The Papua New Guinea Government had no visibility, reconciliation nor conducted joint audit with mining operators on how much metals were produced in the country, an official says.
Papua New Guinea's Mineral Resource Authority (MRA) managing director Jerry Garry told the local newspapers The National that MRA only received data from mining operators through monthly mineral return form 25 reports and annual reports.
MRA is now in the process of establishing a repository at its head office in Port Moresby which will collect real time data on metals produced in each mining operation in the country.
“We have completed the feasibility study and the next step is to basically build the infrastructure here at MRA and try to work on having communications with every mine,” he added.
“We have actually launched the access to live data for Ok Tedi as part of the feasibility study.
“Going forward this year, we will be seriously looking at establishing the infrastructure.
“This is in the interest of everyone to promote transparency and to minimise the perception that we have no visibility on how much gold and copper are produced in each mine.
“Getting the live data is one aspect.
“It is really to reconcile the numbers, there is a lot of what we call metal volatility that needs to be done to arrive at a reasonable estimate on how much metal is produced. It is a very good start and we are proud of the progress we have made to date. It will give us real time visibility on how much copper and gold they are producing.”
The National / Pacific Mining Watch