Mining, petroleum contributing millions in exports, official says

THE country’s mining and petroleum industry has contributed well over K27.579 million in export revenue, PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum president Gerea Aopi says.
Aopi made the statement when delivering the opening remarks at the 2019 Papua New Guinea Mining and Petroleum Conference in Port Moresby yesterday.
Making reference to this year’s theme “PNG Resouces: developing shared value”, he said there were many other examples that the industry was helping to grow the country and sustain communities where projects operate.
“There is the story of local landowner company, NKW, which from humble beginning is now a fully-fledged group running different subsidiaries specialising in catering, logistics and agriculture, and has also recently expanded its investments to Australia,” he said.
“There is the success story of Trans Wonderland, who this year celebrated their 10th anniversary, having come a long way from their humble beginnings.
“Some of our projects, such as the Porgera mine, contributed over K4.3 billion in taxes and royalties to PNG since its operations began.
“Newcrest is also another huge contributor to PNG.
“It is one of the largest suppliers of foreign exchange to PNG, contributing US$361.5 million (K1.2bil) to the national account through acquisition of K1.22 billion of currency during the past year. “The PNG LNG project since first gas production in 2014 has contributed around K5 billion.
“There are other projects as well that have contributed so much to this nation.”
Aopi added that the industry sector would also like to see an economically prosperous PNG in the next few years.
The three-day conference which began yesterday attracted more than 900 delegates not just from PNG, but from across the region, including Australia, US, Japan, China and Timor Leste, who were attending 27th conference for the first time.
“Over the years, the conference has been and continues to be a proud proponent projecting to the world PNG’s vibrant and strong resource sector, and has provided a platform for industry-to-government dialogue on key aspects of the sector while importantly marketing PNG as a sound investment destination,” Aopi said.