Newcrest

Speaking at the Australia-PNG Business Council Forum Newcrest Country Manager, Peter Aitsi, said the investigations into the tailings management options which include, deep sea tailings placement, is being done along with further geo-technical interpretations.

Aitsi said the outcomes of these activities will be forwarded and placed with the Special Mining Lease (SML) application and feasibility study which have been submitted.

The partnership was made possible through Telstra’s new 100 megabits per second (Mbps) satellite link to the Lihir gold mine in New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea.

The new medium-earth-orbit (MEO) satellite link, which has increased bandwidth to Lihir by over 600 per cent, is the result of a partnership between Newcrest, Telstra and satellite service provider O3b Networks.

“Newcrest is proud to make use of this innovative new service to significantly improve the network experience at Lihir”, said Chief Information Officer, Gavin Wood.

Executive project director of the Wafi-Golpu Joint Venture, Bryan Bailie, said this during the PNG Chamber of Mining and Petroleum Conference in Sydney early this month.

According to Business Advantage PNG, Bailie says the project could be ‘multi-generational’ and has the potential to be a ‘long duration sustainable mining operation’ that could last ‘28 to 35 years or more’.

If developed, the mine will be the largest underground mine in PNG and the first green field mine development since the Hidden Valley mine commenced in 2009.

Newcrest PNG 1 Ltd is a 100% owned subsidiary of Newcrest that holds 50% interest in the Hidden Valley Joint Venture including the Hidden Valley mine.

Newcrest in a statement to PomSox announced the agreement of the sales of the entity.

Completion of this sale is conditional upon the receipt of any required South African regulatory approval.

Newcrest has also signed an agreement to sell its 50% interest in certain regional exploration tenements proximate to the Hidden Valley mine to Harmony.

In a statement, Newcrest says it is deeply saddened by this incident and staff are working with the management of Hidden Valley to understand the circumstances.

The gold mining company said an investigation is underway.

The company expressed  condolences and support for the employee’s family, friends and colleagues at the Hidden Valley operation, during this difficult time.

This will be the second incident in little over a month where a Newcrest mine in the country has been forced to suspend production.