PM wants mine to reopen

The National Main Stories

THE Government expects the Kumul Minerals Holdings Limited (KMHL) to reopen the Porgera mine immediately, exercising its rights in a contract signed 31 years ago.
Prime Minister James Marape was responding to a Supreme Court decision on Friday which rejected an application by Barrick Niugini Limited (BNL) to stay a National Court decision relating to the issuing of a special mining licence.
The National Executive Council granted a special mining lease (SML) over the land on which the mine is located to KMHL on Aug 25.
“I urge Barrick to humble itself, observe the rule of law and fulfil its obligations under Clause 19 of the mining development contract (MDC) it signed on May 12, 1989,” Marape said in a statement
“The State reserves its right under Clause 19 (c) of the MDC to acquire the (Porgera mine) assets at a fair market value.
“The State also reserves it’s further right under Clause 19.2 of the MDC to give the appropriate consent upon expiry of a one-year period from the date the SML expired (Aug 16, 2019) enabling all assets of the Porgera gold project to become the property of the State without any cost to the State or any liability for the State to pay compensation.”
Barrick Niugini Ltd challenged in the National Court the decision not to renew its 30-year SML which expired in August last year.
Deputy Chief Justice Ambeng Kandakasi recently dismissed the BNL challenge in the National Court. BNL then filed a stay application in the Supreme Court.
Justice Collin Makail, presiding as a single Supreme Court judge refused to grant a stay order because he said the relationship between the parties had become obnoxious and broken down.

13 comments

  • Barrick has no choice but to come to the table and submit to the PNG Government and it’s people and operate the Mine with KMH as its sole partner.

    There are other areas where the PNG Government can use to terminate Barricks license such as Environment where Plant tailings is discharged into the river. Obviously if an Environmental audit is conducted there will be high traces of base metals still left over from solution Cyanide destruction process being accumulated downstream.

    Sulphur Dioxide gas being discharged from the pressure oxidation process will definitely cause health issues to the surrounding communities.

    Also if Barrick tries to fight the PNG Government, and if the Landowners support their Government and a civil or social arrest arises as a result of Barrick trying to fight the Government and People of the land. Then that’s a one way ticket for Barrick out of PNG.

    Barrick recently in south America has accepted the decision of the Chilean court to suspend its operations at the Pascue-Lama Gold mine based on Environmental and social unrest which has become an issue. This paints a bad picture for Barrick internationally as an Operator who neglects the Environmental and the people.

    Go PMJM we will operate Porgera and pay off Barricks assets!

  • Thanks PMJM. This our land and you made the right decision for our future generation as a stepping stone. We will not sell our birthright for a bean soup. Take back PNG and now is the the time.

  • When will the Marape Steven Government going to reopen the mine with a finalized genuine decision to reopen the Porgera Gold Mine?…All I hear and see from Government in the news on respective media platform is ” WE WILL REOPEN THE MINE.” It literally seems, the government is misleading the people with false promises and the mine has been shut down for some months now. However on the other hand, thus the closure of the mining itself has really affected the livelihood of the local Porgeran people.

  • Mr Yuwi your time is over, this mine is now bilongs to all Engans, You see Engan leadership and JUST RELAX.
    You and Barrick have built your empires already, What else you want to have, Just stay at the side and see HON PMJM doing his best to TAKE BACK PNG>

    • Yuwi, you and your favourite government haven`t done anything good for this nation like what the current government is doing. Just keep quiet and watch what the leaders of Enga lead by Action Governor Peter Ipatas is doing to take back their own resource with the help of the current government.

  • I hope they have mine management experts at KMHL to go into action immediately. I bet they will waste more time recruiting and familiarizing themselves on the nitty-gritties of managing a huge gold mine. The question is; when will the PM and his band of experts re-open the mine?

  • People just relax , Mr. JM is the best prime Minister you have in history of this nation just wait and see….

  • All the assets and machinery is OWNED by Barrick Niugini Limited and NOT by Kumul Minerals Holdings Limited.just one question, will BNL agree to operate under KMHL or not.
    Negotiate with BNL and give us the right information when they going to Operate.

  • All equipment’s are sitting in piece of land given to PNGan, not on a foreign land, Foreigners have illegal mining in our land using their law, rightful owners are taking over is a beginning of new chapter in the history., with our own laws……..

  • I understand BNL owns the high tech properties (equipments) located at the mines sites and they are expensive for the government to purchase them. However, BNL owes the Government and the Landowners so much money which is sufficient for the government to offset the price of the equipments. The government is well equipped and protected both legally and financially to take over the mine and operate.

    The only question is when the government will kickstart and know the government will do so before the end of this year which is good for all stakeholders.
    The move by the government is brilliant for the bright future of this nation and we all should rally behind it without hesitation.

    PMJM GO AHEAD AS YOUR PEOPLE AND THE GOOD LORD ARE ALL WITH.

Comments are closed.