‘Resourcing for success’: PanAust gets serious on Frieda River
Last month, PanAust received key environmental permits connected to its Frieda River copper-gold project. It is now ramping up its work towards a special mining lease, as its project director reveals in this exclusive interview with Business Advantage PNG.
Frieda River employee communicating with local community members. Credit: PanAust
PanAust has begun preparing for a special mining lease for its Frieda River project, according to Project Director Phil McCormack, and in December 2025 received six key environmental permits related to the project.
“We’ve been working closely with the government on the project. But the Prime Minister has challenged us; he wants to know how we can get the project going under our timeline,” McCormack tells Business Advantage PNG.
“We’re resourcing the project…to prove to the government that we are serious”
Consequently, the project developer has “decided to resource the project for success,” bringing in 17 new employees – a 36 per cent increase on previous headcount – to support activities such as land identification.
“We’re also bringing in an engineering team to support us with a technical review, hopefully starting once [the] Wafi [Golpu copper-gold project] gets over the line,” McCormack says.
In December 2025, the Conservation and Environment Protection Authority awarded six environmental permits for projects undertaken as part of the larger Frieda River development: the Frieda River Copper-Gold Project, the Sepik Power Grid Project, the Frieda River Hydroelectric Project, the Sepik Infrastructure Project Road, the Green River Airport and Vanimo Ocean Port.
Firming up the resource
The “good signs” from the government have also provided the impetus for PanAust to commence a US$10 million drilling campaign – its first at Frieda River in eight years.
“The government needs investment in the country,” McCormack says, adding that PanAust’s parent company, China’s state-owned Guangdong Rising Holding Group, can see the benefits of additional exploration.
“We’re going to try to define the resource a bit better by moving some of what’s in the inferred category into the measured and indicated category,” McCormack says.
PanAust will also work with the East Sepik provincial government to drill up to eight holes, in order to give the government a better understanding of any risks associated with the project’s proposed hydroelectric dam – a key component of the project.
Aiming for 2035
If all goes to plan, PanAust will complete detailed design and engineering by 2028 and begin construction in 2029, with ore production commencing in 2035.
McCormack has “the next seven years of work mapped out,” with 270 items to complete in that timeframe.
Engaging with landowners has been a priority, with McCormack’s staff travelling from “pit to port” to explain the different elements of the project and associated risks.
“Last year, we visited 123 villages along the Sepik River. And we’re also going above our project because our landowners have ties in the mountains behind us in the Telefomin and Miyamin areas,” he says.
“We released our independently prepared dam break assessments. It does show the effects of what a dam break would look like. But it [also] shows that there are strong mitigants in place with the incorporation of extensive safety and engineering features… and we’ve had positive engagement with landowners around this.”
One topic that hasn’t come up is benefit-sharing, which McCormack says can only be discussed after negotiations with the PNG government once a mine development contract has commenced.
For now, McCormack and his team are focusing on “resourcing the project to bring it down to a manageable level, and to also prove to the government that we are serious.”
This is an edited version of an article first published in Mining and Energy 2025/26, released in October. Read the full edition here.
