PNG Mining Projects
MINING IN PNG
Highlights of the Minerals Sector
The last two years have been an exciting time and significant achievements were made in the PNG Mining Industry. Total mineral production in 2008 was approximately 2,169,108 ounces of gold, 159,650 tonnes of copper and 1,539,514 ounces of silver. Gold production increased with Sinivit and Simberi commencing production in 2007 and 2008 respectively.
The international financial crisis has markedly curtailed mineral exploration which was running at a very high level. Although drilling is still going on almost continuously at a number of advanced exploration sites around the country including Yandera, Frieda, Wafi-Golpu, Woodlark, Kainantu, and Tabar, programmes at a number of these locations have been drastically reduced. Short term target and concept drilling on other tenements has almost come to a standstill.
The Mineral Resources Authority has made good progress in clearing the large backlog of Exploration Licence (EL) applications but there is still a significant number outstanding. In June 2009, there were 279 current ELs, 22 renewals and 104 applications.
PNG has been successful in progressing a number of resource projects in recent years. The Hidden Valley gold mine and the Ramu nickel-cobalt project are on track and commissioning should be underway in the third quarter 2009, and first quarter 2010, respectively.
PNG will be hosting the first mining project for seafloor massive sulphides. Nautilus Minerals has lodged an application for a Mining Lease over its Solwara 1 project in the Bismarck Sea west of central New ireland and concurrently submitted an Environmental Impact Statement and a full mining feasibility study. The company aims to be mining Solwara 1 by 2011, a fitting accolade for the country that issued the first exploration tenement for deep sea exploration in the world (1996).
The economy is also benefiting from large ongoing development expenditure at a number of projects including construction of the Ramu nickel-cobalt project in Madang Province and the Hidden Valley mine in the Morobe Province, and the significant capital expenditure at the Ok Tedi mine (Tailings scheme, drainage tunnel and second dredge), as well as from a number of planned projects that are expected to remain on track, notably the massive PNG LNG project that affects 4 provinces, the major expansion of the Lihir mine, and the Nautilus Solwara 1 project. In addition to these, there are a number of large multi-storey office, hotel and retail complexes under construction in Port Moresby and Lae and significant investment in the expanding oil palm industry.