of the Panguna copper mine :
Post- Courier
Monday 13th December, 2010
Chief predicts more mines by 2012
Beleaguerd Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has predicted that by the time the 12th PNG Mining and Petroleum conference is staged in 2012, a new government will be in place with three or more world scale mining operations in the country.
At the just-concluded Mining and Petroleum conference in Sydney, Sir Michael said three or more world scale mining operations could be under construction by 2012.
“Among them Marengo Mining’s (US$1 billion plus), Yandera project, the huge Frieda River project of Xstrata and Highlands Pacific, now estimated to cost US$5.3 billion,” he said.
He said PNG could also witness the re-opening of the Panguna copper mine at a cost of more than US$4 billion, as well as the world’s first deep sea mining project of Nautilus PNG, which is in the throes of becoming a major world supplier of copper.
Sir Michael said oil exports have been on a downward slope ever since production began in 1992 but Oil Search has made strenuous efforts to reverse this trend and has managed higher levels of production than previously anticipated. He said PNG will commence export of liquefied natural gas in a little over three years time and developer ExxonMobil has done a tremendous job in keeping the multi-billion kina project on schedule.
The PNG government has a 19.6 per cent equity in this venture along with two major Australian partners - Oil Search and Santos.
“Our single largest customer, Sinopec, recently held a ground breaking ceremony for their Qingdao terminal that will import LNG from our country. My government has also given approval for InterOil to build a second LNG plant. The company has recently signed a development agreement with an Australian-listed company, Energy World Corporation,” he said.
Exploration for oil and gas has risen to very robust levels. The Government is confident there will be further increases in oil and gas exports, and some likelihood our hydrocarbons could underwrite future value-adding initiatives, Sir Michael said.
He said the government expects that LNG revenues will propel the economy to new heights and significantly improve our social indicators which for too long have remained stagnant.
“Some commentators have been criticising the Australian Government decision to support the PNG LNG project with concessional loans totalling US$500 million. This criticism is totally misguided,” he said.
“Contracts won by Australian companies involved in the LNG project are already twice the value of the concessional finance that Australia has provided. And indeed, they will be more than six times greater by the time this project is completed.” |
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