Mass arrest of miners
More than 300 striking miners at Placer Pacific's Porgera mine site in the Papua New Guinea highlands were arrested after they began an indefinite strike on April 14. The workers were later released because the local police station could not accommodate them.
The National newspaper reported that Porgera Mine and Allied Workers Union president Bilson Isai and secretary-general John Miukin were not released but "were flown by helicopter to Mount Hagen where they were charged with contempt of court for leading the strike action in defiance of a restraining order issued by the National Court in Mount Hagen". The two union leaders were subsequently released on bail.
On April 21, National journalist Bashir Mohammed reported that 3000 Porgera landowners marched upon the highly profitable giant gold mine the day before. "A landowner spokesman said the landowners were supporting the Porgera Mine and Allied Workers' Union in its wages and accommodation dispute with the management. Leader of the landowner group and former secretary-general of the Bougainville copper mine, Philip Kuala, last night called on the mine management to address the issues raised by the workers quickly 'to avoid a repeat of Bougainville'."
In an interview with Business Review Weekly on March 28, a company manager, Vic Botts, boasted that "profitability has been so high" at the Porgera mine. The company has an operating budget of $500 million a year at the site and employs 1800 workers there. Ironically, the Business Review article, which reported that Placer Pacific had been scooping profits out of PNG for 30 years, focused on the company's successful indigenous people management strategies.