Meet Iso Ealedona, the first Papua New Guinean to be appointed to an operations manager role at Lihir Gold Limited.
From Misima in Milne Bay Province, Ealedona is a seasoned mining engineer with over 22 years of experience in the industry both in PNG and abroad.
In a statement, Newcrest PNG says: “His appointment marks an important milestone in Newcrest’s commitment to increase participation from the communities in which Newcrest operates, to build local skills and support community development.”
Newcrest’s mining executive general manager Lihir and Cadia, Craig Jetson, says he is confident that under Ealedona’s capable leadership, the mine operations will continue to improve and deliver outstanding results.
Ealedona started his career as a mining engineer with Placer Niugini at its Misima mine before moving to Lihir Gold with the Lihir Management Company under the Rio Tinto group in 1996. He was appointed as the first and youngest Papua New Guinean operations superintendent during the early years of Lihir.
For career development and opportunities for a young family, he was transferred under secondment in 2003 to work with Rio Tinto’s Hamersley Iron operations in Western Australia. He progressed in the middle management arena from the Operations Planning Division into the Resource Development division over a period of eight years.
Ealedona re-joined the Lihir team in February 2015 as a superintendent in the mine operations team and in November 2016, became the deputy mine manager.
“He has been exposed to every aspect of the mining industry in the country, having worked in senior mine operations, planning and leadership roles with Ok Tedi Mining, Morobe Mining Joint Venture and Misima Mines,” says Newcrest.
“Since his return, Ealedona has been instrumental in delivering major improvements within the mine operations and the wider Lihir business to enable a safe, no-nonsense and high performance organisation.”
Meanwhile, Ealedona said he was proud and humbled to be part of the leadership transformation at Lihir.
(Happy to hand over to Ealedona is outgoing mine manager Dwayne Symonds)