Lihir mine pays out royalty payment

THE Lihir Gold Limited had made royalty payments of K529,251,440 million to recognised parties in the past 19 years.
It released a royalty payments update from 1997 to 2016 showing how much each party had received since 1997.
New Ireland provincial government received K264,625,720 million and the Nimamar local level government received K158,775,431 million.
The special mining lease block owners  received K105,850,289 million. Lihir Gold Limited general manager Craig Jetson said royalty distribution from the Lihir gold mine was different from other mining operations in PNG.
This is because of an agreement by the State. A series of memorandums between the Government and the NI provincial government, LLG and Lihir Mining Area Landowners Association (LMALA), diverted all of the State’s entitlement to royalties to New Ireland.
He said the distribution were 50 per cent to the provincial government, 30 per cent to the LLG and 20 per cent to SML block owners.“For NIPG and NLLG, 100 per cent of their respective royalty portions is paid directly into their nominated bank accounts every month. “For the block owners, 5 per cent tax is deducted and paid to the Government and 20 per cent is paid as a savings component.”,” he said.