THE cost of restarting Papua New Guinea's Porgera mine is around US$300 million (K1.052 billion), Barrick Niugini Ltd (BNL) president and chief executive officer Mark Bristow has revealed . Bristow said care and maintenance of the mine alone had cost BNL US$120 million (K421 million) and an additional US$180 million (K625mil) was needed to restart mining operations at Porgera. He said the sooner the
mine reopened, the lower the cost. “I just came back from a meeting to restart the mine. “It takes a lot of work to get this mine up and running,” he said. “The world’s mining (industry) is in a boom. “So we have to compete with a hot industry at the moment.” He also said the company had started a plan to re-employ workers.“One of the things we were not prepared to do was to put people at risk when the mine was closed,” he said. “So we retrenched everyone who wasn’t required for care and maintenance and paid them their full dues. “When we start the new Porgera it will be a new vehicle. Those who had been working for us will receive their dues, and then everyone starts (afresh).
“As soon as we finalise the documents and create the new company, we will start with fresh employment. “We want to employ Porgera people first and other Papua New Guineans second.” Barrick currently employed 800, some of whom were contracted employees. “We need to employ another 800 at the end of this year, then another 1,000. “I’m back in July, the team is working on the prestart. “In 10 days’ time, we will have all drafts ready for negotiation.” The mine was closed last April due to differences between the Government and BNL.
The National / Pacific Mining Watch
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