on November 30 that it had entered into an agreement to sell all of its shareholding, 62.5 per cent, in the Port Moresby stock exchange. BCAP is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank of South Pacific Limited.
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Local beer manufacturer, South Pacific Brewery, has confirmed the existence of a fake beer product being sold in Port Moresby. It is being packaged illegally in similar looking cans of its SP Lager green can brand. At the moment SP believes the sale of the fake product is restricted to the capital city and the surrounding Central Province, with no confirmed reports in other regions at present.
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The country’s vanilla industry has dug into its spot strongly as the world’s second largest vanilla producer in the world, according to global vanilla buyer Aust & Hachmann (Canada) Ltd. In its recently released November report, it stated that PNG continues its dominance in No.2 spot, with production set to ramp up further in 2019, below No.1 producer, Madagascar.
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The National reports that APEC Minister Justin Tkatchenko had earlier said the APEC Authority would cease to exist at the end of December. For that reason, all assets owned by the authority would have to be disposed of through public tender before the end of December. Tkatchenko said proceeds from the sale of those assets would assist the government recover some of the money spent to host the APEC Leader’s Summit.
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Photograph of the week
Leoshina Mercy Kariha from PNG is the newly crowned Miss Pacific Islands 2018-2019. The new Miss Pacific is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in PNG studies at the Divine Word University in Madang Province and says she want to serve her society as a diplomat or social worker. Her win also means PNG will host next year’s Miss Pacific Islands pageant.
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