We were was asked by the World Bank to advise on a sustainability policy to ensure all mining projects will be processed by a single legal, fiscal, regulatory and administrative framework. This requires a core set of sustainable development principles to guide the existing but evolving framework. We sent an expert on sustainable mining policy to conduct a study of relevant international experience and compile a report on the sustainable mining development concept to be applied in Papua New Guinea.

This will fit in with their national development policies such as the Papua New Guinea vision 2050 and the Papua New Guinea Strategic Development Plan 2010-2050. We then identified the opportunities and constraints for sustainable mining development in the existing legal and regulatory framework, consulting over 200 prominent local stakeholders in Port Moresby, Tabubil and Alotau.

The resulting policy was prepared on the basis of a review of documents and initial consultations with stakeholders in Papua New Guinea in May 2013. The sustainability principles we have drafted are intended to preserve the uniqueness of individual mining projects while promoting sustainable mining development in the sector. The policy will support the government in delivering sustainable and equitable economic growth across the country and to protect the interests of both local employees of the mining sector, and the indigenous communities and their local areas.