THE Xstrata development will be one of three or four mining projects that will be built at a cost of around US$1 billion (K2.8 billion) in the coming decade, including Ramu Nickel which is due to be built by next year.
Other big projects falling in this timeline are Marengo Mining’s Yandera copper-molybdenum project and Harmony Gold’s Wafi-Golpu copper and gold venture, where the South African mining giant has recently short listed potential joint venture partners.
Even though Ok Tedi currently is planning to shut down its operations in 2013, other copper producers such as Nautilus Minerals seabed mining operation and possibly Frontier Resources Kodu project could also come on stream in this time frame.
These developments could make PNG one of the world’s major copper exports in about 10 year’s time.