Barrick (Niugini) Limited intends to ask the Government to re-introduce the Emergency Highlands Highway Tax Credit Scheme so that additional funding can be accessed for emergency repairs on the Highway.
BNL General Manager, Operations, Damian Shaw, revealed this during the recent PNG Mining and Petroleum Investment Conference in Sydney, Australia.
Shaw told the conference that 2016 was a troublesome year, especially for them as operators of the Porgera Gold Mine.
“It’s our key piece of infrastructure that enables us to bring supply of goods into the Enga Province.
“There is not enough money in the country to manage any of those slips, so it relies on us being able to negotiate with the landowners with the assistance of the government to go and fix those issues as they arise”, he said.
“We’ve lost several parts of the mine for period of weeks on two occasions this year as a result of closures on the highway.
“We are presenting to the Government to reactivate the emergency TCS that used to be in effect for the highway because those in country will know, we had a drought year last year, and we are now on track for record rainfall so the highway is falling apart,” he added.
In March 2016 the Laiagam-Porgera section of the Enga Highway was closed by a landslide, which also buried 40 homes in Lukuluma Village, destroying food gardens and leaving thousands homeless.
Shaw says the Highlands Highway remained an operational challenge as well as law and order.
The production and economic benefits of PJV was highlighted including recent achievements of concentrate export and the Job Ready Project (JRP).
Notable challenges are the Special Mining Lease (SML) Renewal scheduled for 2019, review of the Mining Act as well as fiscal and regulatory changes introduced in the 2017 National Budget and the potential challenges to existing mines and impact on future investments.
Picture: Damian Shaw delivering his presentation during the Mining Conference in Sydney. Barrick (Niugini) Limited