Thanks to #economic turbulence and #geopolitics, #China is buying up #gold like never before — and it’s looking to places like Papua New Guinea to supply it.
But with aggressive tactics and irresponsible #mining practices, China’s ‘gold rush’ #diplomacy is alarming locals and sparking concern in the West. Sean Williams reports.
On a quiet, green bend of the Frieda River, in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea, sits 16 hectares of land that may become one of the largest open-pit mines on earth.
The Frieda River Project — operated by Australian miner PanAust, which itself is wholly owned by Chinese state-owned vehicle Guangdong Rising Assets Management — is forecast to yield #gold, #silver and #copper worth around $1.5 billion per year for 33 years.
Yet, today there are no pits or blacktop roads at Frieda, and its small knot of cabins and machinery are enveloped on all sides by rainforest so extensive it has been called a “second Amazon.”
Thousands of local community members want to keep it that way.
Since 2020 local activists have launched a campaign called “Save The Sepik” — referring to the river from which the Frieda flows — and have accused the mine of various #environmental and economic injustices.
They say PanAust does not have a robust plan to deal with the mine’s estimated 1.5 billion tons of waste, or “tailings,” and they highlight the fact that China-backed pits nearby have rendered swaths of the country uninhabitable.
“We’re not going to feed the Chinese company and its greed and selfishness,” says Emmanuel ‘Manu’ Peni, the “Save The Sepik” group’s leader, adding that around a hundred thousand people have backed the campaign.
Powerbrokers in the capital city of Port Moresby, some 500 miles away, however, feel differently. Gold is Papua New Guinea’s second-largest #export behind #petroleum, and mines like Frieda are crucial if the country’s prime minister, James Marape, is to deliver on his promise to double Papua New Guinea’s GDP by 2029.
Moreover, those in the capital are feeling the full weight of China’s gold rush diplomacy.
In recent years, as China’s demand for gold has skyrocketed, Chinese companies have invested billions of dollars in Papua New Guinea gold mines, and Chinese firms have offered to deliver much-needed #infrastructure.
Papua New Guinea is not the only Pacific nation from which China can realize its golden ambitions. But scattered across the sprawling island nation of some nine million people are the clearest examples of what has — and could — go very, very wrong.
For the full piece, click the link below:
