Landowners in Papua New Guinea's Enga province have pressed the government not to renew a license for a Canadian miner.
Porgera mine. Photo: wikicommons / Richard Farbellini
Barrick Gold Ltd, which is co-operator of Enga's Porgera gold mine with China's Zijin Mining Group, is pushing to renew its contract for another 20 years.
Negotiations are ongoing with PNG's government which said it was seeking a greater share in the mine.
But landowners continue to complain about lack of compensation for environmental damage caused by the mine over almost thirty years of operation.
Additionally, the chairman of the Porgera Landowners Group, Nixon Mangape, told EMTV that promised benefits from the mine were never forthcoming.
"I said 'no means no'. Barrick's license has expired and the company should be ready to exit. So you exit, you exit peacefully. No negotiation."