Canadian miner Barrick said on Friday it would challenge the Papua New Guinea government’s purported grant of a special mining lease (SML) at Porgera to a State-owned company.
The Marape government purportedly granted Kumul Minerals SML 11 at Porgera for a period of 20 years. SML 11 covers 2 135 ha of land at Porgera.
But Barrick Niugini Limited (BNL) said that it regarded the granting of the SML as unlawful and noted that government had not conducted consultations with landowners prior to granting the licence.