According to Chief Executive Officer and President of Barrick Gold Corporation Mark Bristow, the company is aiming to resume operations at the Porgera gold mine later this year.
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Several thousand Porgerans, including the Prime Minister, the Hon. James Marape, the Governor of Enga Province, Sir Peter Ipatas, and the Minister of Mining, the Hon. Sir Ano Pala, attended the Security Forum and the opening of the Development Forum on 20th July 2023 as a requirement for the granting of a special mining lease.
When speaking to the crowd at the same ceremony, the mining minister stressed the need to maintain peace and order for the mine’s effective resumption and operation.
If everything goes as planned, Porgera could resume operations by the end of 2023, according to Bristow. The mobile fleet and stationary plant are being recommissioned in preparation for the restart, the mining and metallurgy plans have been updated and the staff recruiting strategy has been finalized with a focus on hiring locally.
It has been a long journey but, in the process, we have secured the buy-in of all the stakeholders. For Barrick, the re-opening of the mine represents another victory for our host country partnership model which has been so successful in Tanzania and has also been adopted for the Reko Diq project in Pakistan.
Mark Bristow, Chief Executive Officer and President, Barrick Gold Corporation
Ownership of New Porgera is split between Papua New Guinea stakeholders (51%), who will run the mine, and Barrick Niugini Limited (49%). The PNG stakeholders will get 53% of the economic advantages, while Barrick Niugini will receive 47%.