Nautilus launches exploration programme

By ELIZABETH VUVU

NAUTILUS Minerals has launched its 2012 exploration programme in the Bismarck Sea in its exploration tenement areas, The National reports.
 Its tenements included the first commercial development and recently approved licence, the Solwara 1 and 2 projects, located at 1,600m water depth in the Bismarck Sea between New Ireland and East New Britain provinces.
According to a statement from the East New Britain provincial administration, the awareness team visited the province last week from New Ireland and would move on to the other provinces sharing coastlines of the Bismarck Sea as part of their exploration cruise programme awareness.
The Nautilus exploration exercise will begin tomorrow over a period of 90 days aboard mv Duke, a fully-equipped seafarer vessel specially fitted for ocean research and with latest technology on deep sea exploration.
According to project geologist of Nautilus awareness team Kessy Wama, the main objective of the exploration exercise was to identify new targets, assess data on existing finds and assess the new methods of exploration.
She said the deep sea exploration methods were mainly multi-beam and seismic surveys with the latter being the first of its kind to be used by Nautilus in mapping out geological structures beneath the sea floor.
Wama said these activities were low impact and not harmful to marine wildlife and Nautilus would be operating under both the PNG and Australian standards that would be closely monitored by a marine observer who would be onboard the exploration vessel.
She assured that as means of controls and mitigation, all equipment on the vessel were well-tested and designed and manned by very experienced operators.
Deputy provincial administrator-coordination and implementation, Clement Irasua, reiterated the need for compliance to ensure that marine resources were protected at all costs while in operation.
He appealed to maritime communities of East New Britain and New Ireland to understand this awareness programme and cooperate whenever they sighted the mv Duke out on the open seas

Coffee Industry Corporation helps in air-freighting coffee

By AUGUSTINE DOMINIC

COFFEE Industry Corporation stands ready to assist remote coffee farmers air freight their coffee to major towns through its freight surety scheme (FSS), according to chief executive officer Navi Anis, The National reports.
 He said the government had allocated K5 million to CIC under the FSS programme, which farmers from as far as Marawaka, Simbari, Jimi,  Karimui, and other remote areas were currently using to ship their coffee.

Chairman of the Apo Coffee Co-operative Society Nicholas Ello (left) and the Salvation Army’s Care Programme coordinator Henry Bagme  counting the coffee bags freighted by an Adventist Aviation plane into Goroka from Karamui recently using the CIC’s freight surety programme

“Under the FSS programme, CIC will pay upfront for air freighting coffee, and the farmer will repay the freight cost once the farmer sells his/her coffee,” Anis said.
He said the arrangement would depend on the availability of planes, weather conditions and front loads.
Farmers were urged to visit the CIC head office in Goroka, Kundiawa or Mt Hagen to seek the assistance of the FSS programme, or contact CIC marketing analyt on telephone 531 1200 for more information

Passenger ferry runs aground in Bialla

By ELIZABETH VUVU and LESLIE OMARO

FERRY operators Rabaul Shipping have hit the headlines again after its ferry, mv Kimbe Queen, ran aground on a reef in Bialla waters, West New Britain province, yesterday morning, The National reports.
The incident comes just 20 days after its sister ship the mv Rabaul Queen sank in heavy seas off Finschhafen, Morobe province, claiming at least 180 lives.
The mv Kimbe Queen, which departed Lae on Sunday, took on passengers in Bialla on its way to Rabaul when it ran aground.
The number of passengers on the vessel is yet to be confirmed.
Police said all the passengers were safely evacuated with the assistance of boats provided by the Hargy Oil Palm Industry Company.
No injuries were reported.
The ship was refloated later in the day during high tide and returned to the Bialla wharf.
West New Britain police and National Maritime Safety Authority officials plus WNB disaster officials were at the scene with Rabaul Shipping managing director Peter Sharp.
New Guinea Islands divisional police commander Supt Anton Billie confirmed the incident and said he was waiting for a report from provincial police commander Thomas Reu who was in Bialla.
The vessel departed Lae on Sunday with 30 passengers bound for Kimbe.
It berthed at Bialla wharf until yesterday morning.
At around 6am, it began its journey to Rabaul after taking on 26 passengers.
National Maritime Safety Authority chief executive Chris Rupen said Rabaul Shipping vessels were by-passing Kimbe, the normal stopping point between Lae and Rabaul, for Bialla.
He did not give any reason.
An NMSA inspector based in Kimbe had gone to Bialla, which is a three-hour drive from Kimbe, to investigate and report back, Rupen said in an email.
Three weeks ago, the Kimbe Queen, with about 170 passengers on board, was forced to abandon its journey to Port Moresby from Alotau, because of bad weather

