Authority to complete deal

The National Business

THE Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) managing director Jerry Garry says a review of the memorandum of agreement for the Kainantu gold mine will be concluded soon.
The mine in Eastern Highlands is operated by K92 Mining Inc.
Garry said the review process had been interrupted by challenges including:

  • Landowner association leadership tussles;
  • Longer time required to complete a tedious lands title commission landowner identification exercise;
  • Lack of public investment funding for the conduction of the agreement last year; and,
  • Lockdown imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“While we were restrained by the Covid-19 pandemic, the landowners have taken their grievances upon themselves and had forced the closure of the mine two weeks ago (April 22 to 26),” Garry said.
“We are grateful to Mining Minister Johnson Tuke’s personal intervention in resolving the issue at the mine by restoring normalcy with the aid of police and the Eastern Highlands governor.
“We are very committed to progress and conclude the revised MoA for execution later this month or early June.
“We have the support of the mining minister, Kainantu district authority, K92 Mining and the Eastern Highlands government.”
Garry said people must appreciate the fact that the Kainantu mine was a relatively small mine compared to Simberi and Hidden Valley.
“The annual gold production is about 42,000 ounces, however, the managers of the mine have applied smart exploration, mining and development strategies and are investing money on growing the mine into producing 100,000 ounce per year within the next few years,” he said.