My letter to Barrick on the way: Marape

The National Business

PRIME Minister James Marape says his letter to Barrick (Niugini) Ltd (BNL) is for the company to continue operating Porgera gold mine in Enga until a proper transition takes place.
In a Facebook posting yesterday, Marape said if Barrick (Niugini) Ltd decided to “sabotage or close the mine,” it would leave him no choice but to invoke orders to take over the mine
“Major amendments to the resource law regimes we (are) doing, will be effected post 2025 and will not affect those agreements secured under present regimes. You can have that comfort,” he said.
“However, Porgera is a special case and is an exception because Barrick’s lease expired on August 18, 2019.
“My letter to Barrick is on its way and will explain this and also allude to formal and legitimate processes of government including the MAC’s (mining advisory committee’s) deliberation that refused application for lease renewal.
“I have my country’s eight million shareholders including the people of Ipili, Porgera, Enga environmental footprint areas plus mine workers to look after.
“Now that your lease has expired, the legal process is there for Barrick to comply with so you can maintain your operation until an agreed exit time we both secure during negotiations when mutual obligations are retired.
“My letter will ask Barrick to continue operating the mine when we go through this phase.
“But if you sabotage or close the mine, you leave me no choice but to invoke orders to take over the mine for the sake of landowners and provincial government who should be getting bigger equities, plus the employees and contractors who are presently working with the mine. Don’t fight me (I am in my country and I lose nothing).
“Work with me for your ease of business during this transition and exit phase (you never know, negotiations may buy you extra mine operation time).”
Meanwhile, Marape urged the people not to depend too much on resource projects but use their land for agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
“PNG and the world need organic healthy food, coffee, copra, cocoa, vanilla, livestock’s, fish.
“We have food we can produce to feed ourselves and supply the world.”

4 comments

  • That’s the PM we need. (yu leader ya….) Give them (BNL) our constitutions and let them abide to. If they don’t want then please kindly leave our land and go……investors will come…its just one have already been here so its blocking others to apply to come.

  • The special mining lease was revoked. Barrick now will be illegally operating so they’ve stopped operations. The Government can revoke the SML but facilities and equipment and employees are Barrick and Zijin’s. When they pull all these out, the cost of reconstruction and resuming production again will be in the billions. It’s a world class mine operating in a complex operation. Not a hire car or trucking business. Also legal and bilateral (China) repercussions will come. Barrick took Pakistan to court in 2019 over license extension of the Riqo Dik project and that international tribunal chaired by the World bank ordered Pakistan to pay Barrick US$5.8 billion. Can PNG stand up to that? The economy is in recession with huge debts to China still being repaid. Don’t try to bite more than you can chew. You might choke yourself.

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