ABOUT
PORGERA> OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW
The Porgera gold mine is located in the Porgera Valley, Enga Province in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Mine production began in 1990, with Placer Dome as the operator until 2006, when international gold mining company, Barrick acquired Placer Dome.
The mine is operated by the Porgera Joint Venture (PJV), which is an unincorporated joint venture between Barrick (95%) and the Enga Provincial Government and the Special Mining Lease (SML) landowners (5%). Barrick operates the mine on behalf of the PJV.
The Porgera gold mine poured its first bar of gold on 5 August 1990, about 15 months after construction of the mine commenced. As at 31 December 2007, the mine has produced more than 15.1 million ounces of gold.
The mine provides employment for hundreds of local Porgerans and other PNG citizens. At the end of 2007, the number of people directly employed by the PJV stood at 2,445 permanent employees. Of these 1,549 are classified as Porgerans, 35 as Engans, 690 as other PNG citizens and 171 non-citizens.
As part of the mine development PJV constructed a new public airport at Kairik, which enables regular flights to operate in and out of Porgera.
SPECIAL MINING LEASE
The mine operates on a Special Mining Lease (SML), which was originally negotiated between PJV; agents of landowners of the Tieni, Waiwa, Tuanda, Pulumanini, Angalaini, Mamai and Anga clans of Porgera, Enga Province; and the Papua New Guinean Government. These negotiations included an equity component, royalties and arrangement of compensation packages to landowners for any losses such as economic plants, gardens and houses.
The lease agreement was formalized under the provisions of the Mining Act. Under the lease agreement the PJV has exclusive access to the lease area for the purposes of conducting mining operations under a joint venture arrangement.
Leases for Mining Purposes (LMP’s) were also signed with local landowners to cover areas affected by mining operations; and include waste dumps, camps and a lime quarry.
LOCATION
The Porgera gold mine is located in what was once one of the more remote parts of Enga Province in the Central Highlands of PNG. The property lies 130km west-northwest of Mount Hagen and 600km northwest of the national capital, Port Moresby.
The mine is situated in rugged, mountainous terrain at 2,500m elevation on the floor of the Porgera Valley, which rises to 3,850m at the rim. The area has an annual rainfall of about 3.7m and daily temperatures range from 10 to 25°C.
The region is subject to seismic activity; and landslides are a common feature of the PNG highlands. The soils of the Valley have generally low fertility and the high altitude is close to the limit for cultivation of traditional food garden produce (i.e. the traditional staple, sweet potato is rarely grown above 2,400 metre elevation).
LOCAL COMMUNITY
Porgera is the home to the Ipili people who are distinct to their neighbours, the Engans and the Hulis (Southern Highlands Province).
Most of the people are concentrated in villages and scattered settlements within the Porgera Valley. Porgerans live largely subsistence lifestyles, based on cultivation of food gardens up to 2,400m elevation.
At the start of the project in 1989, the population of the Porgera sub-district consisted of roughly 10,000 individuals. Natural population growth and immigration driven by the presence of the mine has raised the population of the Porgera sub-district to an estimated 40,000 people today.
HISTORY TIMELINE
1938 |
Alluvial gold was first reported at Porgera. Ten years later the first geological investigation traced the gold to its source in the Waruwari Hill area. |
1964 |
Bulolo Gold Dredging Limited, which merged with Placer Development in 1966, carried out extensive trenching, mapping and channel sampling in a two year program. Subsequently, Anaconda Australia Inc and Mount Isa Mines Limited carried out mapping, channel sampling and limited drilling. The indicated grades and tonnage, however, remained inadequate at the prevailing gold prices. |
1975 |
Placer (PNG) Pty Limited became the operator of a joint venture with Mount Isa Mines Limited (MIM). |
1979 |
Consolidated Gold Fields Australasia Limited (CGFA), which subsequently became a wholly owned subsidiary of Renison Goldfields Consolidated Limited, entered the Joint Venture. |
1981 |
A preliminary technical and economic evaluation was carried out on behalf of the Porgera Joint Venture and this indicated that the deposit was uneconomic. |
1984 |
Discovery of the high grade within the Zone 7 section of the orebody crucially transformed the project economics. |
1984/85 |
Further economic evaluations were completed. |
Dec 1985 |
The Joint Venture commenced development of an exploration audit into Mount Waruwari, close to the footwall of the high grade Zone 7 orebody, to allow access for diamond drilling. |
1987 |
Highlands Gold Properties Pty Limited and RGC (Papua New Guinea) Pty Limited became joint venture partners, as subsidiaries of MIM and CGFA, respectively.
The successful completion of the drilling program resulted in a decision by the Porgera Joint Venture partners, Placer (PNG) Pty Ltd, Highlands Gold Properties Pty Ltd and RGC (Papua New Guinea) Pty Ltd, to commence production. |
June 1988 |
A feasibility study based on a combination of underground and open pit mining was completed and submitted to PNG Government. It concluded that the Porgera gold deposit could be economically exploited. |
April 1989 |
Mineable reserves increased by 2.6 million ounces to a total of 12.6 million ounces. |
May 1989 |
The Joint Venturers' application for a Special Mining Lease was approved and construction began immediately. At the same time the Joint Venturers undertook the Porgera Project Implementation Plan to determine the optimum approach for plant expansion. The PNG Government, through Mineral Resources Porgera Pty Ltd, took up its 10% entitlement under the 1979 Equity Agreement. |
1990 |
The Porgera Project Implementation Plan studies were completed. The Implementation Plan assumed the same overall concepts as the June 1988 feasibility study, but extended development of the project with a three stage expansion of the plant from 1,500 tonnes/day to 8,500 tonnes/day. |
Sept 1990 |
Production from the underground mining operation and Stage 1 mill commenced. |
1991 |
The oxidation circuit to extract refractory gold was completed and pre-stripping of the open pit commenced. The mine produced over one million ounces of gold in its first year of operation. |
Sept 1992 |
New geological resources were announced, which added 2.7 million ounces to the previous estimate. Stage 3 construction was completed. |
1993 |
A Heads of Agreement was signed to allow the PNG Government to acquire an additional 5% interest from each of the non-State Joint Venturers, leaving each Joint Venturer with an equal 25% interest. |
May 1994 |
Open pit production increased to 100,000 tonnes per day, with the purchase of five Caterpillar 789,180 tonnes payload trucks and an O&K RH200 hydraulic shovel. |
Nov 1994 |
Approval was given for the Stage 4B expansion to increase mill throughput to 17,700 tonnes per day, starting from January 1996. |
Feb 1996 |
The Stage 4B expansion was completed. |
1997 |
Placer Dome increased its ownership to 50% by purchasing Highlands Gold Properties Pty Limited. |
Oct 1997 |
Underground mining ceased. |
Nov 1997 |
Open pit production expanded to 210,000 tonnes per day with purchase of additional shovel and six trucks. |
Dec 1997 |
The flotation plant was expanded and the gravity circuit was installed to improve gold recoveries. |
Oct 1998 |
Additional oxygen capacity was installed. |
Feb 2001 |
The open pit drainage tunnel was completed. |
Jan 2002 |
Underground mining recommenced. |
May 2006 |
Barrick Gold Corporation purchased Placer Dome’s 75% interest in the Porgera Joint Venture. |
August 2007 |
Barrick Gold Corporation purchased Emperor’s 20% interest in the Porgera Joint Venture increasing its ownership to 95%. |
|
