Morumbi Resources Inc, Michael Aite & Avaipa Mining Dream Story

Leonard Fong Roka

According to many Bougainvilleans there is a whip behind the Morumbi Resources Inc and the Australian Canada-based businessman, Lindsay Semple to repay the well known K20 million offered to the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) under the leadership of the late President Joseph Kabui by the Invincible Resources.

Mr. Micheal Aite, the stealth seller of the Avaipa area of Kieta

 

Lindsay Semple is no new face on Bougainville. During the formation years of the ABG he was on the island with his own company, the Invincible Resources. This is when he created the controversial Bougainville Resources Development Corporation (BRDC) under which he would have own 70% of the island’s resources.

But this time, he is coming with a new face, and that is the Morumbi Resources Inc. But this is not new because on the ground Bougainville has the same former Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) leader, Sam Kauona and the Highlander from New Guinea and former PNGDF soldier and now a businessman, Philip Dari, to clear the path for Lindsay Semple.

Where the attraction to all these opportunists is, goes back to the Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) days. Since the 1980s there had been a moratorium on exploration on the island with the exception of the Special Mining Lease (SML) on which the mine is located. As the crisis was erupting the moratorium was extended over the whole island, and this has not changed as yet. So dangerous fools are now running after this.

In the search for landowner approval and organization, Sam Kauona and Philip Dari, forged and registered complicated relationships and landowner companies with the Isina, Kompani, and Avaipa, Atamo, Kawasia, Karato and Korovi people.

In the Avaipa area the man Sam Kauona connected with was Michael Aite. Michael Aite was a Community Government officer since the 1970s and by the time of the Peace Process he and Sam Kauona were the members of the Bougainville Peoples’ Congress (BPC) a political party lead by the late President Joseph Kabui.

During the start-up days of the ABG-Invincible Resources relationship it was said that Mr. Lindsay Semple’s K20 million was a free gift to the people of Bougainville and was squandered within the perimeters of the BPC controlled ABG administration. But this ‘free gift’ is what Morumbi Resources Inc. is now running after to surprise of the people.

According to most Avaipa people, Mr. Michael Aite and Sam Kauona formalized many things about the mining interest of the Mainoki section of Avaipa specifically the Mt Sugarloaf that locally known as the Katavi secretly in Arawa.

The pair did cover a large area starting from Katavi to the head of Asimana River to the North in their potential mining block. This is the whole mountain backbone of the Crown Prince Range behind the Avaipa area connected with the Karato block (This area is nearly the size of the Panguna SML) to be explored and likely mined by the Morumbi Resources Inc.

Without formally meeting the people in June of 2012 Sam Kauona and Michael Aite had some locals from Siuema village to clear up a jungle land patch in the mountains of Siuema new the head of the Asimana River for an exploration camp. This sent shockwaves across Avaipa.

Later on Lindsay Semple and Sam Kauona visited Siuema to formalize agreements of land use of the exploration camp site. According to informants, the visit was not heralded ahead so errand boys were ordered to fetch chiefs to come and sign documents that they knew nothing about.

In the next visit (still within the month of June), came Lindsay Semple and the New Guinean, Philip Dari. The visit was now to formally sign agreements to give a go ahead of Avaipa mining exploration. But to the surprise of the gathering, Lindsay Semple, introduced the agreement the meeting ought to sign was to do with assistance to agricultural development for the Avaipa area.

A row broke out but the people were calmed and the paper was signed under coercion that this was an agricultural development assistance paper (Locals claim that they are yet to receive a copy of the agreement).

However, weeks after the signing of the paper with Lindsay Semple and Philip Dari, people were told that what they had signed was for exploration & mining of their mountains by Morumbi Resources Inc. which Michael Aite was the agent on the ground. Michael Aite’s committees on the ground were also surprised because what they were informed of by Mr. Aite was that they were working for an agriculture oriented development project.

Michael Aite was soon summoned to an all-Avaipa meeting in Paruparu to sort out the problem. The meeting was told the mining proposals by Morumbi was to help in one hand, the K20 million given to Bougainville by Lindsay Semple.

According to Mr. Aite, his master Lindsay Semple borrowed the K20 million from a Russian source as a loan and gave it to ABG. And now the financier was running after the money thus the government of Bougainville ought to repay that money. Since the ABG has no money, mining was the only way to help repay that loan as agreed upon by the ABG under the leadership of the late Joseph Kabui and the BRDC creation.

But the gathering hit back by saying that the K20 million as the whole Bougainville knows was said by Lindsay Semple as a ‘free gift’ to the people of Bougainville. Aite was told he had absolutely no right into ushering Lindsay Semple, Philip Dari and Sam Kauona into Avaipa because he was not a chief. In ABG as well, there was no policy giving people like Aite and Kauona to drag foreigners into Bougainville.

To the people of Avaipa where the late President Joseph Kabui is a citizen and kindred, Lindsay Semple and Sam Kauona are solely responsible for his death. The pair killed him by trapping him with their selfish hunger for money. The two men are not hiding, they are rascals trying to destroy the people of Bougainville and their land with the help of that Papua New Guinean shameless dog, Philip Dari, the meeting heard.

Later Aite was asked: ‘Have you people compensated the late President Joseph Kabui for killing him?’ Aite said nothing but broke into tears as his nephew rushed into the meeting with a tomahawk to behead him but was stopped.

However, the meeting told Aite not to invite the three rascals into Avaipa for if he does it, he will rot on the Crown Prince Range with Lindsay Semple.

So far, the Morumbi Resources Inc team’s presence in the Avaipa has being absent because of the threat as it is in other areas. Though, there are evident dark formal declarations and so on, there is no possible soon-to-be welcome gesture to the operations by the people.