NCS' "Navy" servicing Basamuk

The Basamuk site is the processing plant for Ramu Nico’s mine operations at Kurumbukari. It is only accessible by boat, and managed by our NCS office in Madang.

At Basamuk we feed in excess of 900 Chinese and National staff three meals each day.

NCS Assistant Operations Manager, Allan Atava said that in the early days at Basamuk, food delivery was done by stinger boats.

“When the weather is good, it takes approximately 3 hours to cross Astrolabe Bay to the Basamuk site from Madang, 5 hours during rough seas in the winter months.” Said Allan.

“We required at least two of these boats doing three trips a week. This turned out to be a very expensive exercise. It was a major challenge to deliver the volume of food needed to feed our customers every day – so decisions had to be made.” He said

An opportunity arose for NCS Raibus to purchase a local boat, The Waria, a 42 foot long stainless steel hulled fishing boat, to transport frozen, dry and fresh fruit and vegetables three times a week from Madang to the Basamuk site.

“We can carry 8 tonne of food a trip and is fitted with 4×750L chest freezers and a generator.” Said Allan. “Prior to having The Waria, the frozen food we took over had almost thawed out by the time we arrived on site 3 hours later, so having the right food storage on the boat has helped us overcome this major obstacle.” He continued.

Whilst NCS Waria solved the supply logistics requirements, a boat was still needed to transport staff to site. NCS purchased a second boat, The Half Moon is a 19 foot Stinger powered by 50HP outboard motor.

The Half Moon has made life much easier and safer for our hard working crew, who are happy that NCS now has a “navy” in operation.

Celebrations to open of the Ramu NiCo Bridge

The sound of kundu drums and song filled the air on 11 December 2008 when several thousand people joined together to celebrate the official opening of the Ramu NiCo Bridge.

The bridge is located approximately 75kms southwest of the Madang Province in the Usino-Bundi District and is the main access point to the Kurumbukai mine site. The bridge took 15 months to construct and spans 250 meters, crossing the mighty Ramu River.

The official celebrations started at 11am with the cutting of the ribbon by MCC President Madam Luo and a walk over the bridge.

Madam Luo congratulated everyone involved in the construction and completion of the bridge.

“The Ramu NiCo bridge is not only pivotal for the operation of the mine but is also an important access point for the local community,” President Luo said.

Many local clans put on traditional dress and reached for their kundu drums and spears, to forming groups that filled the air with welcoming song.

NCS-Raibus staff were proud to serve the refreshments to the VIP guests including: MCC Project President Madam Luo,  Minister for Works, Transport and Civil Aviation The Hon. Don Polye, Raibus General Manager Mr Peter Kembu and Raibus Chairman Mr Kevin Murray.

KBK Underway

Twelve months after mobilizing the Basamuk operation for Ramu Nico, NCS Raibus has added the Kurumbukari (KBK) site to their growing list of successes in Madang. On 1st November, they served their first meals to over 200 client and contractor personnel at KBK.

There on the day to guide clients to their first meal was a very proud Bill Magando, who recently returned from specialist training on Lihir to take on the role of NCS KBK site manager.

While logistic difficulties with suppliers hampered the delivery of goods to site prior to opening, NCS Project Manager, Rob Bennetts, was on hand to ensure everything went smoothly. “It was a fairly challenging day,” says Rob.

Despite the hiccups, it was a very enjoyable occasion, particularly for Ramu NiCo Mine Site Manager, Deng Henbo, who said he was ‘very happy to start’.

NCS Raibus now provides three meals a day, with all fresh produce supplied by local KBK
farmers.

1 November 2008

Five New Chinese Chefs at Ramu

NCS recently welcomed five new Chinese chefs to operate the mess at the Ramu NiCo
project that has seen the introduction of delicious, authentic Chinese cuisine to the menu. The arrival of the chefs was much anticipated by the many Chinese nationals employed at the nickel mine’s Basamuk site.

“It’s all about satisfying our customers, and home-style cooking is an important part of achieving this goal. Many of Ramu NiCo’s employees are Chinese, and it has made a huge difference to them to be able to access the various dishes more common to their homeland,” says NCS Raibus Project Manager, Robert Bennetts.

“The presence of the new chefs, who all come from Liaoning province in north China, has resulted in a noticeable change in what we can offer our clients,” add NCS Raibus Catering Coordinator, Sammy Cheng.

“Those whose signature dish was previously vegemite with bread, now have another choice – flowery steamed bun with green salted bean curd, or noodles and homestyle dumplings.”

The new chefs are doing extremely well, particularly since they have had to adapt to the many unfamiliar ingredients found in Papua New Guinea, as well as deal with the difficult language Barriers.

“We are really pleased. The chefs varied skills are being displayed time and time again and, together with our national staff, they have formed an efficiently operating team,” says Robert.

“We are now all looking forward to the opening of the new messing facility at Basamuk.”