PHOTO: Copra, which is derived from coconuts(Flickr) PNG farmers desperate as copra prices plummet Copra prices in Papua New Guinea's Madang Province have continued to drop, leaving farmers desperate for help. The average price per metric tonne of copra is now just over US$700, down from US$1,500 last year, according to the latest figures from the Bloomberg financial news service. The commodity crop experienced a long and steady rise in value in the early 2000s, but prices have fluctuated wildly since the start of the global financial crisis. The last major price slump occurred in 2009, when the cost of a tonne plummeted to US$400. There was another strong recovery at the start of 2011, but competition from soy beans and falling global demand, exacerbated by inflation from PNG's mining and gas boom, have caused the latest drop to be brutally felt by copra farmers. Oil Search Ltd (OISHF) has been paying a dividend since May 2003, but it would be stretching things to describe it as an “income play.” Make no mistake: This is an aggressive growth story with a modest income component.
After the great global fear brought on by the silly downgrade of US credit by Standard & Poor’s, Oil Search bounced again, and although the stock has trended down with the price of crude this year it has held a higher level because of the long-term promise of its PNG LNG project. Since October 2008 the stock has been on a strong uptrend, broken for a short time by the fall 2011 slide, characterized by a bullish technical indicator, “higher lows.” In other words, buyers are coming in sooner on dips as time passes. A new estimate of the ore reserve at the Golpu deposit in Papua New Guinea’s Morobe Province has mining industry figures enthusing that it could become one of the world’s biggest gold mines. The Wafi-Golpu Joint Venture participants, Harmony and Newcrest, have announced a significant upgrade to the estimate for the Golpu copper gold deposit following a technical pre-feasibility study. The study proposes that the Golpu deposit be developed via an underground mine two kilometres deep, using the block caving method. The method, where a deposit is essentially mined from the bottom upwards, has never been used in PNG but Newcrest has vast experience with it in Australia. Reuters) - Harmony Gold Mining (HARJ.J), South Africa's third-largest gold producer, said Papua New Guinea would have to pay if it wanted a stake in the company's promising Golpu project in the Asian country.
Harmony is staking its future on the $4.8 billion project it is developing with Australian group Newcrest Mining (NCM.AX). Papua New Guinea has the right to a 30 percent stake in mining operations. Harmony chief executive Graham Briggs said on Wednesday if the government exercised this option it would include development costs already forked out. Aug 29 (Reuters) - InterOil Corp said Papua New Guinea withdrew a threat to cancel the company's $6 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the country.
Papua New Guinea's energy department said in May that it was planning to cancel the Gulf LNG project, which was slated to go on line in 2014, as InterOil had deviated from the original agreement. Oil producer, refiner and petroleum retailer InterOil said it will keep negotiating until detailed specifications of the proposed project are finalised to the government's satisfaction. The company is developing the project with energy investor Pacific LNG in a joint venture called Liquid Niugini Gas Ltd. Shares of InterOil, which has almost all its operations in Papua New Guinea, closed at $84.13 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. A NEWCREST Mining rally was cut short yesterday after pre-feasibility studies into one of its big growth opportunities, the Wafi-Golpu project in Papua New Guinea, indicated lower than expected production figures and a blowout in forecast capital expenditure to $US9.8 billion. The pre-feasibility study disappointed investors buoyed by the resumption of mining at Newcrest's flagship Lihir mine in PNG, also announced yesterday. Newcrest shares rose to $27.26, before falling back to close flat on $26.70. Newcrest revealed base case and enhanced production estimates for the Golpu deposit, of between 400,000-580,000 ounces of gold a year, and 250,000 to 300,000 tonnes of copper a year. SYDNEY Aug 29 (Reuters) - An increase in the estimated copper and gold reserves at a Papua New Guinea mine could boost the country's income by some $1 billion a year over the next quarter century if the government moves to acquire a stake in the project. Australia's Newcrest Mining, which jointly owns the Golpu mine in Morobe Province with Johannesburg-based Harmony Gold, said on Tuesday new exploration work pointed to revised reserves estimates of 5.4 million tonnes of copper and 12.4 million ounces of gold. This is an increase of 4.7 million tonnes of copper and 11 million ounces of gold compared with previous estimates provided by the companies. TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 28, 2012) - Nautilus Minerals Inc. (TSX:NUS)(OTCQX:NUSMF)(AIM:NUS) ("Company" or "Nautilus") seeks to clarify recent statements and press coverage regarding the Company's Solwara 1 Project.
The Company reiterates that the Mining Lease was granted by the State of Papua New Guinea in January 2011 and is not a recent development as has been reported in some news articles. Further, in a recent interview, Mr. Stephen Rogers, the CEO of the Company, was referenced as saying that Nautilus is in talks with potential partners to sell a stake in the Project and that Nautilus may sell shares to help raise $100 million if it can't find a partner. Nautilus will only determine its precise additional funding requirements when it has finalized details of the vessel financing and secures a resolution to the current dispute with the PNG government. The Company continues its efforts on both these matters. The Project equipment build at the end of June was approximately 51% complete. Consistent with Mr. Roger's statements above, the Company has stated previously in "Management's Discussion and Analysis" filed in conjunction with Financial Results on August 2, 2012, that it may need to rely on the equity markets for future financing of its development of Solwara 1 or alternate financing in the form of joint ventures. Nautilus Minerals Inc., seeking to be the first large-scale miner of copper and gold from the ocean floor, is in talks with potential partners to sell a stake in the project off the coast of Papua New Guinea. Nautilus may sell shares to help raise $100 million if it can’t find a partner for the project 1,600 meters (5,250 feet) deep in the Bismarck Sea, where the Toronto-based company plans to start production in 2014, said Chief Executive Officer Stephen Rogers. “We’ve had discussions and continue discussions with a number of parties,” Rogers said in a telephone interview from Brisbane, Australia. “There are a lot of people interested in what we are doing, interested in this potential new frontier for the metals sector.” The chief executive officer of Nautilus Minerals says the Canadian-based company is committed to an open and transparent approach to its Solwara 1 deep sea mining project in Papua New Guinea. In the world’s first major deep sea mining operation, Nautilus has a twenty-year license to mine the Bismarck Sea for copper and gold. Nautilus faces strong local opposition to the project, with environmentalists warning that too much is unknown about the impacts for it to proceed. But the CEO, Stephen Rogers says that they’re confident the project’s closed system of mineral extraction will minimise damage in surface waters from mining the seabed. “And what I would say to the people of Papua New Guinea is that we’ve got a very well-engineered system, we’ve used world leading practice. We’ve brought in technologies from the mining industry and the deep water oil and gas industry, that allow us to bring this material to the surface. it’s going to be done safely. And we’re not going to impact commercial fisheries or local fisheries with the activities that we’re doing here.”Stephen Rogers says they have consulted widely with both local communities and scientists about the likely impacts. Radio NZ |
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