Praise for PNG gold regime

The Papua New Guinea Chamber of Resources and Energy (PNG CORE) president Anthony Smaré says that the country benefits from one of the strongest gold production monitoring regimes in the world and should be proud of its current regime.
“PNG’s mining industry adheres to a very rigorous standard and comprehensive scrutiny by government agencies to ensure transparency and accountability in gold production,” he said in a statement.
“All of PNG’s operating mines have been compliant to those reporting standards and scrutiny. PNG’s regime is stronger than in Australia, Canada and the United States of America.”
He said all gold produced in PNG gold mines were subjected to the scrutiny of government agencies such as the Mineral Resources Authority, Bank of Papua New Guinea, Internal Revenue Commission, PNG Customs and PNG Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (PNGEITI).
“Mines submit a monthly mineral return Form 25 stating details of minerals mined, commodity produced, clearance on each export shipment is sought from both the IRC and Central Bank and upon receipt of clearance by the Central Bank, PNG Customs then completes its customs declaration forms confirming consignment details prior to shipment for exports,” he said.
From 2020, MRA has been using a live data monitoring digital platform which provides the authority and the Government real-time information on mineral data and operations of all major mines in operation in the country.
The mines pay the MRA more than K50 million in levies each year to ensure that it is funded to implement its regulatory role.
On recent comments against the mining industry on gold theft and malpractices by certain leaders, PNG CORE has written to Prime Minister James Marape to express its disappointment over the comments, asking for evidence of any noncompliance to be presented.
“If evidence of such misconduct exists, bring it forward so that those in breach are dealt with accordingly under PNG law,” he said.
“In the absence of such evidence, any allegation of industry malpractice regarding gold production and exports should be considered a false narrative designed to lay the ground for dangerous proposals like the flawed National Gold Corporation proposal and its foreign promoters to garner political support and be passed to the detriment of the country.”