Overview
Status | Care and Maintenance |
Mine Type | Open Pit & Underground |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
- Truck & Shovel / Loader
- Longhole stoping
- Paste backfill
|
Processing |
- Gravity separation
- ACACIA reactor
- Carbon re-activation kiln
- Flotation
- Concentrate leach
- Counter current decantation (CCD)
- Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
- Pressure oxidation
- Carbon in leach (CIL)
- Carbon in pulp (CIP)
- Elution
- Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
- Cyanide (reagent)
|
Mine Life | 2023 |
Porgera has been on care and maintenance since April 2020 when the government declined to renew its special mining lease.
April 10, 2021: Barrick Niugini Limited confirms that a binding framework agreement, the first step of the process to reopen Porgera Mine has been agreed between Barrick Niugini Limited and the Government of Papua New Guinea.
In addition to outlining future benefit-sharing principles and proposed management arrangements for the mine, the agreement also defines the definitive implementation agreements that will need to be completed to allow for the resumption of mining at Porgera – currently planned to occur later this year if mutually agreed conditions are met. |
Latest News | Barrick unable to confirm Porgera restart October 13, 2021 |
Source:
p. 1
Canada’s Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX) (NYSE: GOLD) and Papua New Guinea (PNG) have ended a year-long standoff with an agreement that gives the country’s government a majority stake in the Porgera gold mine and outlines plans to restart operations.
The agreement sets up a new joint venture, in which PNG stakeholders will have a 51% stake and Barrick Niugini Limited (BNL) 49%. The partnership owns the gold mine, but BNL remains as the operator. BNL is a joint venture company in which Barrick and Zijin Mining Group each own 50%.
The state to retain the right to acquire the remaining 49% of the mine from BNL at fair market value after 10 years.
Deposit Type
- Breccia pipe / Stockwork
- Epithermal
- Vein / narrow vein
Summary:
Porgera Mine is an epithermal vein-type gold-silver deposit but it shares many characteristics with porphyry copper deposits. Remnant heat from the intrusive rocks drove the boiling and upward migration of hydrothermal fluids and resulted in the emplacement of mineralization. The movement of these fluids was controlled by permeability of the rock mass, which developed in and around faults and tectonic zones of dilatancy. As such, the mineralization tends to occur in tabular bodies and breccia zones, the geometry of which is strongly influenced by the orientation of fault structures and subsidiary fractures. Deposition of ore minerals in epithermal systems is also dependent upon temperature and hydrostatic pressure. These conditions are generally closely related to elevation, with reduction of both temperature and pressure as the fluids migrate upwards.
Mining Methods
- Truck & Shovel / Loader
- Longhole stoping
- Paste backfill
Summary:
The Porgera Joint Venture is an open pit and underground gold mine located at an altitude of 2,200- 2,600 meters in the Enga Province of Papua New Guinea.
The Open Pit mine is 500 meter deep, below the highest point of surface topography and approximately 30 million tonnes (t) of ore per year is excavated. The material mined is a combination of gold bearing ore and barren waste.
Pit dimensions: 2.0km long x 1.2km wide x 400m deep.
Mining in the open pit is undertaken on 10 meter high benches. When the material is too hard to be free dug, the rock is drilled and blasted with a range of drill patterns to suit the litholog.
The Open Pit is a conventional truck and shovel operation and is serviced by a large modern mining fleet of 175t and 90t haul trucks, loaded by 200t and 120t shovels and excavators. There are also smaller 40t and 35t excavators for ancillary work.
The Porgera Underground Mine is a modern, trackless mine, producing approximately 1.4 million tonnes of ore per year from three primary production areas: North Zone, East Zone and AHD.
The underground (UG) operation mines the lodes at depth currently up 330 meter beneath the current pit floor. The Underground operation has a strike extent of approximately 1.6 kilometer (km). The primary access is via a twin decline system from surface with secondary internal accesses connecting the various mining areas.
Mining is done by convention long hole open stoping. Drives are developed along the strike of the lenses at 15m vertical intervals with long-hole stoping used to extract the ore between these levels.
The voids generated by mining are back-filled with a combination of paste and co-paste disposal to enhance ground stability and allow maximum extraction of ore.
The UG mine operates on a modern trackless mining fleet consisting of CAT 2,900 loaders, 45t and 55t capacity haul trucks and supporting drills and auxiliary equipment.
Processing
- Gravity separation
- ACACIA reactor
- Carbon re-activation kiln
- Flotation
- Concentrate leach
- Counter current decantation (CCD)
- Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
- Pressure oxidation
- Carbon in leach (CIL)
- Carbon in pulp (CIP)
- Elution
- Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
- Cyanide (reagent)
Flow Sheet:
Summary:
Ore is processed in a complex minerals processing plant. The open-pit and underground mines supply both course gold and refractory ore to a processing plant that includes crushing, grinding, gravity recovery, flotation, oxidation (autoclave) and Carbon In Pulp (CIP) circuits to produce a gold dore product and a high grade pyrite concentrate for shipment to offsite refineries and smelters for final processing.
