Total SA Chairman says company is planning to commence construction of LNG plant in 2018, Ramu NiCo ordered to stop operating nickel mine and Harmony Gold reports ‘continuing exploration success.’ Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of oil and gas company Total SA, Patrick Pouyanné, says the company is planning to commence the construction of the Papua LNG project in Gulf Province by 2018. Pouyanné says construction is expected to follow the finalisation of the evaluation of gas reserves, which the company hopes to complete by the end of this year. “We will have a finalised evaluation of the gas reserve by year end and we will decide what is the type of the project,” Pouyanné said. It is estimated that the project will cost US$10 billion (K30.8 billion). The project will create 10,000 jobs, he said.

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The Mineral Resources Authority has ordered Ramu NiCo management to stop the operation of its high pressure acid leach nickel mine in Basamuk, Madang, according to the company. The order also includes the withdrawal of people working in the high pressure acid leach area.

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Harmony Gold reports ‘continuing exploration success’ at its Kili Teke prospect in Hela Province. CEO, Peter Steenkamp, says the latest results ‘support our belief that Kili Teke has the potential to develop into a major new porphyry copper-gold system’. He says a revised estimate of the  resource will be made in September.

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Jackson Airport. Credit: Skerah

Departing travellers at Port Moresby airport will now have free wi-fi, says the National Airports Corporation. The service will operate at both international and domestic terminals. Travellers will be asked to present their boarding passes and ID card or passport, whereupon they will receive a user name and password.

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The Frieda River Project feasibility study will be submitted by PanAust’s joint venture partner, Highlands Pacific during the second quarter of 2016, according to PanAust Managing Director, Dr Fred Hess. ‘It is expected that it will be submitted to the Government of Papua New Guinea by the end of the second quarter, initiating the process for regulatory approvals,’ he said.

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The Exim Bank of China is funding 85 per cent of the new K511.54m Enga Hospital, which will be built by Guangdong Foreign Construction Ltd. The new level-5 hospital will have 180 beds.

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The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, and a high-level business and government delegation are coming to Papua New Guinea for a three-day visit starting on April 29. PNG and Indian leaders will also sign an agreement for a pharmaceutical factory.

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The NRI’s Dr Justin Ondopa.

The National Research Institute has claimed that PNG’s real estate industry should not be regulated: it will not attract private investment and may push out the competitiveness in the industry. Dr Justin Ondopa, Senior Research Fellow and Program Leader of the Property Sector Development Program says the Institute is working in collaboration with the Independent Consumer & Competition Commission (ICCC) on a Code of Conduct.

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And finally, Virgin Australia says it is prepared to start flying to Vanuatu again. A World Bank survey reports the rehabilitation plan is on track and the airport is now useable for 12 months.