Mines ready for huge production

PAPUA New Guinea’s mining industry is poised to produce 31,325,500oz of gold and silver and 165,000 tonnes of copper this year.
Officer-in-charge of the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) Philip Samar told a mines and money conference in Beijing last week that these production figures were expected from the six mines operating in the country at present.
The mines are Porgera, Ok Tedi, Tolukuma, Sinivit, Simberi and Newcrest (Lihir).
Out of the production figures and commodities, Porgera is expected to produce 500,000oz of gold and 80,000oz of silver, Ok Tedi 400,000oz of gold, 1,000,000oz of silver and 165,000 tonnes of copper, Tolukuma 70,000oz of gold and 150,000oz of silver, Sinivit 50,000oz of gold and 2,500oz of silver, Simberi 800,000oz of gold, while Lihir is expected to produce 800,000oz of gold.
Samar said PNG had four major mines in advanced stages of construction which were expected to come on stream in the near future.
The mines are Ramu NiCo (more than 30 years life span), Solwara-1 (five years), Yandera (10 years) and Frieda projects with expected mine life of 20 years.
He said several potential investors had spoken to him during the conference and had expressed interest in visiting PNG to obtain more information on mineral investment climate in PNG.
Samar said others visited the PNG booth and enquired about the PNG mining policies and regulatory framework.