Newcrest eyes new Papua New Guinea gold mine
(Minews) - NEWCREST Mining and Harmony Gold Mining will carry out a feasibility study for a possible new gold mine in Papua New Guinea that they forecast will cost $US2.3 billion to begin building, and which they say could start producing metal by the end of the decade.
Newcrest, Australia’s largest listed gold miner, said the gold producers now plan to develop their Golpu deposit — part of the Wafi-Golpu project, located near Lae in the country’s Morobe Province — in two stages, the first targeting the higher-value part of the reserve.
Newcrest said its board had approved a feasibility study for the first stage of the project, and that work would continue on a pre-feasibility study for stage two — both of which it expects to be completed by the end of 2015.
The first stage of the project will cost about $US2.3bn to build, although is expected to require total capital expenditure of $US3.1bn over the proposed 27-year life of the mine, Newcrest said in a stock exchange filing.
Annual production is forecast to begin in 2020 and peak in 2025 at 320,000 troy ounces of gold and 150,000 metric tons of copper, the company said.
Newcrest and Harmony each have a 50 per cent interest in the project.
Publish date : Monday 15 December 2014 19:43
Story Code: 17911
