Papua New Guinea aims for bigger share of Porgera mine in JV with Barrick Gold and Zijin

Papua New Guinea (PNG) wants a larger share of the Porgera gold mine as part of lease-renewal talks, diluting the ownership of joint venture partners Barrick Gold Corp and Zijin Mining Group, reports Reuters.

PNG’s Minister for Commerce and Industry, Wera Mori, said a portion of Barrick and Zijin’s stakes would be given to the national and provincial governments and to landowners. 

“We would like to see the mine to continue, but this time to be structured in such a way with a lot more national interest in it,” Mori told Reuters in an interview in Sydney.

The final figure to be held by PNG would be negotiated during talks around the requested 20-year extension to the mine’s lease. Mori added that PNG is in the process of developing the framework to retain at least 30% of the gold it exports every year.

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The Porgera Joint Venture is an open pit and underground gold mine located at an altitude of 2,200-2,600 meters in the Enga Province of Papua New Guinea, about 600 kilometers north-west of Port Moresby. 

Barrick and Zijin Mining Group each own 47.5% of the operation, with the remaining 5% interest held by landowner group, Mineral Resources Enga.Pogera is expected to produce 240,000 to 260,000 ounces of gold this year

PNG was the world’s 14th largest gold producer in 2018, according to the World Gold Council.