Mining Projects
Yandera is a proposed copper and gold mine being developed by Marengo Mining of Australia in partnership with Chinese Nonferrous Metals (NFC). The project site is located 95km south west of Madang town.
The Ramu nickel and cobolt mine is projected to open sometime in 2010 with construction costs estimated at $1.7 billion.
The mine is majority-owned by the Chinese State through its China Metallurgical Construction Corporation and will supply stainless steel mills in China.
Nautilus Minerals is developing the world’s first ever seafloor mining operation at Solwara 1 in the Bismarck Sea off the west coast of New Ireland province. Solwara is the pidgin English term for salt (sea) water.
Nautilus Minerals has been exploring the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea since 1997 looking for high-grade sea floor massive sulphide(SMS) deposits. SMS deposits are a potential source of copper, gold, zinc and silver.
In August 1999 Ok Tedi Mining Ltd. (OTML), a subsidiary of BHP, announced that the environmental impacts of the Ok Tedi mine on the surrounding environment "would be far greater and more damaging than predicted." The company also announced that none of the solutions it has studied, to date, would adequately solve the mine's environmental problems.
The Porgera mine is 95% owned by Barrick Gold of Canada. Barrick Gold acquired the mine in 2006 when it took over the previous owner, Placer Dome. The mine is one of the most controversial in Papua New Guinea.
Lihir gold mine is located on Niolam Island, the largest island in the Lihir group off the east coast of New Ireland Province.
The mine was originally a subsidiary of Rio Tinto.
From 2005 to 2010 the mine was owned and operated by Lihir Gold (which also has operations in Australia and West Africa).
In September 2010 Lihir Gold was bought by the Australian based company, Newcrest Mining.
The Lihir mine is an open pit operation which in 2009 produced 850,000 oz of gold.
The Frieda River copper-gold project is located near the headwaters of the Sepik River on the border of East and West Sepik Provinces. Xstrata holds a 74% interest in the project and Highlands Pacific and OMRD (a Japanese consortium) the remaining 26%. Xstrata is the project operator.
The mine is expected to come into production in 2012 and have a life span of 23 years. The size of the mineral deposits around the mine site mean that it is projected to be bigger than the near-by and highly controversial Ok Tedi mine.
Read the projects Environmental Inception Report below
Bougainville (Panguna) mine
The people of Bougainville fought a ten-year war against global mining giant Rio Tinto who destroyed their land, felled their forests and poisoned their rivers to create the Panguna copper and gold mine.
The Wafi-Golpu copper/gold prospect is located in Madang Province and is being explored by Harmony Gold and Newcrest Mining as part of their “Morobe Mining Joint Venture” which also includes the Hidden Valley mine.
In October 2010 Harmony announced it had been given permission to develop the mine and would be spending $150 million on a feasibility study.
Exploration for gold mine in the Crater Mountain area of Eastern Highlands province is being conducted by Gold Anomaly Limited of Australia.
In March 2010 the company announced the commencement of construction work to secure a road access to the project site - their statement can be downloaded below as a pdf file.
Hidden Valley is an open-pit, gold-silver mine and processing plant located in Morobe Province. It is, approximately 210 kilometres north-north-west of Port Moresby and 90 kilometres south-southwest of Lae.
The mine is a 50:50 joint venture between Harmony Gold and Newcrest Mining Limited.
The Simberi gold mine is located on Tabar Island in New Ireland province. It is owned by Allied Gold of Australia and operated by the Simberi Gold Mine Company.
Tolukuma gold mine in Central Province began production in 1995 and produces up to 80,000 oz of gold per year.
The mine has a small open pit but about 90% of production in mined underground.
Tolukuma Gold Mine limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Petromin PNG Holdings limited - a State owned company. It was formerly owned by Australian-based Emperor Mines Ltd
Each year the mine dumps over 230,000 tons of waste into the Auga-Angabanga river system.
Kainantu gold mine in Eastern Highlands Province began production in 2006 with a planned production of 110,000 oz of gold per year.
It is an underground mine and the concentrate is trucked to Lae and shipped to Japan for processing.
In 2007 Highlands Pacific sold the troubled mine to Barrick Gold of Canada but in January 2009 production was halted.
Sinivit gold mine in East New Britain Province is a small mine owned by Canadian company New Guinea Gold Corporation.
The mine began production in May 2008 and by September 2009 had produced 20,000 oz of gold
Mt Kare is an alluvial gold mine located between Enga and Southern Highlands provinces in Papua New Guinea.
The mine has a long and colourful history as recorded in the book, 'Gold, treachery and warfare', see below.
In April 2011, Ace Mining of Australia announced an agreement with local landowners to start mining.
The MT Kare landowners will have a 47% stake in the mine with Ace Mining holding the other 53%.
