Over 80pc mining activities cover PNG

Mining exploration activities in Papua New Guinea cover over 80 percent of the country, according to the PNG Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Report 2013.

This is expected to further enhance and strengthen Papua New Guinea’s position as one of the top twenty gold and copper producing countries in the world.

“The country is rich in minerals. It ranks in the top 20 world gold and copper producers and also produces silver, nickel and cobalt,” the report said.

“Mining in PNG dates back to 1888, with the modern mining industry developing in the mid-1960s.

“During the reporting period, eight mines were operating in Papua New Guinea, distributed over a number of provinces,”

These include Ok Tedi, Porgera, Lihir, Hidden Valley, Ramu Nickel and Cobalt, Tolokuma, Simberi and Sinivit.

This figure has been increased to nine with the inclusion of Eddie Creek in the 2014 Report.

“New Projects in development include the deep-sea Solwara 1 (owned by Nautilus Minerals), Frieda (PanAust) and Wafi-Golpu (Harmony/Newcrest). Exploration activity is intensive covering over 80 percent of the country,” the report said.

It said mining companies active in PNG include international companies and a number of junior companies together with many small scale miners.

“Some 60 to 80 thousand people are estimated to be engaged in informal alluvial/small scale mining,” the report said.

Head of PNG EITI National Secretariat, Lucas Alkan, said promising times are ahead for the country in terms of the enormous benefit that the mining industry would bring to the economy.

“At PNGEITI, we are excited that we are already playing our part in promoting accountability and transparency in the way the government, companies and landowners manage proceeds from these projects - through the annual EITI reporting process,” Alkan said.

“We hope to see more cooperation from all sectors of the economy so that we can produce comprehensive and timely information as we move forward in this journey.

“Through our reporting process, we will try to get to the bottom of the payment mechanics so that correct information on what the government is receiving, the landowners are receiving and other related information, like mining licences, are accessible to the public for transparency and accountability’s sake.” 

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Press release