Dilemmas of Development: The Social and Economic Impact of the Porgera Gold Mine, 1989-1994

Abstract

The main purpose of this volume is to publish, and thus to publicise, the factual material contained in a series of consultancy reports commissioned by the Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) between 1992 and 1994 (Banks 1993, 1994a, 1994b, 1994c; Bonnell 1994). These reports dealt with the social and economic impact of the Porgera gold mine on the population of the Porgera Valley during the period which had elapsed since the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) signed a Mining Development Contract with the PJV in April 1989. They were commissioned as part of what became known as the Porgera Social Monitoring Programme, which was itself intended to satisfy some of the conditions which the PNG Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) had attached to its approval of the company's Environmental Plan (NSR 1988) and Environmental Management and Monitoring Programme(PJV 1991). The substance of these reports has been revised and edited to form Chapters 2-7 of the present volume. The last two chapters have been specially commissioned from two other social scientists who have studied the social impact of the mining project, and who were asked to provide their own comments on the design, management and output of the Porgera Social Monitoring Programme. Show more