Porgera Restart On Hold

Barrick Gold President and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Bristow arrived in Port Moresby this afternoon, as part of his regular quarterly visits to all Barrick operations globally.

Before his visit to Porgera, Mr Bristow expressed deep disappointment at the current conflict in Porgera Valley and elsewhere in Enga Province.

This has led to numerous deaths, assaults on Porgera residents, including women and children, the burning of houses and businesses, and the closure of critical government services such as the Paiam Hospital and Porgera Secondary school.

“What we are seeing taking place in Porgera is inhumane and uncalled for. Barrick (Niugini) Limited (BNL) made a commitment to the community, especially for the women and children, to keep Paiam Hospital’s essential services open even after the mine was placed into care and maintenance (C&M) operations, and to see the services closed now due to the tribal conflict and violence-related to the elections is deeply saddening.

“The conflict is impacting C&M operations and we remain concerned for the safety of our Porgera employees. BNL urges the national and provincial governments to intervene and restore peace to the Porgera Valley,” Mr Bristow stated. 

Porgera Mine is currently into its third year of C&M and restart plans remain on hold, awaiting the completion of the conditions for the mine to reopen, the first of which requires the full execution of the Shareholders Agreement by Mineral Resource Enga Limited (MRE). 

Mr Bristow said BNL continues to maintain regular discussions with the State Negotiation Team and concerned parties, including MRE and the Porgera Landowners Association, with the hope that MRE will sign the Shareholders Agreement at the earliest possible date.  

“The Porgera Project Commencement Agreement (PPCA) provides a 1 percent increase to the royalty rate to 3 percent and an additional 10 percent free carry equity to be shared between the Enga Province and the wider project-impacted landowners.

“This is on top of the 2.5 percent held by each of the Enga Province and the Special Mining Lease landowners through MRE. The PPCA demonstrates that BNL and the government are committed to providing more tangible benefits for project impacted landowners and Enga.  It is an unprecedented agreement for any project in PNG,” Mr Bristow said. 

Once MRE signs the Shareholders Agreement and other associated agreements, the first step towards restart preparations can commence with incorporation of the new project company, New Porgera Limited and submission of a new SML application to the Mineral Resources Authority. 

“Further delaying the restart of the Porgera Mine denies benefit to every one of the stakeholders including the Porgera community and the Department of Treasury. Care and Maintenance is currently costing K35m a month, which will have to be repaid,” he said. 

Mr Bristow said that Barrick stands ready to finalize all remaining matters to allow the restart of the Porgera Mine for the benefit of all Porgerans, especially the project-impacted landowners, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea, and BNL shareholders.

During his three-day visit to PNG, Mr Bristow will meet with the caretaker Prime Minister, James Marape and visit Porgera to meet with project area landowners and business, church and community representatives. 

Author: 
Loop Author