Solomon Islands Sustainable Mining Development Technical Assistance Project

The development objective of the Sustainable Mining Development Technical Assistance Project for Solomon Islands is to strengthen the capacity of regulatory institutions to implement revised mining and related laws consistently, transparently and effectively. The project comprises of three components. The first component, completion of the regulatory framework will support Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification (MMERE) to complete the design of the regulatory framework in line with the national minerals policy (NMP). It consists of following sub-components: (i) policy, plans, and legislation; and (ii) institutional structures and functions. The second component, strengthening the capacity of regulatory institutions will support building capacity of government regulatory institutions to fulfill their functions consistently, transparently, and effectively and support MMERE to overcome near term operational challenges. It consists of following sub-components: (i) mineral rights management; (ii) mineral revenue management; (iii) geo-data management; (iv) operational support; and (v) independent advisory institution. The third component, project management will fund: (a) the operational and technical assistance needed by MMERE as the implementing agency to manage the project during implementation for which a project management unit (PMU) will be established to exercise project management responsibilities on MMERE’s behalf; and (b) selected equipment costs and office refurbishment at MMERE.