This week Divine Word University is hosting a symposium with the ANU's State Society and Governance Program in Madang, on Asian (read: Chinese---but also Filipino) investment in Papua New Guinea. Rumour has it that a foreign investor persuaded DWU to change the name of the symposium from the forementioned to something more 'equable', which resulted inthe following announcement and roster of speakers:
Divine Word University, Madang, 18-20 October 2010 Culture and Pacific-Asia Partnerships in Resource Development
Topics and speakers include:
The origins of capital in natural resource extraction: does it matter?
Asian fisheries investment in the Pacific: Asian and local identities The Australian native title agreement-making landscape: Engaging in-between and negotiating cultural difference Ecological spirituality for Papua New Guinea: Traditional Melanesian beliefs, Christianity, and science Asian investment in PNG’s ‘agroforestry’ sector: What’s new and what’s not? The representation of the Kurumbukare and Basamuk people in the PNG Media Look North Policy, Asian investment, and Papua New Guineans: A trinity formed for development? Dependency culture and hand-out mentality in mineral resource development in Papua New Guinea Tribal partnerships and developing of ancestral Maori land The concept of reciprocity in resource development: the Melanesian way Extractive industry challenges to rural communities Who is responsible? Responding to social impacts of mining in Papua New Guinea We are not anti-Asian—just victims of poor governance Chinese resource projects in Africa: a change in behaviour? Waku in Solomon Islands: Asian investment and diplomacy The Evolving Relationship between the FSM and China Who are the Chinese? Understanding the new Chinese diaspora the Melanesia way. The Politics of Resource Ownership and Resource Development in Papua New Guinea: an overview from the 1960s to the present Fuqing Dreaming: the construction of diaspora identity among the ‘new’ Chinese in Papua New Guinea Views from the inside: how do future Chinese elites see the world? Sharing revenue from the PMIZ project among different landowner groups Changing partners: Power, politics, and the rise of China in Oceania The impact of foreign direct investment: Landowner associations and the Ramu nickel project Customary rights, national law, and the management of Visayan fisheries in the Philippines Overseas resource investment and China’s foreign policy Natural or Unnatural Partners? The effects of inequality on Gende society and their relations with mining companies The origins of capital in natural resource extraction: does it matter? ZHAO Hongtu Xavier WINATA
Merriden VARRALL
Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University
Laura ZIMMER-TAMAKOSHI
PNG National Research Institute
China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations
PNG Studies Department, Faculty of Arts, Divine Word University
Kate BARCLAY
University of Technology – Sydney
Glenn BANKS
Institute of Development Studies; School of People, Environment and Planning; Massey University
Cynthia ZAYAS
University of the Philippines at Diliman
Terence WESLEY-SMITH
Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa
Eva WANGIHAMA
Catholic Archdiocese of Madang
Graeme SMITH
China Research Centre, University of Technology, Sydney;
State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Project, The Australian National University
Jerome SEMOS
PNG Studies Department, Divine Word University
Samuel ROTH
PNG Studies Department, Divine Word University
Gonzaga (Zag) PUAS
College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University
Clive MOORE
School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics; University of Queensland
Cristelle MAURIN
Department of International Law, University of Paris–Panthéon Sorbonne
Patrick MATBOB
Communication Arts Department, Divine Word University
Martha MACINTYRE
Department of Anthropology, University of Melbourne
James LAKI
Peace Foundation Melanesia
Robert LAKA
Social and Religious Studies Department, Divine Word University
Tanira KINGI
AgResearch, New Zealand
Simon KENEMA
Department of Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews
Benedict IMBUN
University of Western Sydney
Joel HAMAGO
Communication Arts Department, Divine Word University
Colin FILER
Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program, The Australian National University
Priscilla EPE
Department of Social and Religious Studies, Divine Word University
Toni BAUMAN
Aboriginal Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Today we learn from the news that China has just signed an MOU with Madang's Yandera mine, Marengo Mining Ltd, as the financier and engineer for the project. This comes on the heels of the new submissions in the Ramu Nickel case for an injunctionagainst MCC'sd deep sea tailings disposal program---and new revelations about the nature of State coercion against plaintiffs in the previous case. It also follows the bold statements by Hon Belden Namah on the real natureof the Ramu mine, its tax holiday, transfer pricing plans, and zero-sum benefits to be afforded either the State of PNG or the landowners of Rai Coast. The implication being screamed at us is that any 'deal' made between the State of China and the State of PNG was effected between individual players and as money spent, cannot be undone now. In other words, China has PNG by the short hairs.
