WIN-WIN Investment Solomon Limited has refuted the tendentious comments on its mining operations in the Solomon Islands by the online publication In-depth Solomons in an article titled “Win-Win: A Company That Fails to Live up to Its Name.”
Win-Win Investment Solomon Limited refuted these allegations, stating that the company was officially registered at the Company Haus in November 2016 and has made significant contributions to taxes, royalties, and infrastructure development since it began alluvial mining operations in Turarana in 2018. The notable figures as follow evidently witness the company’s significant contributions:
– Tax payments totaling SBD$5,202,578.75,
– Royalties amounting to SBD$10,600,293.02 remitted to the Central Bank of Solomon Islands, and
– SBD$11,044,771 allocated for Community Development Agreements (CDA).
The company has also invested in local employment, education, and community infrastructure. The chief accountant of the company stated that they paid monthly salaries of approximately $1.31 million to over 400 local workers in all their tenements in the country, which means an annual salary payment of over $16 million to locals. The company has also carried out various community development projects, such as building village roads, conference rooms, bridges, solar power, septic tanks, sanitary facilities, and public toilets for the benefit of landowners.
In addition, Win-Win has supported the National Referral Hospital by providing buildings, medical equipment, and forensic autopsy laboratory rooms for police stations. The public construction includes the completion of the Tasahe A&B feeder road, Turarana road, City Council dumpsite backfilling, and the 14-kilometer road from Sangkasele village to Kauka, with the entire road project being approximately 28 kilometers.
The company has rejected Joel Jackson’s continuous harassment and unreasonable financial demands.
According to the chairman of the Koehoto Association, Celestine Seri, Jackson is not a member of the KLA and is not part of the trustees in any negotiations between landowners, the company, and the national government.
On April 4, 2022, the High Court of Solomon Islands issued an injunction order to the defendant Joel Jackson, with Win-Win Investment as the first applicant and the Koehoto landowners association trustees as the second applicant.
According to an MPA from Guadalcanal Province, Joel Jackson will be imprisoned for his wicked behavior of stealing provincial funds in 2023. The case is currently under further trial, and the hearing of the High Court will be held soon.
At present, the ML tenement of Win-Win Company, in the village of Mamasa, is still able to conduct normal mining operations for gold and iron sand resources. The company plans to resume alluvial operations in Mamasa in early June.
The upper-stream operations of Win-Win Company in the village of Turarana have been suspended after dredging the river. This is because the area is outside the mining tenement and the river dredging operation touches on the Mines Ministry Act. Therefore, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mines, Energy, and Rural Electrification, Bradley Tovosia, signed a suspension order for operations outside the tenement in early April when he served as a caretaker minister.
Win-Win Company clarified that their entry into the upstream land outside the mining area was at the request of the local landowners. In 2023, they experienced three flood threats, endangering housing, and other properties as well as personal safety. People were frightened during heavy rains, and if the flood crossed the village or houses, they would need to flee. After obtaining the Guadalcanal Province Development Permit and the environmental assessment report for the area, the landowners jointly wrote a consent letter to the company and signed an MOU with the company, hoping that the company would clear the river and build a retaining wall to protect the village of Turarana from flooding during the rainy season or heavy rains, as the sediment from the Goldridge site had never been properly cleaned up.
According to the claims of the upstream landowners in Turarana, the land has been excised from the Goldridge SPL tenement.
Regarding the media’s one-sided reliance on the statements of certain individuals and the publication of unsubstantiated reports, which have had a negative impact on our company, the company reserves the right to pursue legal action and hold them accountable in accordance with the law.