{"id":1188629,"date":"2020-06-05T09:59:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T14:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1026264"},"modified":"2020-06-05T09:59:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-05T14:59:00","slug":"png-threatens-barrick-over-alleged-gold-export-attempt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1188629","title":{"rendered":"PNG threatens Barrick over alleged gold export attempt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has threatened Barrick Gold with criminal proceedings against it, claiming the company\u2019s joint venture in the country was planning to illegally export $13 million in silver and gold to Australia.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s mining regulator said that Barrick Niugini Limited (BNL) asked earlier this week for clearance to ship precious metals to the Perth Mint.<\/p>\n

The move, the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) said, is considered illegal given that BNL is not allowed to process or ship gold since the government’s refused to extend its mining lease for the Porgera mine almost two months ago.<\/p>\n

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PNG mining regulator claims Barrick’s JV was attempting to illegally export gold and silver to Australia.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

The world\u2019s second-largest gold producer and its Chinese partner, Zijin Mining, temporarily halted operations<\/a> at the mine in Enga Province in late April, following Prime Minister James Marape\u2019s decision not to renew Porgera\u2019s long-sought lease<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Barrick, which is challenging such resolution in court, welcomed last month a ruling<\/a> ordering the PNG government to review the requested lease extension for the Porgera gold mine.<\/p>\n

BNL refutes PNG\u2019s claim that it had sought to export gold, adding it has always complied with its legal obligations regarding bullion and silver exports.<\/p>\n

Barrick and Zijin applied in June 2017 for a 20-year renewal of the Porgera\u2019s lease, which expired in August last year.<\/p>\n

Since then, they have faced backlash from landowners and residents<\/a> over what they claim are negative social, environmental and economic impacts from the mine.<\/p>\n

Negotiations with Porgera\u2019s operators were complicated further by a split among the landowners.<\/p>\n

PNG\u2019s latest move could signal a further breakdown in relations, which may lead to the appointment of an arbitrator.<\/p>\n

Guidance impact<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The ongoing dispute with PNG over Porgera mine has done what a pandemic did not \u2014 dent the Barrick\u2019s expected output for the year.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s second-largest gold producer now expects to produce between 4.6 million and 5 million ounces of gold<\/a> this year \u2014 200,000 ounces lower than its previous estimate.<\/p>\n

Barrick revealed at the time that PNG was also asking the company and Zijin to pay $191-million in back taxes<\/a>, arising from tax audits conducted between 2006 and 2015.<\/p>\n

The Toronto-based miner said the request, received on April 9, had no merit.<\/p>\n

Porgera, located in PNG\u2019s northern highlands region, contributes to about 10% of the nation\u2019s exports and employs over 3,300 locals.<\/p>\n

The open pit and underground gold mine sits at an altitude of 2,200-2,600 metres in Enga province, and is about 600 km (370 miles) northwest of Port Moresby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Papua New Guine said it will take Barrick’s JV to court for illegally attempting to export $13 million in silver and gold to Australia.<\/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 center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2849,949,369,2640],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1188629"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1188658,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188629\/revisions\/1188658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1188629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1188629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1188629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}