Photo Credit: Metso Outotec
The Hidden Valley Mine contributes K633.7 million to the regional and national economies, indicating its importance in the development and growth of the country's economy.
Monica Rau, the Harmony Gold PNG exploration's environment, social, and governance manager, revealed this in a PowerPoint presentation at the Chamber of Mines and Petroleum's community affairs and media workshop in Port Moresby.
She also stated that Hidden Valley has paid the government K591.5 million in royalties and direct taxes over the last LOM.
Hidden Valley, according to the report, has created over 2000 jobs, with 96 per cent of them located in Papua New Guinea.
“From financial year FY 2009 to FY 2020, Hidden Valley has spent K4.9 billion on procurement in PNG, including K1.3 billion with local landowners, K 1.8 billion in Morobe Province, and K 1.7 billion on other procurement in PNG.”
The mine has supported a variety of community activities through the memorandum of agreement (MoA), the benefit-sharing trust, and discretionary spending in the areas of community infrastructure, education and health support, law and order programs, gender development, integrated development, and donations, as well as assistance given to communities throughout the mine's life cycle.
She also addressed the obstacles and solutions on the path to mine closure, stating that the mine has around seven years to run until more extension options are discovered, but landowners and communities are unwilling to discuss mine closure.
Hidden Valley is a gold and silver open-pit mine that began operations in 2007 in the Morobe Province.
Morobe Consolidated Goldfields Limited (MCG), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harmony Gold (South Africa), owns and operates the mine.
Reference: Post-Courier (17 August 2021). “”Rau: Hidden Valley Contributes K633.7M To Economy”.
