Culture
Resource Mining Corporation values relationships and partnerships with local stakeholders.
It is therefore important that we understand the context and background culture of the host society we are working in.
In our host society in south east PNG, 93 per cent of the indigenous population is Melanesian who can trace their ancestry back over 50,000 years when archeologists believe the first people arrived in PNG by island hopping from the north.
Migration was facilitated by lower sea levels that prevailed forming land bridges with northern Australia. Initial and subsequent migration resulted in a very wide diversity of language groups that exist today.
First European contact was made in the 16th Century when Portuguese and Spanish traders made land fall in Western Papua. The sweet potato which forms an important part of the diet of PNG residents is thought to have been introduced during this initial contact.
The society evolved around subsistence farming as the Melanesians were not herders but basic hunters and gatherers.
There is no evidence of metalworking with all tools being basic stone or maritime based implements being used.
An extensive trading system has existed for centuries with rare shells the basis of a primitive currency. The trading process continues today with the village or area market being a place of social gathering and exchange.
Resource Mining Corporation respects the culture, customs and leadership relationships that exist with the host society in which we operate.