Papua New Guinea's government says it will challenge the national court injunction to halt a Chinese nickel miner's construction of a massive pipeline to dump waste into the sea.
Following a legal bid by a group claiming to be landowners, the national court in Madang ordered work to stop on the Chinese Metallurgical Construction Company's previously approved submarine tailings disposal system from the Ramu nickel mine.
The deputy Prime Minister and Mining Minister Dr Puka Temu says the government has already approved the project on sound advice, and will continue to support it.
He says there are ill-informed groups among the project's opponents and believes the government will need to step up what he calls "awareness" efforts around the plans.
"But our view as a state is basically that we have given the clearance. I mean many different church groups and NGOs can have their views but our view is that if we have the right design and monitoring requirements are met and complied with, we believe that it should be safe and have less impact on the environment."
Dr Puka Temu
