This mine is destroying our land:
Open letter from landowner, Porgera,
Enga Province, Papua New Guinea

I am writing this open letter to the management of the giant 
Porgera gold mine, national leaders and local leaders. When you 
fly over the mine, you will notice that the waste dumped into the 
Kaiya river by the mine has caused a lot of damage to the land on 
both sides of the river banks.

The worst affected have been the Kewai tribes people. These 
people, like their forefathers, are subsistence farmers. 
Hopefully, their children and grand-children will have suitable 
land available but with the way things are, I very much doubt 
there will be.

I am a young man from Kewai and I have lived here all my life and 
hope to pass my land onto my children. Even though I am employed 
by the mine, I still rely on my land for food.

I like gardening and my wife has passed down traditional 
gardening methods and the different names of vegetables, flowers 
and so on to my children. Having land and making gardens is not 
only about having enough food to eat. It's part of our culture 
and way of life. We identify ourselves by our land and have 
emotional and historical ties with our land.

Without my own land, I am nothing. My land is my anchor to my 
people and tradition. This land keeps us together as a tribe and 
as a family. The damage has been so great that some families have 
lost more than 40 per cent of their best gardening land.

The mining company (PJV) has allegedly paid very little 
compensation. What they pay is enough to last a few months and 
then it's gone. PJV won't help my people by giving contracts. So 
much for the business developments and opportunities they are 
always preaching about. Most contracts allegedly go to the same 
people that already have one or two wantoks as PJV employees. 
This is one area that PJV must look into. We are the people being 
most affected but get little benefits.

The North Anawe people signed agreements with PJV when their land 
was used for a dump. So why can't we, the Kewai people, be shown 
the same respect and courtesy by one of the biggest mines in the 
world and definitely the biggest in PNG. We do not get royalties 
which was promised many years ago for waste dumped into our 
river.

We are not asking for millions, just enough to ensure that the 
quality of life that we now enjoy can be sustained.

The practice that PJV allegedly has in secretly dealing with 
individuals must stop. Sometimes, PJV allegedly pays the wrong 
person and then says that the rightful owner should take that 
other person to court. This raises tension and animosity in the 
villages.

PJV allegedly has a secret policy of "divide and rule". This has 
been going on for more than 15 years. PJV must realise that when 
the mine first started, the landowners who signed the agreement 
then, were all uneducated. They were also led to believe that 
untold wealth and riches would be theirs. They now have realised 
that they were being fooled. The people who told these lies are 
now living in Port Moresby. They hold positions that give them 
access to money that belongs to the people of Porgera.

They have made themselves rich by stealing from the people. They 
know who they are and should resign immediately. The good Lord 
will reward you one of these days for stealing from uneducated 
people.