THE Tinofi clan of Goroka is in Port Moresby to meet with government authorities and to seek investors for what they believe is a major oil find which will boost the Eastern Highlands economy.
The chairman of the clan, Bruce Amate, told the Post-Courier yesterday that a major oil slick had been discovered by local villagers on a forested mountain at Dunantina.
He said the landowners took samples of the oil to the PNG University of Technology laboratories for confirmation.
The samples were found to contain crude oil and grease, copper, iron, lead and molybdenum, nickel, silver and zinc.
“With these results we are now here to negotiate with the Government for assistance to further develop the discovery,” Mr Amate said
The clansman have approached government authorities with their report and are also calling on developers to come and help establish what may be a major economic boom
The Department of Petroleum and Energy told the Post-Courier yesterday that they have been approached by the executives, but could not provide detail because they claimed it would involve a complex process that included the deployment of resources. The department said it needed to establish the report and verify a lot of things before they could comment.