Government must re-open mineral refinery operations:

The National Government has been urged to upgrade and reopen the Metals Refinery Operations [MRO], and not start a new refinery.

PNG Chamber of Resources and Energy [PNG CORE] President, Anthony Smare in a statement, said this when speaking on the National Government's idea to open a new refinery.

Mr Smare said PNG already has a gold refinery, national mint and national bank, and it does not need to go to a tiny Singaporean company, Refinery Holdings Propriety Limited, to replace them in a deal which could be catastrophic to the PNG economy and financial system.

He added that PNG has its own gold refinery, which was the Metals Refinery Operations or MRO in Port Moresby for over 30 years, and it is also 100 percent PNG-owned.

Mr Smare said that if the National Government is serious about taking back PNG, it should reopen the MRO, because it is owned by Pacific Balance Fund, and its shareholders, Mineral Resource Development Company [MRDC], Nasfund and thousands of ordinary Papua New Guineans.

He also adds that Kumul Minerals Holdings Limited which is worth over K8 billion, has the financial and technical capacity to build a new 3-million-ounce capacity gold refinery for K60 million in Port Moresby or Lae, because they have already started doing studies into that, and they just need the backing of the government.