The major components on the Porgera processing plant include:
- crushing circuit and coarse and fine ore storage;
- grinding circuit;
- gravity and regrind circuit;
- flotation circuit;
- pressure oxidation and tailings neutralisation circuits;
- leaching and adsorption circuits;
- acid wash and stripping elution circuit;
- electrowinning and gold refinery;
- oxygen plant;
- chemical storage and mixing;
- cyanide destruct plant; and
- tailings pipework and infrastructure.
Run-of-Mine (ROM) ore ........

Recoveries & Grades:
Commodity | Parameter | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
Gold
|
Head Grade, g/t
| ......  | ......  | 3.46 | 3.03 | 3.05 | 3.59 | 3.1 |
Gold
|
Recovery Rate, %
| ......  | ......  | 86 | 86 | 88.2 | 86.7 | 88.5 |
Production:
On April 25, 2020, Porgera was placed on care and maintenance after the Government of Papua New Guinea communicated on April 24, 2020 that the Special Mining Lease would not be extended.
Commodity | Units | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
Gold
|
koz
| ......  | ......  | 430 | 495 | 493 | 554 | 519 |
All production numbers are expressed as metal in conc./ doré.
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Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
Total tonnes mined
| ......  | 27,697 kt | 20,762 kt | 24,219 kt | 16,924 kt | 22,139 kt |
Ore tonnes mined
| ......  | 5,789 kt | | | | |
Waste
| ......  | 21,907 kt | 17,956 kt | 20,867 kt | | |
Stripping / waste ratio
| ......  | 5.7 | 15 | 12.9 | | |
Tonnes processed
| ......  | 5,558 kt | 4,501 kt | 5,891 kt | 5,705 kt | 6,323 kt |
Daily milling capacity
| ......  | | | 16,100 kt | 15,600 t | 15,200 t |
Daily mining rate
| ......  | | | | 45.9 kt | 62.1 kt |
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Reserves at December 31, 2020:
The Numbers in the Annual Report 2019 are given on 47.5% basis.
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven
|
2 Mt
|
Gold
|
6.79 g/t
|
0.5 M oz
|
Probable
|
29 Mt
|
Gold
|
4.59 g/t
|
4 M oz
|
Proven & Probable
|
32 Mt
|
Gold
|
4.75 g/t
|
5 M oz
|
Measured
|
3 Mt
|
Gold
|
6.66 g/t
|
0.57 M oz
|
Indicated
|
59 Mt
|
Gold
|
4.09 g/t
|
8 M oz
|
Inferred
|
21 Mt
|
Gold
|
3.5 g/t
|
2 M oz
|
Commodity Production Costs:
| Commodity | Units | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
Cash costs
|
Gold
|
USD
|
|
|
810 / oz
|
791 / oz
|
697 / oz
|
794 / oz
|
Cash costs
|
Gold
|
USD
|
|
|
796 / oz†
|
781 / oz†
|
689 / oz†
|
791 / oz†
|
Total cash costs
|
Gold
|
USD
|
......
|
......
|
|
|
|
|
Total cash costs
|
Gold
|
USD
|
...... †
|
...... †
|
|
|
828 / oz†
|
878 / oz†
|
All-in sustaining costs (AISC)
|
Gold
|
USD
|
......
|
......
|
1,097 / oz
|
1,003 / oz
|
866 / oz
|
1,021 / oz
|
All-in sustaining costs (AISC)
|
Gold
|
USD
|
...... †
|
...... †
|
1,083 / oz†
|
993 / oz†
|
858 / oz†
|
1,018 / oz†
|
All-in costs
|
Gold
|
USD
|
......
|
......
|
1,097 / oz
|
1,003 / oz
|
866 / oz
|
1,021 / oz
|
All-in costs
|
Gold
|
USD
|
...... †
|
...... †
|
1,083 / oz†
|
993 / oz†
|
858 / oz†
|
1,018 / oz†
|
† Net of By-Product.
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Operating Costs:
| Units | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
OP mining costs ($/t mined)
|
USD
| 4.18 | 3.6 | 4.03 | 4.53 | 5.51 | 4.66 | 5.53 |
UG mining costs ($/t mined)
|
USD
| ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  |
Processing costs ($/t milled)
|
USD
| ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  |
G&A ($/t milled)
|
USD
| ......  | ......  | | | | | |
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Financials:
| Units | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
Capital expenditures
|
M USD
| ......  | ......  | 131 |
116
|
86
|
Sustaining costs
|
M USD
| ......  | ......  | 131 |
116
|
86
|
Revenue
|
M USD
| ......  | ......  | |
|
|
Operating Income
|
M USD
| ......  | ......  | |
|
|
EBIT
|
M USD
| | | |
|
|
EBITDA
|
M USD
| ......  | ......  | |
|
|
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Mine Management:
Job Title | Name | Profile | Ref. Date |
.......................
|
.......................
|
|
Apr 28, 2021
|
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Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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News:
Aerial view:
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