Fed tests gold upleg
Gold’s outlook and fundamentals remain really bullish.
Barrick Gold (NYSE: GOLD) plans to restart operations at the Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea (PNG) later this year, according to CEO Mark Bristow.
The mine was placed on care and maintenance in April 2020 following a dispute over benefit sharing terms between the government, local people and Barrick, as part of renewing the mining lease.
The Porgera mine hosts an orebody with measured and indicated resources of 10 million ounces and inferred resources of 3.4 million ounces of gold.
It produced about 600,000 ounces of gold in 2019 before being put on care and maintenance.
After the initial ramp up and optimization of the Wangima pit, Porgera is forecast to produce an average of 700,000 ounces per year.
“The mobile fleet and fixed plant are being re-commissioned, the mining and metallurgy plans updated and the personnel recruitment plan finalized in preparation for the restart,” Bristow said in a statement.
PNG stakeholders own 51% of Porgera, with the rest held by Barrick Niugini.
