Results of deal will be realised later

THE longer-term fruits of the deal the State had struck with mine developer Barrick Gold will be realised some time into the future but the obvious first benefit of reopening the Porgera mine is employment for Papua New Guineans.
Last Friday, the mine’s operations resumed with the cleaning up work.
Three to four years of accumulated loose soil and mud have to be cleared first prior to miners reaching the actual ore.
The Government had decided against renewing the special mining lease forcing the mine into a state of care and maintenance in April 2020, a decision that has put 3,600 out of work overnight.
So there would have been a collective sigh of relief for those workers who would still want to go back and others lining up for possible job openings at the mine under the new management arrangements.
Last Friday a government team visited the mine site to witness the initial work that is being undertaken to make prepare for actual gold production in the first quarter of the new year.
The loss of jobs is for individuals and families much closer to home than the bigger picture in losses of business or Government revenues and returns to the State, the Enga provincial government and other PNG stakeholders of the mine operated by New Porgera Limited (NPL).
In the next two to three months NPL will look to build up the staff required.
About 3,500 nationals are expected to be employed by the mine presumably when the mine is at full operational capacity.
That is a welcome news long awaited by former employees hoping to get back their jobs as well as others who would be applying for jobs at the mine.
Besides those directly employed, hundreds more should be expected to find employment with enterprises that are allied with mine operations or those that provide the goods and services required for the operation of the mine.
So employment alone is a major positive to come for the reopening of the mine, however belated.
Those thousands of workers will be earning paying taxes to the PNG Government.
Minister assisting the Prime Minister Jimmy Maladina said at the opening that a significant event that happened on the day was that the mine workers were on salary under new books of the new mining company, NPL.
About 98 per cent of staff are Papua new Guineans working as engineers, mine managers, geologists and operators.
The clearing up work on the mine has begun.
There are also other necessary works like reestablishing the power and water supply systems for the mine operations to commence.
Actual gold production is therefore expected to resume in the first quarter of the new year.
It has been a long and difficult journey of negotiations and deferrals to the resumption of the mine but finally on Dec 22, the mine has official resumed operations.
Critics of the deal reached which lead the reopening of the mine may argue that the developers are the real winners and not the State and its agencies.
One argument is that even under the new arrangements, Barrick would still have full control over the mine cash flows for a decade at least while PNG Government and landowners would await their windfalls.
Time, be it a decade or the entire mine life, will be the best judge of the deal; whether James Marape has actually won a great deal for Papua New Guinea or not.
However, the fact that thousands of people now have the opportunity to work in the mine is reason enough to celebrate.
And the mine reopening couldn’t have come at a better time.
From here, it will be upon NPL and the State to prove to their respective shareholders how good a deal they had sealed.