Peter Wells | Financial Times | 19 September 2016
Harmony Gold will take full control of the Hidden Valley mine in Papua New Guinea after Newcrest Mining, the Australian gold producer, said it was selling its half of the joint venture.
Newcrest said in a statement to the ASX today it was selling its share in the 50/50 Hidden Valley joint venture to its South African partner. Harmony will now assume all liabilities and expenses related to the JV and mine, including rehabilitation costs and remediation obligations with effect from August 31 this year.
As a result of the exit, Newcrest will recognise a loss on the sale of approximately $10m. The miner also said that as part of the transaction and to help cover a one-off contribution towards Hidden Valley’s future closure liability it was funding its subsidiary which held the stake in the JV with $22.5m
Sandeep Biswas, Newcrest’s CEO, said:
Having completed the strategic review of Hidden Valley, Newcrest determined that the best outcome was to exit the operation and focus our attention on safe profitable growth at our other assets.
Located 300km north-west of Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, Hidden Valley is an open pit gold and silver mine. Production commenced in September 2010 and in the 12 months to June 30 the mine produced 145,132 ounces of gold (on a 100 per cent basis).