Women are playing an increasingly important role in Papua New Guinea’s mining sector, and a new committee launched in 2025 is aiming to increase their representation further. Business Advantage PNG speaks with two of the leading female pioneers in the industry.

New Porgera Limited’s Karo Maha. Credit: NPL

The Porgera gold mine stood idle for almost four years until operator Barrick Niugini Limited (BNL) reached a deal with the PNG government to reopen the mine in 2023 under a new joint venture, New Porgera Limited (NPL).

When Karo Maha, a commercial lawyer with more than two decades of experience in the extractives sector, was appointed BNL’s country manager in October 2022 (and NPL’s country manager in January 2024), she immediately found herself at the centre of these negotiations.

“When you know your field well, you earn respect and your contributions are acknowledged”

“We have mutual interests. Barrick wanted the mine to restart and Papua New Guinea needed the mine to restart,” Maha says.

Maha, the first ever female country manager of a PNG mining company, took on the task of face-to-face negotiations with Porgera landowners, which came with its own difficulty due to the strong patriarchal beliefs in the area.

“It was very challenging for the Porgeran men to see me standing up in the front and for them to look past the fact that I was a woman,” Maha recalls.

“[For] the first couple of sessions, amongst other things, it was getting them to overlook this and focus on the reasons for the meeting.”

As the negotiations progressed, Maha says, “I also came to understand how Porgerans behave – how they think, how they negotiate – and I was able to find my voice.”

Transferrable skills

Another female trailblazer is Jemimah Kutkue, Advisor – Geotechnical Projects at Newmont’s Lihir gold mine.

Kutkue previously worked in PNG’s civil and construction sector before joining Lihir as a geotechnical engineer five years ago. She found that she was able to apply her technical skills just as easily in the pit as she could on construction sites, enabling her promotion to a supervisory role.

Lihir mine’s Jemimah Kutkue. Credit: Newmont PNG

“Geotech engineers look after the safety of mine operations by assessing ground conditions, monitoring rock and soil behaviour, and identifying geohazards such as slope failure or rock fall,” Kutkue says.

“We manage a monitoring system made up of instruments and equipment installed in the pit, and carry out inspections to ensure slope stability.”

Like many women in operations roles, Kutkue works mostly alongside men.

“It can be intimidating sometimes. You will see in this environment that there are a lot of male colleagues,” she says.

“My advice is to be confident, cultivate resilience, have a strong work ethic, and always seek opportunities to grow your skills and knowledge. When you know your field well, you earn respect and your contributions are acknowledged.”

Looking ahead, Kutkue hopes to see more mining, oil and gas companies visit high schools and universities across PNG to encourage girls and young women to pursue careers in fields that involve science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

This article was first published in Mining and Energy 2025/26, released in October. Read the full edition here.

If you are attending PNG Investment Week in Sydney (8 to 11 December), you can pick up a free copy from the Business Advantage PNG stand at the event expo (Stand E01).