If the Wafi-Golpu and Frieda River projects are commissioned, PNG’s annual copper production may average between 500,000 tons to a maximum of 700,000 tons per annum.
This is forecast for a period of more than 30 years.
Mining Minister, Sir Ano Pala, painted this picture when making his presentation at the 17th PNG Resources and Energy Investment Conference in Sydney, on Tuesday, December 12th.
These mega projects, located in Morobe and Sepik provinces, will take five to seven years for construction.
“And hopefully, by 2030, these projects may become operating mines in addition to Ok Tedi, and possibly Kainantu,” Minister Pala said.
“Indeed, PNG will become a significant copper producer for critical minerals in the globe, possibly for over a period of three decades.
“The extractive industry – metals, oil and gas – has always accounted for more than 90 percent of the total export revenue of PNG.
“These mineral products have earned an average of PGK13 billion over the last five (5) years, and K9.3 billion to date.”
The two prominent projects are worth over US$11 billion (K41bn) of potential new capital investments:
- US$ 5.38 billion (K19.7bn) Wafi-Golpu copper-gold project comprising US$2.8 billion (K10.4bn) capital expenditure to commercial production; and
- US$ 6 billion (K22bn) Frieda River copper-gold project.
Sir Ano said the permitting of Wafi-Golpu is at “advanced stages” while for the open-cut Frieda River copper-gold project, permitting is expected by quarter three (3) of 2024.