New Porgera Ltd. (NPL) has submitted its three-year Training and Employment Plan to the Papua New Guinea National Training Council (NTC) at the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations.
The 2026–28 plan, presented to NTC Director Kinsella Geoffrey on 26 November 2025, outlines NPL’s initiatives to strengthen workforce development through targeted skills training, with a focus on nationalisation and localisation. Workforce representatives were also present for the submission.
Director Geoffrey reminded the workforce representatives that while localisation is a key focus, employees must meet the required standards to progress into higher roles with the company’s confidence and support. He noted that the NTC was pleased to see NPL workforce leaders, led by George Yope, witness the presentation — the first time an operator has presented its plan before its workforce.
NPL Country Manager Karo Maha said the plan aligns with the national content provisions of the New Porgera Mining Development Contract and NPL’s National Content Plan.
“The NPL Three-Year Training and Employment Plan includes workforce data, a localisation and succession-planning framework, and a trades training programme,” Maha said. “With the Porgera mine now operational, our focus is shifting to implementing structured capacity-building initiatives that will enable us to nationalise our workforce into the future.”
NPL Manager for Human Resources Adlyn Nagwi, who also attended, highlighted several employee training initiatives already underway on site.
“NPL currently has 3,055 employees, 97 percent of whom are Papua New Guinean citizens. Only 3 percent are non-citizens.
Engan employees make up 55 percent of our workforce, including 33 percent who are Porgeran. Women account for 10 percent of our workforce, and the company aims to increase that to 20 percent.
"NPL continues to work with industry to remove the statutory prohibition on women working underground. Our Employee Development team is leading the implementation of the Training and Employment Plan, and several initiatives have already commenced at Porgera.
“These include the NPL Graduate Programme, the Job-Ready Programme and the Frontline Leadership Programme, which form the foundation of our training efforts. Additional programmes will be developed for high-performing employees who represent tomorrow’s workforce leaders.”
The NTC will next conduct a site inspection at Porgera, with planning now underway.
