Highlands floated
p. 35 · Read in the full issue
THE long-awaited float of Highlands
Gold Ltd is to go ahead in Austra lia, and will take over MIM Hold ings Ltd’s 30 per cent stake in the Asl billion Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea. Five per cent of the new com pany or 28 million shares with a face value of 50 toea each will be made available to the people of Papua New Guinea, although a majority of the stock will go to existing MIM shareholders. A total of 565 million shares worth As42o million will be available.
The funds raised will be used to fund part of Highland Gold’s share of the de
velopment costs of the Porgera project,
to repay part of Highland Gold’s debt to other MIM group companies and to
fund ongoing exploration and develop
ment in Papua New Guinea and the sur rounding region, said MIM chairman Sir Bruce Watson.
Porgera, which has been described as
the world’s largest undeveloped gold
prospect, is scheduled to come on stream in September next year with gold output expected to average 800,000 ounces a year for the first six years. At this rate of production, annual revenues will be more than As3oo million, with 30 per cent accruing to Highlands Gold.
MIM, Renison Goldfields Consolidated Ltd and Placer Pacific Ltd, who are the three owners of the Porgera project, have embarked on an extensive com munity relations programme, and even tually Papua New Guinea residents will own 10 per cent of the mine. Dividends
are expected to begin flowing in late 1991.
Highlands Gold has other properties in its portfolio, although the emphasis is heavily on gold. But there are also two
large deposits of chromite-nickel-cobalt
and copper-gold.
The float decision has been welcomed by Papua New Guinea prime minister Rabbie Namaliu who has urged his coun trymen to take up the shares being made available. Namaliu described the float as a vote of confidence in the future of
Papua New Guinea’s mining industry.
But Highlands Gold will have to in sure its loans against “warlike activities”, a common provision when projects are undertaken in developing countries where there have been incidents of vio lence. □
Japanese teach fishing ELEVEN Kiribati sailors are to spend a year in Japan learning pole and line fishing. They will work on Japanese boats and, on their return, will be em ployed by the Kiribati government owned Te Mautari Ltd fishing company, or on Japanese boats fishing in the coun try’s exclusive economic zone.
Air Pacific buy-back QANTAS, which owns 19.57 per cent of the Fiji carrier, Air Pacific is being asked to sell that interest back to the Suva gov ernment. Civil Aviation Minister David Pickering went to Sydney for a meeting with the Australian overseas airline and said negotiations would resume at a later date. Qantas seems unlikely to welcome the request now that Air Pacific is mak ing good profits, with its international services running at near capacity.
Accountants’ shortcomings ACCOUNTANTS in Papua New Guinea were not meeting the needs of their cus tomers, said PNG Investment Corpora tion managing director Eliakim Toßol ton. Speaking to a national accounting conference, he said: “Why is it that there is a pressing need for proficient accoun tants within the business community at large yet this demand is not being met or likely to be met within the forseeable future?” Toßolton said accountancy should be introduced at an earlier stage in high schools, and he criticised poor teaching standards. He also called on the University of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby to introduce a course in the
discipline.
Aust funds Kiribati work AUSTRALIA is providing the funds for new work that has begun on Kiribati’s outer islands. The main part of the programme will be the construction of bridges and causeways to link north and south Tarawa, but much of the money will be spent on causeways and sea walls on the outer islands.