Long Porgera Mine reopening wait to end on December 22

Gold mining in the Porgera valley of Enga Province will recommence after nearly four years of negotiations until the final stamp of approval.

Prime Minister James Marape said the “Porgera’ reopening has reached the finish line” when addressing the mining and petroleum conference today in Sydney, Australia. 

The new joint venture company that will operate the lucrative mine, New Porgera Limited [NPL] in a media statement states that “NPL is pleased to announce that all legal and contractual conditions necessary for the reopening of Porgera Mine have now been met and the mine is set to officially restart operations on December 22, 2023.

With the ramp up of operations, first gold is expected to be poured in the first quarter of 2024.”

The announcement is expected to boost the country’s economy outlook in the coming 12 months.

As reported earlier the country missed out on revenue collection of over K1 billion annually since the mine closure in 2020, following the expiry of the mining lease.      

Furthermore, Bank of PNG dropped the original forecast of the country’s gross domestic product growth rate for 2023, after no announcement to start mine operations. 

The original forecast was done on the back of the assumption that re-opening and operations of the Porgera Gold Mine will happen before the end of 2023.

The mine had been on care and maintenance since April 2020, the non-renewal of the mining lease, and with the start of mining activity will see increase on employment to reach 3,000 by the end of 2024.