BARRICK Gold chief executive officer and president Mark Bristow will be in Papua New Guinea from today to Friday with senior Barrick Gold executives, as a part of their quarterly review visits to Barrick operated mine sites.
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| PNG PM Marape |
Bristow is expected to meet Prime Minister James Marape and Government officials during his visit.
A statement from the Barrick Niugini Ltd (BNL) said while Porgera mine was presently under care and maintenance, negotiations for the re-commencement of mining continues, in line with the terms of the framework agreement signed between Barrick and the Government in April.
Bristow said he hoped the visit would progress negotiations past certain critical milestones, and that all key agreements required prior to re-commencement of mining would be signed soon.
He said Barrick remained committed to restarting the Porgera mine under the terms of the framework agreement.
“While the current pace of the negotiations is not as rapid as we might have hoped, certain commercial arrangements, as defined under the framework agreement, need to be finalised to give our shareholders confidence in the reinvestment,” Bristow said.
“I sincerely hope we can get these agreements signed off by the State as soon as possible, particularly given the ongoing cost of keeping the mine under care and maintenance.
“We all need to put in our best efforts towards concluding the remaining agreements if we want to have any chance of restarting the mine this year or early next year,” he said.