Businesses in Morobe Province and Papua New Guinea will benefit immensely from the proposed Wafi-Golpu gold and copper mine, according to business leaders in Lae.

KK Kingston’s Michael Kingston

The latest feasibility study for Papua New Guinea’s proposed Wafi-Golpu copper and gold project confirms ‘a robust investment case—one which supports proceeding with the project,’ say Newcrest Mining and Harmony Gold.

An updated report released last week says the Wafi-Golpu project contains 11 million ounces of gold and 4.8 million tonnes of copper. The companies are now working on a pre-mine agreement with the PNG Government. Production is expected to commence in 2020–21.

‘Major boon’

The Chief Executive Officer of Lae manufacturer K K Kingston, Michael Kingston, says the mine would be a major boon for Morobe Province and PNG.

‘It will result in substantial additional private sector investment, employment opportunities and public sector investment in the form of infrastructure upgrades,’ he told Business Advantage PNG.

‘Direct benefits would include businesses supplying goods and services directly to the mine developer and its contracts.’

The JV partners say some of the major infrastructure requirements are: access roads, a processing plant, a tailings storage facility and an export pipeline for the concentrate.

It will also need de-watering and loading facilities at the Lae Tidal Basin, an accommodation camp and a power transmission line.

‘Business will benefit in a raft of ways,’ says Kingston.

‘The obvious beneficiaries will be the transport and logistic companies-shipping, trucking, freight and freight forwarders etc. But others are caterers, electrical, plumbing, welding companies and so on.’

‘Direct benefits would include businesses supplying goods and services directly to the mine developer and its contracts.

‘Indirect benefits would include increased demand for goods and services in the province as a result of increased employment and increased disposable income.’

Skills shortage warning

LCCI President, Alan McLay. Credit: The Loop

President of the Lae chamber of Commerce, Alan McLay, told Business Advantage PNG that the ‘obvious beneficiaries will be transport and logistic companies—shipping, trucking, freight and freight forwarders, but others are caterers, electrical, plumbing, welding companies and so on.

‘There will be a lift in general business in Lae with so many extra staff and workers at the mine, who obviously will buy goods and supplies from Lae,’ he says.

McLay predicts the project will result in a shortage of skilled local workers, despite the creation of the Lae Centre of Excellency in Technical Education project, which began offering a Certificate III Pilot Metal Fabrication course in 2015.

‘Although the COE project will continue with its aim of improving the standard of skilled trades graduates, it still has a long way to go,’ he says. ‘But it will eventually build up the skills that are so necessary for the country.

‘As with the [ExxonMobil-led] PNG LNG gas project, this resource development will put pressure on PNG’s shortage of skilled tradesmen, and there is bound to be a shortfall leading to expensive overseas recruits.’