A Porgera record
p. 16 · Read in the full issue
with more to come
PORGERA gold mine producers confirmed a record output ofl 375,042 ounces in the last Decem ber quarter from Papua New Guineaf Highlights. And a big profit is in line fan the March quarter, when costs will falll because of the mine’s switch to natural! gas from diesel.
The latest production figure beats the! earlier record 242,925 ounces established! in September. Porgera, a world-class? mine, achieved a total production of! 1.216 million ounces last year, well above! forecasts. The grade of the gold is close! to two ounces of gold a tonne and is? about seven times the grade of am average Australian goldmine. Its 1.21 million ounces a day is three times the! size of the biggest local mine.
By last quarter of 1992, the mine’s? stage three plant should come into< production. This involves a more lhani doubling of ore throughout and the; opening of open-cut operations.
Vic Botts, the mine’s general manager,, said Porgera produced more in one* month than most gold mines (in PNG)i produced in a year. □