Exploration expenditure in PNG declines: Mellam

GLOBAL mineral exploration expenditure has risen sharply since 2016 while exploration expenditure in Papua New Guinea shrank to its lowest point in almost a decade as a result of investor concerns regarding the country’s fiscal and regulatory position.
PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum executive director Albert Mellam, pictured, said in the chamber’s June newsletter the declining trend in exploration activity was of significant concern especially when global activity had been rising strongly.
“Papua New Guinea boasts a very favourable geological environment for new mineral discoveries and the country needs to maintain an attractive fiscal and regulatory environment to ensure it remains a competitive global destination for mineral exploration activity,” Mellam said.
“Exploration is the lifeblood of the industry and it contributes significantly to employment opportunities in rural areas generally far away from the towns and cities.”
An international group of mining consultants, CSA Global, estimated that mineral exploration activity worldwide picked up by 20 per cent last year to around US$10 billion (K33.19bil), the largest figure in several years.
The United States financial services company, Standard & Poor’s Global Markets, said global spending on exploration for non-ferrous metals rose from US$7.3 billion (K24.22bil) in 2016 to US$8.4 billion (K27.8bil) in 2017 and that, by the end of 2017, exploration activity was at the highest level since 2013.
Meanwhile, exploration activity in the country last year fell to K296 million just slightly higher than the K283 million expenditure level eight years previously in 2010, according to official data from the Mineral Resources Authority.
Data from Mineral Resources Authority showed that exploration spending in PNG peaked at K596 million in 2013 and had fallen to below K400 million annually since then.
Recent exploration expenditure figures showed that spending last year fell to a low of K296 million compared with K339 million in 2017 and K373 million in 2016.