Outside troubled Panguna,

the miners remain active

AUSTRALIAN mining companies

are maintaining their efforts in the Pacific Islands despite the cloud over the Panguna mine in

Bougainville, and problems with negotia

tions in other territories. The December quarterly reports submitted to the Au stralian Stock Exchange include news that exploration and production con tinue at a high level of activity.

Fiji

Pacific Islands Gold NL reported it had excavated 20 trenches at its Dakuniba prospect with quartz veining being observed in 13 of the trenches. Three separate vein systems have been exposed, the company said, and will now go on to cut further trenches and undertake di

amond drilling.

Emperor Mines Ltd said that produc tion at its Tavua Basin mine in the north of Viti Levu produced 34,454 oz of gold in the December quarter. The joint ven ture operation has opened up new levels which will gradually replace present pro duction areas. The company commented that gold production was ahead of target, but with ore grades declining.

Nullarbor Holdings Ltd drilled its final hole in the year’s drilling programme at the Vuda prospect on October 16, only one gold intersection of note being found. At the company’s Tavua prospect,

geological mapping and aeromagnetic

data collection have been completed and work will proceed after these have been studied.

French Polynesia

Australmin Holdings Ltd, which holds a 49.5 per cent interest in the Mataiva phosphate venture, has received final drafts of the tax convention and mining concession. It expects the government of French Polynesia to approve the venture in the first three months of 1990.

The project is located at Mataiva Atoll, which is 10 by 6km, and is located in the north-west of Tuamotu Archipelago, 300 km north of Tahiti. The other part ners are Bureau de Recherches Geologi ques et Minieres and Cominco Ltd.

Australian's latest annual report says the Mataiva deposit is one of the group of major insular phosphate deposits in the Pacific, the others being Makatea, Ocean Island and Nauru which have produced 16 million, 25 million and 100 million tonnes respectively. It says the quality of Mataiva phosphate for fertilis er production compares favourably with the Nauru product except for its slightly high calcite content which is acceptable to Australian and New Zealand manufac turers. Total reserves have been esti mated at 20 million tonnes.

Australmin is placing high priority on

the mine going ahead as soon as possible with the closure of the Christmas Island mine, and the impending closure of Nauru phosphate mining within five years.

Papua New Guinea

Yardarino Mining NL announced that a

Emperor mine: production ahead of target.

subsidiary company had been granted two prospecting licences in the Gulf of Papua. The two tenements cover 3838 sq km along 100 km of shoreline. The

beaches along this highly prospective

coastal area contain black sands which are mainly magnetite and ilmenite. Re search conducted back in the 1960 s indi cates that some of the sand contains up to three per cent combined zircon and rutile. Yardarino said the project has the added advantage of an easily accessible section (by boat) of Papua New Guinea, and one which is free of political prob lems.

Three junior Australian oil explorers, Trident Petroleum NL, First Australian Re sources NL and Victoria Petroleum NL have been joined in a venture by the United States giants, Exxon Corporation and the Du Pont Group, who have farmed into exploration areas PPL 106 and PPL 117 in the Fly River area. The first of four wells to be drilled on the permits near the Ok Tedi copper and gold mine had the potential to produce more than one billion barrels of oil, a consortium spokesman said. The Amer ican partners will fund the development costs in the event of a commercial dis covery.

Austin Oil NL has requested a variation to the drilling commitment on PPL 60 on the Papuan Fold Belt, and this has been granted by the government. The com pany is now pursuing its project to use gas from PPL 60 to generate electricity for the Port Moresby area.

Browns Creek Gold NL has exercised its option to acquire all the shares in the unlisted company Fly Delta Petroleum NL, the licensee of PPL 87 in the Fly River delta. Canadian Occidental Pet roleum Ltd and Husky Oil International

Inc (also of Canada) have now farmed into PPL, 87 agreeing to fund 100 per cent of completing 300 km of the seismic work. The two Canadian companies will also drill the first well to earn a 50 per cent interest in PPL 87.

Placer Pacific Ltd and Highlands Gold Ltd announced they had upgraded pro duction expectations at the Porgera gold mine. They now believe they can extract 2.2 million ounces of gold more than

previously announced.

Construction of the 1500 tonnes-a-day plant is well advanced, with completion due in the third quarter of 1990. Plans call for 8000 tonnes a day of ore proces sing once the mine is in full production.

The joint venture partners have also increased their estimates of capital costs, saying they have added 25 per cent to the May 1989 feasibility study figure of K 660 million. This blow-out of cost re flects site construction experience, and extra costs in respect to land compensa tion and infrastructure expenses.

Work continued on upgrading both the National Highway and Enga Provin cial Highway to allow for transport of

the large plant equipment. Other roads

around the Porgera site are also being upgraded for local traffic and the haul age fleet.

More than 900 metres of underground development work was completed in the December quarter, as was the power line survey from the Hides gasfield in the Southern Highlands to the Porgera mine.

At Porgera, the total project workforce now stands at about 2300, of whom 1600 are Porgerans or Engans.

Placer Pacific, which has an 80 per cent interest in the Misima gold mine, reported that project produced 86,890 oz

of gold in the December quarter, and 533, 370 oz of silver. These figures were above estimated production totals.

In January, Highlands Gold reached an agreement with New Britain Mining Pty Ltd to acquire five prospecting li cences in East New Britain province foi K 6.1 million. One of the prospecting areas, 508 Uramit, includes the Wild Dog prospect where exploration has estab lished a gold-copper-silver resource.

Porgera Gold Dredging (PNG) Ltd, listed on the Australian Stock Exchange last October, reported that work was well advanced on its alluvial gold project at Porgera. Production is expected to begin

in April.

The company is also negotiating with Masurina Ltd, a landowners’ company at Milne Bay, for the mining of alluvial gold deposits on areas over which it and Masurina hold prospecting licences.

Adelaide Petroleum NL is a partner in PPL 108, located in the Papuan Fold Belt 100 km to the west of the lagifu-Hedinia oil field. The company said that, based on farm-out agreements which had re cently been achieved in adjoining licence areas, Adelaide Petroleum was confident PPL 108 would find farm-in partners.

Solomon Islands

Solomon Pacific Resources NL, which holds 50 per cent of the Malukuna pros pect, said the operating partner, Poseidon Exploration Ltd, working as part of its farm-in deal, had carried out ridge and spur soil sampling which had

outlined a prominent gold anomaly in

the upper reaches of Kichia Creek; this will be tested by trenching as part of the 1990 exploration programme. □