MPs exchange punches

By JEFFREY ELAPA

A DISAGREEMENT in parliament yesterday ended with a brawl outside the debating chamber, leaving Sumkar MP Ken Fairweather nursing a bloody face, The National reports.
 Housing Minister Fairweather and Middle Ramu MP Ben Semri, a former fisheries minister now sitting with deposed prime minister Sir Michael Somare’s group in the middle benches, had a heated exchange over the lack of services for the people. Both represent electorates in Madang province.
It was sparked off when Fairweather interrupted Semri’s speech to parliament.
Semri was speaking on issues involving Middle Ramu Block One, saying his people needed services when  Fairweather broke in to ask what he was going to deliver to the people in Middle Ramu.
Semri made a rude hand gesture at Fairweather who responded by standing up and trying to remove his tie while calling Semri out for a fight before walking out of the chambers.
An angry Semri then shocked parliament when he shouted out: “You white bxxxxxd.”
Lae MP and Public Service Minister Bart Philemon raised a point of order and asked Semri to withdraw his unacceptable parliamentary language, which Semri did.
Deputy Speaker Francis Marus said leaders should be mindful not to use unparliamentary language.
Deputy Prime Minster Belden Namah also described the language as unprofessional and should not be used against each other by MPs.
Semri told parliament he had been angered because Fairweather had tried to remove his tie for a fight.
Fairweather returned to the chamber a few minutes later as parliament began voting on the bill to create 22 reserved seats for women.
Semri walked out of the chamber with other MPs who did not want to vote on the bill.
When parliament adjourned, Semri waited for Fairweather on the second floor of Parliament House and blindsided Fairweather with a punch which saw the Sumkar MP suffer a minor cut to his face.
Both men then removed their ties and exchanged punches for a couple of minutes before other MPs stepped in to separate the two members of parliament.
Earlier, an argument had also developed between Semri and Higher Education Minister David Arore but
was defused by other MPs

5 coffee groups cleared to build factories

Five new coffee grower groups have been granted permits to build factories by the Coffee Industry Corporation board.

They are East New Britain Coffee Growers Corporative Association, Enga-based Kompiam Co-operative Society Ltd, Eastern Highlands-based Logia Wago Coffee Management Services, Chimbu-based Neretere Coffee Ltd and Mt Hagen-based Rokel Wet Factory.

Workers from Arabicas Ltd threading green bean coffee bag

Workers from Arabicas Ltd showing off green bean coffee

Another notable achievement was by Goroka-based Hanu Coffee Producers, which advanced from permit to build a dry coffee factory to a dry processing license.

“License and permits were approved for these coffee companies after a full inspection by the CIC coffee inspectors of their facilities,” said CIC CEO Navi Anis.

“These included funding, land, coffee supply of at least 50 to 100ha and management expertise were considered appropriate in line with CIC guidelines and recommendations made to the CIC board.”

He urged coffee companies to comply with the license and permit agreements and advance to higher levels of the coffee business.

Meanwhile, a total 121 licenses and permits for various coffee businesses were approved for 2012.

They include six manufacturing companies, 17 exporters, 49 dry processors, 37 wet processers and seven permits to build a factory were renewed.

A total of 23 licenses were not approved due to non-compliance issues, however, Anis said the companies could re-apply in March 2012 once all compliance issues were rectified.

License and permits for the respective coffee companies were issued to them by the CIC starting last week.

Coffee dealers warned about illegal deals

The Coffee Industry Corporations is has reminded dealers to refrain from illegal dealings in 2012.

Acting manager for industry regulation and compliance, Michael Waim, said CIC was aware of various illegal deals, including trading of stolen coffee to purchasing of green bean coffee by non coffee-exporting companies.

 Women sorting out coffee beans in a shed used by exporter, Monpi Coffee, in Goroka last year.-Pictures by MALUM NALU

He said under the CIC Statutory Functions and Powers Act 1991, “a person other than a registered coffee dealer who conducts a business of buying or selling; buying and selling or trading in unprocessed coffee is guilty of an offence”.

“The penalty is a fine not less than K1, 000 and not exceeding K5, 000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both,” Waim said.

He said CIC coffee inspectors were doing routine checks on factories and people buying green beans and one way of detecting illegal coffee traders was through delivery dockets.

Waim urged dry coffee processors to adhere to processors guidelines to install distoners (stone removers) and densimetric (sort out defects) tables in their factories.

Board chairman James Korarome, during a coffee processors’ and exporter’s meeting last year, called for production of quality coffee to raise the profile of PNG as a quality coffee producer.

Korarome said if registered coffee companies were caught involving themselves in illegal dealings, they would be fined K100, 000 or have their licenses revoked.

‘LNG construction work makes good progress’

Oil Search Ltd announced yesterday that 14,300 people were employed by the PNG LNG project at the end of last year, including some 8,600 Papua New Guineans.

About 1,000 women were among those employed at the project, 94% of whom were Papua New Guineans.

The US$15.7 billion dollar project, which is due to be completed in 2014, is entering the peak period of construction with ongoing work at all sites extending from Hides in the Southern Highlands and the pipeline route through Gulf Province and via Central province as well as at the LNG plant site, just outside Port Moresby.

By the end of last year about 130km of the 400km offshore pipeline had been laid.

Over 100km of onshore pipeline had been welded with route clearance and pipe laying underway.

The first phase of the gas tie-in at the Kutubu central processing facility and construction of a new control room was completed with laying of a new sub-sea pipeline underway.

Oil Search managing director Peter Botten said mechanical completion of the offshore and onshore sections of the pipeline would be completed this year, with additional work at the LNG plant site and elsewhere.

He said recent political developments had not hampered development activities, which have continued uninterrupted.

“We look forward to working with the new government following the elections planned for June 2012,” he said.