Chamber welcomes mine reopening date

THE Porgera chamber of commerce and industries has welcomed the new date for the re-opening of the Porgera mine recently announced by Prime Minister James Marape – next April.
Chamber president Nickson Pakea said since the closure of the mine, millions of kina worth of businesses had to close down crippling the local economy.
“The announcement from the Prime Minster (James Marap) that the mine will be reopened in April is good news not only to the chamber but also to the valley, Enga and PNG as a whole,” he said.
“We hope that this time, the mine resumption will materialise so normalcy can be returned to the people of Porgera and the economy.
“Since shutdown of the mine, there were road blocks, illicit activities, tribal conflicts with the Covid-19 pandemic affecting Porgera valley.”
He said the people were eager to see the mine resume operation.
“We encourage the Mineral Resources Enga directors to sign off on the Porgera project commencement agreement.
“We also ask the Mineral Resources Authority and other authorities to issue the special mining ease to the developer.”