Date: October 18 2010 Marengo Mining Ltd says a Chinese firm will secure financing for its flagship project in Papua New Guinea, which could become one of the world's largest copper mines. Marengo on Monday inked a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China Nonferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd (NFC) for financing, construction and development of the Yandera project in PNG's Madang Province. Marengo said NFC may also take a stake in the Perth-based company and the project, which also contains molybdenum and gold. Marengo said in a statement that Yandera would be a large-scale, long-life operation, with production anticipated to start at about 25 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa), eventually ramping-up to 50Mtpa. Beijing-based NFC may also buy concentrate from the project, which was expected to commence exports in the 2013/14 financial year, Marengo said. "It is important to note that the MOU also contemplates NFC facilitating project finance and concentrate off-take for the project, together with potentially investing either in Marengo or the project, or both," Marengo managing director Les Emery said. NFC president Wang Hongqian said in the statement that Yandera would be one of the world's largest new copper mines. Marengo expects to complete a definitive feasibility study for the project by the end of this year, secure project financing by November 2011 and start project construction in the first half of 2012.
Marengo in broad deal with Chinese firm
The other party to the MOU is Perth-based mining engineering group, Arccon WA Pty Ltd, which introduced Marengo to NFC
It is therefore timely of us to look back at some of the work of NFC in Africa---for Zambia. Below are excerpts of news items collected by the watchdog web site www.business-humanrights.org under the heading NFC. We learn that Yandera can expect from NFC much the same as Ramu Nico has come to expect from MCC: 'slave' wages and conditions, poor safety and sanitation, and always a company official explaining to the press that the problems are 'cultural' and that Chinese workers have come to expect these abysmal conditions, why can't the host community?
Title: Zambia Opposition To Target Mine Cos' Labor Practices
link status: missing location
Visit: Zambia Opposition To Target Mine Cos' Labor Practices
Author: Nicholas Bariyo, Dow Jones
Dated: 20 Aug 2008
Zambia's main opposition party will target mining companies with poor labor practices if it wins the coming presidential election, its vice president told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday... Chinese investment in the country's mining industry has for some years come under international scrutiny, with the country accused of disregarding safety regulations and mistreating Zambian workers. NFC Africa [part of China Non-ferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering & Construction (NFC)] owns the Chambishi copper mine in Zambia...
Title: Zambia miners 'see little reward'
link status: ok (opens outside this page)
Visit: Zambia miners 'see little reward'
Author: Orla Guerin, BBC
Dated: 06 Jul 2007
Now [NFC Africa Mining's Chambishi mine] employs 2,000 people...But in spite of soaring copper prices, some miners are paid only $100 a month. They complain of exploitation - "slave labour" in the words of one. The mine's deputy chief executive, Xu Ruiyong, speaks of "local friends" and says there is a cultural gap. "Maybe we think it's normal, but other people think it's too harsh," he adds.
link status: ok (opens outside this page)
Visit: Zambia miners 'see little reward'
Author: Orla Guerin, BBC
Dated: 06 Jul 2007
Now [NFC Africa Mining's Chambishi mine] employs 2,000 people...But in spite of soaring copper prices, some miners are paid only $100 a month. They complain of exploitation - "slave labour" in the words of one. The mine's deputy chief executive, Xu Ruiyong, speaks of "local friends" and says there is a cultural gap. "Maybe we think it's normal, but other people think it's too harsh," he adds.
Title: China's African embrace evokes memories of the old imperialism
link status: ok (opens outside this page)
Visit: China's African embrace evokes memories of the old imperialism
Author: John Reed, Financial Times
Dated: 28 Sep 2006
Today China - as an emerging economic colossus hungry for raw materials - is back in Zambia as a direct investor. Like past foreign patrons, the Chinese are taking no chances with their new prize. In July six workers at the Chinese-owned Chambishi mine were shot and wounded after rioting over wages...Labour relations [at the mine] have recently improved since the implementation of a new collective bargaining agreement...In April 2005 a massive and still unexplained blast levelled an explosives factory on the [same] premises, owned by China's NPC Mining Africa, killing 46 people...Chinese investors have also been criticised for deploying poorly-paid and under-equipped Zambians in dangerous jobs. In June Zambian authorities closed the Chinese-owned Collum Coal Mining Industries, based in southern Zambia. This followed reports that workers were being sent underground without protective clothing or boots.
