For the fiscal year 2020, Steamships Trading Company posted a profit of K78.9 million. This represents a 57.7% increase from the company's financial year 2019 figures. Consort's better efficiency, along with small contributions from the other logistics companies, helped to offset a loss in Coral Sea Hotels and a weaker outcome for Pacific Palms Prop...

Last month, five senior national workers from the halted Porgera Mine operations received resident mine manager certificates. All five are part of the Porgera mine's Care and Maintenance (C&M) Leadership team  Ezekiel Nori, Superintendent (Probationary) Open Pit Mining, Teddy Ulopo, Senior Mine Engineer, Deryck Akis, Alternate Manager Sorting, I...

The World Bank has funded a $30 million (PGK105 million) project to help the state-owned electricity provider PNG Power boost its operational and financial efficiency. The PNG Energy Utility Efficiency and Reliability Improvement Project (EUPRIP) arrives at a crucial time for PNG, with people around the country facing big problems with inadequate acces...

The role of the procurement team in PNG will evolve and change in 2021.  These changes will come off the back of some unforeseen issues which may not of been as pertinent prior to the pandemic. Due to regulatory penalties, unprecedented disruption caused by COVID, an increase in raw materials, high demand in shipping and an increase to freight prices d...

Prime Minister James Marape said in a statement that the government is willing to sign an agreement with Barrick Gold to reopen the Porgera Gold Mine in Enga, which has been closed for a year. The mine was abandoned after the State declined to extend Barrick Niugini Limited's mining contract (BNL). PM Marape said there was a breakthrough after deali...

According to the Japanese Embassy, Japan is allocating more than K32 million to support Papua New Guinea (PNG) in fighting the transmission of the coronavirus (Covid-19). The embassy said in a statement last week that its government will give international organizations in PNG K32,484,368 to introduce projects to combat Covid-19 infections. The Worl...

Caption: From Top Left: Issac Kwetok, OTML’s new Deputy General Manager for Processing, Hillary Turnamur, now Manager Process Operations, Beverly Pasen (Manager Finance), David Laulau (Manager Mine Technical Services), Dexter Wagambie (Manager Kiunga Operations), and Rueben Lapin who is now Manager of Business Continuity. As part of its vision to grow ...

The Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) is committed to ensuring that the Investment Promotion Act is properly reviewed in order to carry out its mandated duties and obligations. This is to ensure that all international and domestic investments are encouraged and facilitated. In its second issue of the Opportunity Newsletter for 2021, the IPA said ...

By the end of the year, the much-anticipated national demographic estimates and common roll update will be available. The National Statistics Office (NSO) gave this assurance when confirming that 95% of institutional listing has been achieved. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Acting National Statistician John Igitoi stated that the NSO was committed t...

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prices of seasonal produce and medical services pushed annual inflation higher in the second half of 2020. Loi Bakani, the Governor of the Bank of PNG, said annual headline inflation was 5.1% in the December quarter of 2020. The annual key indexes of inflation, he said, had also risen. According to Bakan...

Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) has announced that mine operations will resume on Thursday, April 1, 2021, after being briefly halted on March 19, 2021, due to a spike in COVID-19 cases found at the mine site. While the start-up of operations will be incremental, the ramp-up to full production is estimated to take up to two weeks, according to OTML Actin...

Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) has pledged PGK20 million to assist Papua New Guinea in combating the country's rising COVID-19 cases. Acting Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kedi Ilimbit, OTML General Manager Community and Operations Support, made the statement in March 2021, adding that OTML's dedication reflects the company's sincerity in...

Ok Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML) has added 40 new interns to its internship programs for 2021. Sixteen of the intakes will be part of the Graduate Development Scheme for two years, while the other 24 will be trade graduates who will complete a four-year apprenticeship program. OTML Managing Director and CEO, Musje Werror said, “Ok Tedi’s training programs are...

Following the completion of all terms with former joint venture partner Pan Pacific Copper to buy its 19% stake in the Misima gold project in Milne Bay, Kingston Resources Ltd now holds a 100% interest in the project. Kingston has received the final tranche of the overall consideration of AU$2 million (K4.31 million) since receiving all regulatory appr...

COVID-19 had a major impact on Papua New Guinea's exports and port movement, but the PNG Ports Corporation had taken political decisions to handle the situation. In recent months, the world has seen and continues to see a significant shift in everyday lives, which has had significant implications for industry, commerce, and transportation. The pande...

K92 Mining recently revealed that its Kainantu gold mine in Papua New Guinea's Eastern Highlands province produced a record annual gold-equivalent output of 98,872 oz. The gold equivalent volume is 95,109 oz of gold, 1,853,078 lbs of copper, and 36,067 oz of silver, reflecting a 20 per cent growth in AuEq from the previous year. Cash costs of US$651/oz...

BSP Financial Group has replaced Bank South Pacific Limited as the company's name. Sir Kostas Constantinou, Chairman of the BSP, revealed this last week. The shareholders approved the name change, as well as other legislative amendments, according to Sir Kostas. BSP will now proceed with the filing of its application for listing on the Australian...

Oil Search continues to place constructive environmental conservation at the forefront of its activities. To that end, it maintains an efficient environmental protection scheme that complies with the ISO 14001 global standard's specifications. The Company is dedicated to preserving and reducing environmental impact in the communities. Oil Search's o...

The Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) is gathering feedback from all project stakeholders involved in the Simberi gold mine in New Ireland to determine the best course of action for the amended memorandum of agreement (MoA). The National Executive Council (NEC) authorised the updated MoA for signing in April 2017, according to managing director Jerry G...

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Minister Timothy Masiu said a third network service run by Digitec Communications Ltd will begin before the end of the year. Masiu made the remarks during a recent visit to Digitec's headquarters in Waigani, Port Moresby. The building of over 1,100 towers is expected to be completed, according to Digit...

Kina Securities Ltd (KSL) has sent an application to the Independent Consumer Competition Commission (ICCC) for approval of its proposed acquisition of Westpac's Pacific company. Through the authorisation process, ICCC will determine the acquisition's competition consequences and public gains, according to Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer Paulu...

Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) has begun introducing a Mass Testing Program within its activities in order to avoid further COVID-19 transmission and ensure a secure return to operations. Following a spike in COVID-19 cases on the mine site and in Papua New Guinea, the company began introducing the program on Friday, March 19th, for a period of 14 days....

Oil Search claims that stringent quarantine procedures, behaviour restrictions, and personnel roster guidelines put in place last year have secured the company's activities in the region. In a statement, Oil Search said that no cases of Covid-19 had been identified in their field operations. In addition to the number of Covid-19 cases around the wor...

According to estimates from a survey, coffee production in the country has been decreasing for the past ten years. “From 1998 to 2018, the coffee harvest area and quantity of coffee produced in PNG decreased by 33 per cent and 28 per cent respectively,” a National Research Institute (NRI) report stated. The downturn was triggered by the problems tha...