Chinese mine treating PNG workers 'like slaves'

LOCAL workers building China's $1billion nickel mine in Papua New Guinea are being treated like slaves and paid just $4 a day, according to PNG Labour Secretary David Tibu, who is threatening to shut the site down.

Following a surprise visit to the site in Madang province, Mr Tibu said health and safety conditions at the project were far below international standards.

Mr Tibu said workers were sometimes being paid for overtime with tins of fish rather than with money, that canteen arrangements were not fit for pigs and that toilet facilities were so inadequate and public that employees instead used nearby bushes out of embarrassment.

Construction began at the site a few months ago. Fifty workers went on strike over poor working conditions last month and called on the Madang provincial government to take action. Mr Tibu's visit followed.

The Ramu mine is China's first big project in Australia's neighbourhood. The way in which it is developed is being closely watched, with landowners expressing concern that the Chinese Government-owned Metallurgical Group Corporation (known as MCC) would bring in a large labour force from China.

Mining Minister Sam Akoitai told the PNG Post-Courier yesterday that mine construction should not have begun, because the owner had yet to submit, let alone gain approval for, its feasibility study or its development proposal.

He said approval for construction would depend, among other issues, on satisfying the Chief Inspector of Mines that the project would meet standards required by the Mining Safety Act.

The mine aims to produce 32,800 tonnes of nickel and 3200 tonnes of cobalt a year. The project won - under its original owner, Brisbane-based Highlands Pacific Group - a unique guarantee from the Government that its tax rate would stay constant.

But since Highlands Pacific's sale to MCC 18 months ago (the Brisbane firm retains a 15 per cent stake in the project), it is believed Ramu has been granted a far bigger favour from the Government - a 10-year tax holiday, despite opposition from experienced officials.

The early start to construction appeared at first to be an electoral plus for the Government led by Michael Somare, which goes to the polls in mid-year. But it is now starting to rebound, throwing up challenges that are likely to echo well beyond Madang province.

Opposition Leader Peter O'Neil commended Mr Tibu for his actions and said that, while investors were welcome, they had to neither force slavery on Papua New Guineans nor import its own workers to perform tasks for which locals were more qualified.

He said Ramu's owners had to follow the standards set by mining and oil operators at Bougainville, Ok Tedi, Misima, Porgera and Lihir.

MCC is using a subsidiary, ENFI, to undertake the preliminary construction. An ENFI manager, Hu Zhiliang, told the Port-Courier the company would respond positively to Mr Tibu's directives, adding: "We cannot afford to make this project a failure for both China and PNG."