By HALIMA ABDALLAH

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Education:

BSc (Hons), PhD, MBA, MAIG

Experience: He has over 35 years’ experience in geoscience and mineral policy advice. For 15 years, he served the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government in senior positions including as director of the PNG Geological Survey prior to taking up the position of director, mining division within the PNG Department of Minerals and Energy.

He oversaw a reorganisation of the department, a review of minerals policy, and managed the government approval process for development of the Lihir gold mine.

In 1995, he was appointed assistant director of resources within the Geological Survey Division of the Western Australia Department of Industry and Resources and now holds the position of executive director.

What does Australia hope to gain by facilitating training on managing natural resources in the region?

Australia hosts a number of major mining and petroleum conferences, where investment in Africa is the major focus, so we agreed to assist through co-operation with governments.

It is social responsibility and the companies we have working in Africa want to help regulate the mining and petroleum industry to the highest standards.

At the peak of investment between 2011 and 2012, there were close to 80 Australian companies working in Africa.

They are fewer now because commodity prices have been falling, but we hope they will rebound.

What is the agreement between the Australian government, the Western Australian state government and Comesa?

It concerns co-operation in agriculture and capacity building. The objective is to share knowledge and technology across the field of mining, petroleum and agriculture. 

Since we signed a memorandum of understanding in 2014, we have run three workshops on mining and the recent one on petroleum.

Why is Zanzibar on the list even though it is not a Comesa country?

They have discovered petroleum and the United Republic of Tanzania has transferred the responsibility to manage and regulate the sector to the Zanzibari government. So we are working with the Zanzibaris, too.

Do you see minerals giving East Africa value in view of the conflicts, corruption and lack of investments?

Countries that have managed their mineral and petroleum industries well have benefited as these resources can be a catalyst for economic development.

There are a lot of expectations with regard to discovered resources. How did Australia manage theirs?

Communities’ expectations are always far ahead of what actually happens, so we constantly face that problem. For example, some communities do not want to see resources developed in their areas, while others do, because of the opportunities for jobs created from exploitation of resources.

In Western Australia, the mining and petroleum industry has always been a catalyst for development. Agriculture is also very important for us as the sheep we rear are a major source of income.

Mineral prices have been dropping. How is Australia coping?

We decided to concentrate on cost reduction and profitability, and so we closed a few mines. The government reduced its expenditure and is continuously monitoring its costs.

It was a difficult decision because we froze increases in public service salaries and made significant adjustments to the national budget.

Some projects were postponed, thereby slowing development. Uganda faces a similar predicament. The process is slow and the government will have to do a lot more to spur development.

Uganda is interested in having Australian companies in its petroleum and mineral sectors. Are you game?

Our focus is on the Comesa memorandum of understanding, the objective of which is capacity building in policy and regulation. However, many of Uganda’s laws are similar to Australia’s, such as the Land Act, taxation and royalty laws.

Even the approach is similar and the resources are enormous. Australian companies here can only compete like everyone else. 

What would be your advice to companies intending to come to Uganda where mineral wealth exists in protected ecosystems?

They have to follow Ugandan environment laws, which are very good. They must research what is expected before they invest so that they can minimise negative impacts on the environment.

How has technology shaped the mining and petroleum industry?

This sector is very technologically advanced, but many people do not realise that exploration is very technical. Governments should, when selecting exploration and production companies, scrutinise their track record in other countries and whether they respect the law.

The countries should be looking for innovative solutions, because technologies can minimise negative environmental impacts and ensure that workers are safe. They must have sufficient money to do their work and attract the necessary manpower.

Should we not be focusing on renewable energy sources/solutions?

There is more emphasis on decarbonising our economies, but there will still be a place for years to come for petroleum until we find cheaper and viable alternative energy sources.

The transport sector will still need fuel so there will still be pressure to grow the oil, coal and uranium industries.

At some stage, this could change. In the meantime, the world still needs the base load power [This is the minimum level of demand on an electrical grid over a span of time.

Base load power sources are power stations that can economically generate the electrical power needed to satisfy this demand]. But unlike Uganda, many countries do not have big rivers and are mostly dry. Uganda is fortunate to have many large rivers.

Australia has over 120 years’ experience in mining and petroleum. To what do you owe your success?

One of the most important marketing strategies for us has been the quality of regulation and resources. So if you do a good job on regulation, you tend to attract companies.