SCA NO. 72 of 2015; Barrick (Niugini) Limited v John Tole Pokoli for himself as a landowner and as Chairman of Lower Porgera Landowners’ Association Inc. Zone 1 and Simon Kambe for himself as a landowner and as Secretary of Lagaip Timbundu Zone 2 Association Inc.and Stewart Pohmat for himself as a landowner and as Chairman of Menmahap Village Development Association Inc. of Zone 2 (2015) SC1438

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Court: Supreme Court
• Citation: (2015) SC1438
• Date: 29 June 2015
• Year: 2015

Full Title: SCA NO. 72 of 2015; Barrick (Niugini) Limited v John Tole Pokoli for himself as a landowner and as Chairman of Lower Porgera Landowners’ Association Inc. Zone 1 and Simon Kambe for himself as a landowner and as Secretary of Lagaip Timbundu Zone 2 Association Inc.and Stewart Pohmat for himself as a landowner and as Chairman of Menmahap Village Development Association Inc. of Zone 2 (2015) SC1438

Supreme Court: Makail, J

Judgment Delivered: 29 June 2015

SUPREME COURT—PRACTICE & PROCEDURE—Application for stay—Order sought to stay interlocutory injunction—Injunction restraining sale of shares of company—Appeal against grant of interlocutory injunction—Jurisdiction of single Judge to grant stay considered—Principles relevant to stay—Supreme Court Act—s19.

Cases cited:

Gary McHardy v. Prosec Security and Communication Limited [2000] PNGLR 279; (2000) SC646

Samson Jubi v. Susan Edna Fraser (2004) SC735

CL Toulik v. Andy Kuek (2006) SC876

New Britain Palm Oil Limited v. Vitus Sukuramu (2008) SC948

Bernard Steven Philipae v. Atio Igaso (2001) N4366

1. MAKAIL J: The appellant is the current operator of the Porgera gold mine in the Enga Province. Back in 1996, the then Minister for Environment and Conservation, The Honourable Paul Mambei issued a Ministerial Determination (“Determination”) for the Lower Porgera environmental damage compensation claim under the then Water Resources Act. This Determination was a compensation package for downstream landowners along the Porgera river amongst others, for impacts caused by tailings discharge from the mine and sedimentation impacts. The Determination identified two groups of landowners to receive compensation. One group in Zone 1 and the other, Zone 2 and fixed separate rates to calculate the amount of compensation in monetary terms. It fixed a rate of K0.63 per tonne for Zone 1 tailings compensation and K0.25 per tonne for Zone 2.

2. The Determination led to the appellant appealing to the National Court and arguing that the rates were too high. The dispute ended up in the Supreme Court where it was held that the rates were inadequate and referred it back to the Minister to make a further Determination on the appropriate rates. It appeared no further Determination was made, although there is no dispute that the appellant paid compensation based on different rates since 1996. It was not until 09th September 2014 and after numerous representations to relevant government authorities by the landowners that the current Minister for Environment and Conservation and Climate Change, The Honourable John Pundari issued a further Determination under the current Environment Act 2000 which effectively affirmed the rates fixed in the earlier Determination and for the appellant to pay the difference as outstanding compensation.

3. The respondents claimed the payment was not forthcoming. It so happened around that...