Mark Bristow

With Barrick Niugini spending four million US dollars a week to keep the Porgera running, it is looking to restart the mine at the earliest.

The reopening will mean the start of the flow of benefits in both royalties and spin-offs to landowners of the Porgera Valley.

Barrick CEO Mark Bristow is keen to get the compensation agreements done quickly so work can progress immediately.

And he says to fast-track the process, he is open to adopting the compensation arrangements of the old Porgera with additions to reflect the new changes.

The State of Papua New Guinea and Barrick Niugini Limited today formally signed the Framework Agreement at Government House paving the way for a new partnership with BNL.

Under the framework agreement the ownership of the Porgera Gold Mine will be held in a new Joint Venture company with PNG to hold a 51% stake and BNL with 49%.

The Framework Agreement also sets the foundation for operations arrangements, and benefit split

Under the new deal BNL will finance the start-up of the mine and remain the operator.

“It’s disappointing to come here and see such conflict. We should be working to make sure that the community around this mine improves…to make this place a better place to come to work,” Bristow said during a ‘question and answer’ (Q&A) session with employees recently, at the Porgera Gold Mine.

On his maiden visit to Papua New Guinea, Bristow led a Barrick delegation to Port Moresby and up to Porgera, from 15 to 18 February 2019.