Title: African resentment against China grows [Zambia]
Visit: African resentment against China grows [Zambia]
Author: Reuters
Dated: 09 Aug 2006
When Chinese investors bought struggling copper producer Chambishi Mining Plc, miners in this Zambian town gave them a heroes’ welcome for averting its closure...Three years on, resentment is rising openly against the new owners, NFC Africa [part of China Non-ferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering & Construction Co. (NFC)], as workers complain about pay and conditions...Last month miners destroyed property at the mine in a violent protest during which Chinese managers opened fire, wounding five workers, according to miners and police...Tensions over labor practices are relatively new but spreading...Some of the more common complaints against Chinese firms include poor pay, lack of safety clothing or boots for workers in textiles, copper and coal mining industries...In 2004 the Zambian government asked Chinese managers at Zambia-China Mulungushi Textiles Ltd, in northern Kabwe, to stop locking in workers at the factory at night...And in June authorities shut down Collum Coal Mining Industries Ltd, in southern Zambia, saying miners had been forced to work underground without safety clothing and boots.'''''
Title: China's African embrace evokes memories of the old imperialism
Visit: China's African embrace evokes memories of the old imperialism
Author: John Reed, Financial Times
Dated: 28 Sep 2006
Today China - as an emerging economic colossus hungry for raw materials - is back in Zambia as a direct investor. Like past foreign patrons, the Chinese are taking no chances with their new prize. In July six workers at the Chinese-owned Chambishi mine were shot and wounded after rioting over wages...Labour relations [at the mine] have recently improved since the implementation of a new collective bargaining agreement...In April 2005 a massive and still unexplained blast levelled an explosives factory on the [same] premises, owned by China's NPC Mining Africa, killing 46 people...Chinese investors have also been criticised for deploying poorly-paid and under-equipped Zambians in dangerous jobs. In June Zambian authorities closed the Chinese-owned Collum Coal Mining Industries, based in southern Zambia. This followed reports that workers were being sent underground without protective clothing or boots.
Title: African resentment against China grows [Zambia]
link status: ok (opens outside this page)
Visit: African resentment against China grows [Zambia]
Author: Reuters
Dated: 09 Aug 2006
When Chinese investors bought struggling copper producer Chambishi Mining Plc, miners in this Zambian town gave them a heroes’ welcome for averting its closure...Three years on, resentment is rising openly against the new owners, NFC Africa [part of China Non-ferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering & Construction Co. (NFC)], as workers complain about pay and conditions...Last month miners destroyed property at the mine in a violent protest during which Chinese managers opened fire, wounding five workers, according to miners and police...Tensions over labor practices are relatively new but spreading...Some of the more common complaints against Chinese firms include poor pay, lack of safety clothing or boots for workers in textiles, copper and coal mining industries...In 2004 the Zambian government asked Chinese managers at Zambia-China Mulungushi Textiles Ltd, in northern Kabwe, to stop locking in workers at the factory at night...And in June authorities shut down Collum Coal Mining Industries Ltd, in southern Zambia, saying miners had been forced to work underground without safety clothing and boots.
Title: China's investment, clout in Africa cause concern
Visit: China's investment, clout in Africa cause concern
Author: Laurie Goering, Chicago Tribune
Dated: 19 Feb 2006
All told, Chinese investment on the long-neglected continent has mushroomed from $10 billion in 2000 to $18 billion in 2003...China's willingness to deal with rogue regimes, to overlook public corruption and to push ahead with projects regardless of safety and environmental concerns risks African lives and undermines African institutions and Western efforts to promote good governance, analysts say. [refers to Mulungushi Textiles plant, NFC Africa-operated Chambishi copper mine]
Title: Death toll in blast at Zambia mine climbs to 51
link status: ok (opens outside this page)
Visit: Death toll in blast at Zambia mine climbs to 51
Author: Shapi Shacinda, Reuters
Dated: 21 Apr 2005
[A] blast at a Zambian mine...killed at least 51 people..."...We do not believe that anyone inside the blast area survived,' said Wang Aide, managing director of the Chinese-owned BGRIMM Explosives Plant, on the premises of Chambishi copper mine...BGRIMM Explosives, a division of Beijing General Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, is a major supplier of explosives for Chambishi, owned by China's NFC Mining Africa Plc, and other copper mines in Zambia...NFC Africa is 85 percent owned by China Non-Ferrous Metals Industries Foreign Engineering and Construction Group (CNFC China). Zambia's ZCCM Holdings Plc holds the remaining 15 percent stake.
www.business-humanrights.org
BBC News, Zambia
Justina Mumba
Xu Ruiyong
NFC Africa Mining
Ng'andu Magande
Zambian Finance Minister
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6267754.stm
Published: 2007/07/04 18:01:12 GMT
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Posted by: abenk | December 20, 2010 at 01:15 AM