Zijin Mining announcement, the joint venture between Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "the Company") and BarrickGoldCorporation (hereinafter referred to as "Barrick Gold") in Papua New Guinea (hereinafter referred to as "Paxin") Barrick (New Guinea) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "BNL") Recently, it signed an amendment to the Pogera Gold Project start Agreement (PPCA) and a trusteeship agreement for a 10% stake in the new joint venture with the PNG government and related parties.
In April 2021, BNL and the PNG government signed a "framework agreement" on the future ownership and operation of the Pogera gold mine. The newly signed PPCA and amendments further elaborate and elaborate on the contents of the framework agreement, stipulating the steps and procedures for obtaining qualified mining rights for the Pogera gold mine, which will lay the foundation for the subsequent signing and implementation of a series of agreements. According to PPCA, Pogera is owned by a new joint venture between PNG parties and BNL, with BNL holding 49 per cent, KMHL (PNG state-owned company) holding 36 per cent, Enga Mineral Resources holding 5 per cent and other PNG stakeholders 10 per cent.
The escrow agreement of 10% of the new joint venture company signed this time aims to shelve the dispute and speed up the registration of the new joint venture company.
In addition to the above two agreements, BNL, the PNG government and KMHL also signed a shareholder agreement for the new joint venture, which will come into effect after being signed by Enga Mineral Resources.
The Pogera gold mine still needs to meet a series of conditions before it can be restarted, including the establishment of a new joint venture company, the signing of a new joint venture operation agreement, a financial stability agreement and a new mining development contract.
The company and Barrick Gold respectively hold a 50% stake in BNL, and BNL will be responsible for the restart and operation of the Pogera gold mine. BNL and PNG parties will actively promote and sign the above agreement to start the full resumption of production of the Pogera gold mine as soon as possible.
