Papua New Guinea (PNG) has a fresh government. And it’s brought with it a “baptism of fire” in the shape of radical proposals to change the country’s existing minerals legislation. A new law would grant indigenous landowners rights over their subsoil resources, previously held by the state. But does it go far enough – or in the right direction?
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11149.
Among the companies affected by this law would be Canada’s Barrick Gold, the world’s largest gold producer, in which a number of UK-based funds invest (see http://moneytometal.org/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=Barrick&go=Go).