Porgera
Looking out across the lower half of the Porgera processing plant, and down into the Porgera valley
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| Location | |
|---|---|
| Province | Enga |
| Country | Papua New Guinea |
| Coordinates | 05°24′S 143°04′E / 5.400°S 143.067°ECoordinates: 05°24′S 143°04′E / 5.400°S 143.067°E |
| Production | |
| Products | Gold, Silver |
| Production | 572,600 ounces gold, 94,764 ounces silver |
| Financial year | 2009 |
| History | |
| Opened | 1990 |
| Owner | |
| Company | Porgera Joint Venture (PJV): 95% Barrick Gold, 5% Mineral Resources Enga (MRE) |
| Website | Barrick Gold Corp Website |
The Porgera Gold Mine is a large gold and silver mining operation in Enga province, Papua New Guinea (PNG), located at the head of the Porgera Valley. The mine is situated in the rain forest covered highlands at an altitude of 2,200 to 2,700 m, in a region of high rainfall, landslides, and frequent earthquakes.
The Porgera Gold Mine is operated by the Porgera Joint Venture (PJV). It began production in 1990 and was developed and operated by Placer Dome which was acquired in 2006 by Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold mining company at that time. Emperor Gold Mine, holding a minority stake of 20%, sold to Barrick in April 2007. This gave Barrick a 95% ownership of the operation. The remaining 5% is owned by Mineral Resources Enga (MRE), which is owned by the Enga Provincial Government, the Papua New Guinea National Government and Porgera Landowners.
Porgera Gold Mine is the second largest mine in Papua New Guinea and is regarded as one of the world's top ten producing gold mines. In 2009 it produced 572,595 ounces of gold and 94,764 ounces of silver and had 2,500 employees and 500 contractors. Since it began operating, the mine has produced more than 16 million ounces of gold and almost 3 million ounces of silver, accounting for about 12 percent of Papua New Guinea’s total exports. The mine′s proven and probable mineral reserves as of 2009 amount to 8.1 million ounces of gold.
Porgera Gold Mine is controversial. It has consistently been criticised for environmental and human rights issues.
Porgera Gold Mine began operation in 1990. Originally an underground operation, open-pit mining became increasingly important after 1993, temporarily putting an end to underground mining in 1997. Since 2002 the mine utilises both open-pit and underground mining methods for ore extraction. The site of the current open pit is Mt Waruwari which is being excavated.
The open pit mine moves about 160,000 tonnes of rock material and gold-bearing ore per day, the underground mine over 2,000 tonnes. Ore is processed in a mainly conventional plant, utilising several SAG and Ball mills, four , floatation cells and CIP / CIL. Gravity recovery is also used, Knelson concentrators doing the primary recovery, with an Acacia Reactor treating the concentrate. A large fleet of Cat 777 and Cat 789 trucks haul on the surface, fed by O&K shovels, and smaller excavators and loaders. A collection of underground development and production drilling equipment break ground, which is bogged by Elphinstone RH series LHD's into a fleet of Elphinstone AD45 trucks.
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Wikipedia