Encountering 'Sainaman': Friction at a Papua New Guinea Mining Contact Zone

Abstract

This thesis is an ethnographic case study of the Chinese majority-run Ramu Nickel Cobalt Project and its relationship with the indigenous communities on whose land the mine and refinery are located, in Madang Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG). To date, the Ramu mine is not only China's largest investment in the Pacific, but also PNG's first mining project that is majority-run by a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE). Before the Ramu Nickel Cobalt Project's development and operation, PNG's mineral resource extraction projects had been operated exclusively by Western mining companies. Unlike previous PNG mining projects where locals work alongside 'white men', employees and local communities at the Ramu mine interact with Chinese expatriate workers, known colloquially as 'Sainaman'. How do Papua New Guineans understand and experience a Chinese mining project, and how do they perceive of the differences between the Ramu mine and other PNG mining projects? I frame the Ramu mine as a "contact zone" - a social space where disparate cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other. This thesis examines a series of social interactions between disparate groups and actors, taking the approach adopted in "Mining Encounters" (Pijpers & Eriksen 2018), which explores the frictions between groups with competing agendas and world views in different social contexts. My findings demonstrate how long-standing local expectations for wealth and modernity from the mine are articulated by landowners using the Christian language of the 'prosperity gospel'. Locals compare their perceived lower-than-expected level of benefits and community services at the Ramu mine to other Western mining projects in PNG, and attribute this perceived difference to the 'Chinese-ness' of the project. Landowners conclude, rightly or wrongly, that they would be better off with a Western mining company operating the project. Cultural and linguistic frictions between different Papua New Guineans and Chinese expatriates have led to a series of legacy issues at the mine, and rather than addressing the local development gap and much-needed community services expected by locals, the Chinese SOE instead pursues soft power diplomacy through the promotion of patriotic Chinese state culture among local communities.