Barrick Gold has completed its 20 million Australian dollars farm-in agreement with explorer Coppermoly to earn a 72 percent stake in the Nakru, Simuku and Talelumas projects on New Britain.
The proposal by Mining Minister Byron Chan, the son of former Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan, has been tabled just as PNG -- which is often described as an island of gold in a sea of oil surrounded by gas -- is entering a massive resources boom.
Papua Guinea's Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, has accused Australian mining giant Rio Tinto and its subsidiary Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) of being behind the PNG military's bloody suppression of Bougainville rebels opposed to the company's