The landslide in March at Lukulama was a “disaster close to home” which again tested the enduring ability of the Porgera mine and its workforce, an official says.

Jinghe Chen, the chairman of the new six-member Barrick New Guinea Limited board, is also the chairman of the Zijin Mining Group Company Ltd.

He praised the leadership team under executive managing director Greg Walker and workers at the Porgera mine in Wabag, Enga.

He told a meeting of the board on may 4 in Cairns, Australia, that within the eight months after Zijin became a partner in the Porgera Joint Venture, there had been a lot of unexpected incidents and natural disasters.

he said the effects of EI Nino on many parts of the country briefly affected the operation of the mine.

“We are very delighted that the management  team took effective measures to encounter all those difficulties and actually we still maintained a presentable performance outcome.” he said

“The board is positive about the effort. So one of the reasons for Zijin to invest in Porgera is that we have positive view about the resources and also about its potentials.”

He also spokes about what the future could hold for the Porgera operation in light of the prevailing low gold price globally, the grade of gold resources after more than 25 years of mining, and the various operational and technical challenges that faced the operation.

“So to try to maintain vitality of the project at the current situation, we have to drive down the operational cost in a meaningful way,” he said. Chen led delegation that visited the Porgera mine from May 5 to 7.

About Zijin Mining
Zijin Mining is a leading global metals and mining company and one of the world’s largest producers of gold, copper, and zinc. The company has more than 30 large-scale mining operations and projects across 19 countries on 5 continents. Leveraging strong in-house research, engineering, and development capabilities, Zijin maintains high operational efficiency and low costs in both acquisitions and operations. This enables the company to be an industry leader in value creation, underpinned by its philosophy of pursuing development for all and sustained by superior environmental, social, and governance performance. Zijin’s shares trade on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX: 2899) and the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE: 601899).