Harmony Gold Mining announced on Monday that its Hidden Valley operation in the Papua New Guinea's Morobe Province reached commercial levels of production in the month of June 2018.The K540 million investment in further cutbacks was delivered safely, on schedule, and below budget.
CEO of Harmony Peter Steenkamp said the company is confident the project will produce more than 180,000 ounces in its fiscal year of 2019.
“The mine is well set up to deliver on the long term targets and will continue to make a meaningful contribution to Papua New Guinea’s economy through employment, paying taxes (including royalty) and procurement of local goods and services” Mr Steenkamp said.
Harmony’s commitment to localisation is evident with the current Hidden Valley workforce consisting of 1350 employees and 650 contractors, of which only 4 per cent are employed from outside PNG, about 945 of which are from the Morobe Province.
Over the life of mine paid K111 million of royalties to (among others) landowners, local level government and provincial government.
The mine expends, on average, K450 million annually on goods and services in the country.
Thirty-three per cent of this in-country transactions are with landowner and landowner joint venture companies. of which NKW Holdings Limited (as the representative umbrella company for the landowner groups directly impacted by the mine) is a significant participant.
In addition, targeted social performance initiatives and expenditures by Harmony have further contributed towards the upliftment of communities in the vicinity of the mine.
Engagement with the PNG government on the application for a special mining lease (SML) for the Wafi-Golpu project is progressing well.
On June 25, 2018, the Wafi-Golpu Joint Venture (WGJV) submitted an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Wafi-Golpu Project to the relevant regulatory authority, Conservation and Environment Protection Agency (CEPA).