THE Porgera Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Papua New Guinea says an awareness and validation exercise carried out by the State indicates that the mine will reopen later this year.
Chamber president Nickson Pakea said it was an indication for the mine to reopen on Sept 16.
He said the expectation in the district and the province for the opening followed Prime Minister James Marape meeting with local stakeholders in Wabag last month.
The awareness exercise in the Porgera valley was launched on Monday and will end tomorrow.
This will be followed by a validation exercise from July 26 to Aug 3.
Mining Minister Johnson Tuke said the outcome from the exercise would enable the appointed agents from the 25 sub-clans to participate in the mining development forum and other sanctioned forums.
Tuke said the vetting process would involve the landowners of SML 11’s ancillary tenements for lease for mining purposes, mining easements and mining lease.
Meanwhile, Pakea said all the community leaders, business houses and the public supported the Government’s statutory exercises to enable beneficiaries to elect their leaders to represent.
“People are delighted with Mineral Resources Authority’s tentative programmes and awareness to be carried out this week,” he said.
Pakea said the only concern people had was the delayed election of their representatives because of law and order issues .
“Otherwise, it is good indication and we appeal to prime minister (Marape) and Barrick CEO (Mark Bristow) to remain focused on opening the mine on the established date,” he added.
Pakea said people, businesses and services in Porgera had been impacted adversely by the shutdown and they were keen to revive the district’s economy and development with the reopening.
Statement/TheNational/Pacific Mining Watch
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