O’Neill shares optimism over Star Mountains project

 PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill has welcomed the entry of the Anglo American Ltd to Papua New Guinea during a meeting with Anglo and Highlands Pacific executives yesterday in Port Moresby.

He said Highlands Pacific, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anglo American Plc, has recently executed the joint venture and farm-in agreements for the Star Mountains copper gold project near the Ok Tedi mine.

“Anglo American has demonstrated their confidence in the investment potential of Papua New Guinea and we welcome their participation,” O’Neill said.

“This is a wise decision for their shareholders and we look forward to an enduring relationship in the decades to come.”

Highlands Pacific managing director John Gooding said the signing of the agreements represented a major step forward for Highlands Pacific and PNG.

“Anglo American is a highly reputable international company that brings great exploration and development experience to the Star Mountains project,” Gooding said. 

The exploration and development joint venture proposal was originally announced last December and the general terms of the joint venture and farm-in remain as announced at that date.

Preparation for the upcoming exploration and drilling operation will now ramp-up, with a four hole, 3000 metre campaign to begin in the next two months.

Highlands Pacific is a PNG incorporated and registered mining and exploration company with major assets are interests the US$2.1 billion (K5.53bn) Ramu nickel 

cobalt mine and the Frieda River copper gold project, with exploration in progress in the Star Mountains.

Highlands Pacific has exploration tenements at Muller Range on the border of the Western and Southern Highlands and on Normanby Island (Sewa Bay), in Milne Bay.

O’Neill acknowledged the great deal of copper and gold potential Star Mountains has, given it has only been drilled twice in the last 50 years.

The area was originally drilled by Kennecott in the late 1960s after discovering the Mt Fubilan deposit that Ok Tedi Mining Ltd has been operating for decades. 

 It was then drilled by Highlands Pacific since 2010, where 28 diamond drill holes were drilled over six prospects producing major intersections of copper gold porphyry mineralisation.

Highlands’ Star Mountains exploration tenements cover 515 square kilometres and are located within the prospective New Guinean Orogenic Belt, which includes the Grasberg, Ok Tedi, Porgera and Hidden Valley mines.