Local company given 10-year licence to mine at Tolukuma

By SHIRLEY MAULUDU
LOCALLY-owned company, Lole Mining Limited, has been given a 10-year mining licence for the Tolukuma project in Central, according to the company.
Founder and executive director Howard Lole said he hoped to make Lole a premier mining company in the country.
“I incorporated Lole Mining two years ago with an ambitious dream to make it a premier mining company in PNG one day in the future,” Lole said.
The Hela man thanked Mining Minister Johnson Tuke and the Government for granting the 10-year extension for ML 104 to Lole Mining Ltd. “Your decision to grant a hard rock mining lease to a parent mining company that is domiciled in PNG is a first and history in the making,” he said.
The landowners of Tolukuma mine were also acknowledged for accepting the company as a new member of their community.
Lole added the Government’s Connect PNG policy which included the road from Baikoidu to Tolukuma would benefit people from Goilala district.
“The Tolukuma gold mine also needs this access road to improve the economics of the mining project and of course will unleash the economic potential of this region,” Lole said.
“We will not have come this far had we not embraced this spirit of collaboration between PNG and our foreign investors, partners and technical and professional team.
“I believe that we have a future and a great opportunity to make Lole Mining a premier mining company in PNG in the future, going forward with its current portfolio of one mining lease (ML 104) and nine exploration licenses and applications, totaling 10 tenements including the tenements secured through the recent takeover of Frontier Copper PNG.”