Nicholas A. Bainton

“My Land, My Work”: Business Development and Large-Scale Mining in Papua New Guinea

Purpose – This chapter analyzes landowner business development and economic sustainability in the context of large-scale mining in Papua New Guinea with a focus on the Lihir gold mine. It pays particular attention to the social implications of success or failure of business development in mining contexts.Methodology/approach – This chapter is based upon ethnographic research and social impact monitoring studies conducted by the authors in Lihir between 1994 and 2012, as consultants and employees of the Lihir mining operation and as independent researchers. This chapter is also based upon broader research and consulting work undertaken by the authors at other mining locations throughout Papua New Guinea. The research is intended to explore the social changes generated by large-scale mining and related forms of business development, and the factors and strategies which constrain or enable landowners to get what they want from capitalism.Findings – Business development in resource extraction enclaves is structurally different from other nonresource development contexts and produces a more dependent and client-based approach to capitalism. In Lihir, research and ethnographic observations indicate that landowner business development is highly territorialized, which is captured by the landowner catch cry “My land, my work.” Ultimately, mining has provided significant economic opportunities for the local community, but these economic changes, especially through the distribution of mine-derived benefits and opportunities for business development, have involved processes that have divided people and entrenched inequalities.Practical implications – In Papua New Guinea, the close relationship between property ownership, landed interests, and capitalist engagement creates steep challenges for sustainable business development in resource enclaves. This research provides a strong foundation for exploring alternative strategies for economic development.Originality/value – Provides detailed insights into the social, economic, and political factors which influence sustainable business development in Papua New Guinean mining enclaves.

Stepping stones across the Lihir Islands: Developing cultural heritage management in the context of a gold mining operation

Large-scale resource extraction projects often create obstacles for the protection, maintenance, and inheritance of indigenous cultural heritage. In this article we detail some of the challenges and opportunities arising from our collaborative partnership with the community of the Lihir Islands in Papua New Guinea, which is seeking to establish, inform, and resource a formal cultural heritage management program in the context of a large-scale gold-mining operation. The general approach to this collaborative venture involves the application of a specific development tool, the Stepping Stones for Cultural Heritage program. This consultative process is innovative in both Melanesia and the context of resource extraction, but also more generally within the field of cultural heritage. We describe the outcomes of this process and some of the initial pilot projects, one of which was based on the recording of traditional Lihirian songs. We also argue that while the mine places greater pressure upon Lihirian cultural heritage, it also presents Lihirians with the opportunity to realize a vision of their cultural future that is beyond the reach of many other indigenous communities.

The genesis and the escalation of desire and antipathy in the Lihir Islands, Papua New Guinea

When large-scale resource extraction began on the main island of the Lihir Group in 1995, Lihirians anticipated that their long-held dreams of economic advancement and moral equivalence with Europeans would finally materialise. Lihirians have placed huge expectations upon this mining project, few of which have been realised. Many of their desires surfaced in earlier politico-religious movements during the colonial period. The beliefs and expectations for radical change which emerged in response to colonial inequality have decidedly shaped how many Lihirians interpret the presence of the mining operation and the nature of their relationship with the government and the mining company. In order to comprehend contemporary Lihirian ambitions and engagement with outside bodies, it is necessary to consider the genesis and continuity of earlier politico-religious movements. This paper provides a short history of the conditions and significant events during the latter part of the Australian administration (1945–75), detailing the emergence and persistence of desire and antipathy.