Barrick is closer to restarting the Porgera gold mine

Barrick received a green light over the resumption of operation at Progera gold mine which was suspended since 2020. The agreement was signed in May 2023 between the government of Papua New Guinea, Barrick Niugini Limited, and New Porgera Limited. According to the deal Papua New Guinea will hold 51% share (including local landowners and the Enga provincial government). The economic benefits will be shared between Papua New Guinea and Barrick by 53% to 47%

Progera gold project

The Progera gold mine is evaluated to host of ore deposit of c.a. 10 million ounces and inferred resources of 3.4 million ounces. In the first step, the Wangima pit will be ramped up and optimized. After all work the forecast production is expected at ca 700 000 ounces per year.

The Porgera Joint Venture is an open pit and underground gold mine located at an altitude of 2,200-2,600 meters in the Enga Province of Papua New Guinea, about 600 kilometers northwest of Port Moresby.

Mining Methods

The Open Pit mine was 500 meters deep, below the highest point of surface topography. During exploitation ca. 30 million tonnes of ore per year was excavated. The material mined was a combination of gold-bearing ore and barren waste.

The Porgera Underground produced ca. 1.4 million tonnes of ore per year. It was divided into three primary production areas: North Zone, East Zone, and AHD. The underground operation exploited the deposit at a depth of ca 330 meters beneath the current pit floor. The Underground operation had a strike extent of approximately 1.6 km. The primary access was via a twin decline system from the surface with secondary internal accesses connecting the various mining areas. Mining has been done by convention long hole open stoping. Drives are developed along the strike of the lenses at 15m vertical intervals with long-hole stopping used to extract the ore between these levels.

Reopening by the end of the year

After the signing ceremony, Mark Bristow said ”It’s been a long journey but in the process we have secured the buy-in of all the stakeholders. For Barrick, the reopening of the mine would represent another victory for our host-country partnership model which has been so successful in Tanzania and has now also been adopted for the new Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan”

It is expected that according to the agreement related to compensation, the Porgera mine was positioned to restart before the end of this year.

In a recent press release Bristow added: “Barrick’s commitment to partnership with its host countries is also reflected in NPL’s ownership structure, which ensures the equitable that subject to agreement on compensation, the Porgera mine was positioned to restart before the end of this year.”

Green light

On October 13^th Governor General Sir Bob Dabae granted a special mining lease to New Porgera Limited (NPL). This enabled Barrick Gold Corporation to restart production at the gold mine.

*Source of the photo in the featured image: Porgera Joint Venture homepage.