Gold sector progressing

PAPUA New Guinea’s gold sector has done well from the downturn in the recent years, outgoing executive director of the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum Greg Anderson says.
Anderson said in the chamber’s recent mining and petroleum review that three mega-projects in the resource arena on the drawing board augured well for PNG.
“PNG’s gold sector, in particular, has performed very well from the downturn of five years ago,” he said.
“Although export levels have stagnated in recent years, the 57.6 tonnes of gold PNG exported last year fetched a record K7.04 billion in export revenue.
“While LNG had been expected to totally dominate Papua New Guinea’s resource export landscape, the downturn in gas prices has meant that in 2016, PNG’s export of gold (K6.77 billion), copper (K1.1 billion), nickel (K668 million) and cobalt (K195.2 million) were worth K8.71 billion, compared to the K8.19 billion fetched by LNG exports.
“For the first time in PNG’s history, total resource exports earned by this country topped just over K20 billion out of total exports worth K24.8 billion, according to official data released by the Bank of Papua New Guinea.”
Anderson said the private sector and the Government should be constantly aware of the cyclical nature of mineral and petroleum commodities.
“They must be ready to remain effective and competitive when commodity prices hit their lows, generally as a result of oversupply or slowing demand due to global factors,” he said.
“For Papua New Guinea, we must not lose sight that opportunities exist even when markets may be down, allowing for a robust performance when an upturn occurs. It could be argued that the special mining lease applications by the Wafi-Golpu and Frieda River copper-gold projects are in that category.”