KOREA INSTITUTE OF GEOSCIENCE AND MINERAL RESOURCES

Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) and Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) of Papua New guinea held the first KIGAM-MRA joint conference on May 21st in Port Moresby, Papua New guinea.

The Joint conference is one of the follow-up activities relating to the MOU which KIGAM and MRA signed on January 14, 2013.

For the conference, the KIGAM delegation was led by Dr. Kyu Han Kim, President of KIGAM while MRA was led by Hon Byran Chan, Minister for Mining and his Managing Director Mr. Philip Samar. The MRA and KIGAM delegation presented technical papers on environmental management, geological survey techniques, current trends and shifts in mineral exploration and processing, and discussion on how the two institutions will cooperate in specific technical and scientific areas relating to mining.

Hon Byron Chan, Minister for Mining, said “he is so happy for the MRA-KIGAM relations because MRA can learn a lot from KIGAM’s long time research experience in science and technology on mining. The PNG Government and MRA look forward to having fruitful cooperation in the mining sector.”. Dr. Kyu Han Kim, President of KIGAM, said “ The world is paying attention to PNG because of its rich energy and mineral resources  but challenges such as environmental management and sustainable mining to balance environment and development still remain.”. Dr. Kim added that the MRA-KIGAM relations will share ideas and move forward to solving some of those challenges.

The cooperation between MRA and KIGAM commenced in 2010 even before the MOU signed in 2013. The International School of Geoscience Resources (IS-Geo) of KIGAM has been inviting MRA Geo-scientists to attend divers training courses provided by IS-Geo since 2010. Up to now 2015, however, it was difficult to hold a joint conference like the first one in Port Moresby. The joint conference will provide a solid platform on which  MRA and KIGAM can take steps for future collaboration that will be beneficial to both respective organizations and countries. 

The both organizations have agreed to host the “MRA-KIGAM (or KIGAM-MRA) Mining Conference” as an annual event alternately on a rotation basis. The next ‘KIGAM-MRA’ Conference will be hosted by KIGAM in Korea, 2016. A date for the conference will be mutually agreed by the both ‘Parties’.