{"id":1138147,"date":"2019-09-13T05:43:07","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T10:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1001850"},"modified":"2019-09-13T05:43:07","modified_gmt":"2019-09-13T10:43:07","slug":"png-demands-40-of-the-output-from-newcrest-harmony-wafi-golpu-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1138147","title":{"rendered":"PNG demands 40% of the output from Newcrest-Harmony Wafi-Golpu project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Australia\u2019s Newcrest Mining (ASX:<br \/>\nNCM) and South Africa\u2019s Harmony Gold&nbsp;(JSE: HAR) (NYSE: HMY) are facing<br \/>\nfresh challenges in Papua New Guinea, as the administration is asking to keep<br \/>\n40% of gold extracted at the companies\u2019 Wafi-Golpu project. <\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The joint venture partners had been<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/newcrest-harmony-joint-venture-png-cost-extra-1bn-upfront\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" hoping to secure a mining lease (opens in a new tab)\"> hoping to secure a mining lease<\/a> over the $5.4 billion gold-copper deposit this year. A new government, however, has brought delays in the permitting process as James Marape\u2019s administration has vowed to \u201ctake back\u201d PNG\u2019s mineral resources.<\/p>\n<p>Marape had quit as finance minister in April, questioning a major global gas development deal with France&#8217;s Total SA. He was elected by the parliament in May, after a 101-8 victory.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThey get 60% of the production, we get 40%. If they don\u2019t like it, we\u2019ll mine it ourselves \u2013 we own the resources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><cite>Wera Mori, PNG&#8217;s minister for commerce and industry<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;d like to see Newcrest<br \/>\ncome to the negotiating table on this,&#8221; Wera Mori, minister for commerce<br \/>\nand industry told Reuters in a phone interview late on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They get 60% of the production, we get 40%. If they don&#8217;t like it, we&#8217;ll mine it ourselves &#8211; we own the resources.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>PNG is ready to offer concessions<br \/>\non duties and taxes in exchange for a special mining lease for Wafi-Golpu. <\/p>\n<p>Newcrest and Harmony each own 50% of<br \/>\nthe project, with the PNG government having the right to buy an equity<br \/>\ninterest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe permitting, funding and building of Wafi-Golpu is important . . . especially on the permitting side,\u201d Harmony Gold chief executive, Peter Steenkamp, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmony.co.za\/invest\/presentations\/2019\/send\/145-2019\/3578-results-presentation\" >said late in August<\/a>, while presenting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/harmony-gold-mulls-anglogold-assets-acquisition-as-reserves-dwindle\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">results for the year ended in June<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>He added that the \u201cchange of guard\u201d<br \/>\nin Papua New Guinea had contributed to the JV missing its initial permitting<br \/>\ntimelines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to give the new PM time to<br \/>\nsettle down,\u201d&nbsp;Steenkamp said at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Located near the port city of<br \/>\nLae,&nbsp;in the Morobe Province of PNG, Wafi-Golpu is expected to take about<br \/>\nfive years from the grant of the mining lease to the time it generates its<br \/>\nfirst ore. <\/p>\n<p>At peak production, the mine is<br \/>\nforecast to produce 320,000 ounces of gold and 150,000 tonnes of copper a year.<\/p>\n<p>As part of ongoing leases-renewal talks with miners, the PNG government has also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/png-puts-barrick-zijin-on-notice-over-porgera-gold-mine-negotiations\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">approached Barrick Gold and Zijin Mining<\/a> for a larger share of their Porgera gold mine.<\/p>\n<p><em>With files from Reuters.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At peak production, the mine is forecast to produce 320,000 ounces of gold and 150,000 tonnes of copper a year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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