Praise for govt support, stable policies

 THE exploration climate in Papua New Guinea is in far better shape then it was before 2002, the Papua New Guinea Chamber of Mines and Petroleum says.

Executive director Greg Anderson (pictured) said that had resulted from supportive government policies and stable policy environment.

He said the “tremendous work” done during the build-up period led to new discoveries, most of which require a lot more work. 

“It has meant that giant projects at Frieda River and Wafi-Golpu are moving ahead to full scale feasibility in spite of uncertain global conditions,” Anderson said in the chamber’s newsletter.

“However, big companies such as Ok Tedi, Barrick Gold, Varley, Newmont and Newcrest have pulled out of joint venture farm-in deals while junior mining companies are feeling the pinch of lower commodity prices even more as they faced great difficulty in raising capital for high risk exploration.”

Anderson said the case of Frieda River was in the hands of new owners PanAust after Glencore-Xstrata walked away from the project after spending about US$300 million (K805 million) and deciding to take a huge loss in the process.

He said there were several exceptions with Highlands Pacific firming up exploration joint venture plans 

for its Star Mountains leases with 

mining major Anglo American, and Harmony Gold – possibly the only major left with significant grassroots exploration – announcing a very significant copper-gold discovery in Hela. 

“PNG’s mining maps have begun to show vast areas that have been dropped by explorers, with much 

of the remnants in the Papua region consisting of junior activities for 

mineral sands and coal,” Anderson said. 

“The reality is that once exploration goes into a major decline it could take years to build the momentum back to an optimum level again.”