Jerry Garry, the managing director of the Mineral Resources Authority, recently stated that alluvial gold mining export revenues rose from K300 million to K640 million last year. Mr Garry made the announcement at a farewell event for Mining Minister Johnson Tuke.
“In 2019, the highest total mineral export revenue was K16.4bn from the mining sector from K11.2bn previously,” Mr Garry said.
“The mining sector is really compatible with LNG, who came on stream in 2014 in terms of export revenue. It is the biggest industry in the country.”
Mr Garry said income from the alluvial gold sector had previously been below K300 million, but in 2021, the figure had grown to around K640 million.
“We assessed close to US$13bn worth of projects,” he said. He added that Minister Tuke had gotten Wafi up and running and that once Frieda River became operational, there would be further increases in metal exports until 2050.
“Gold will be over 2billion ounces per annum, reaching around 5million ounces, and copper for the first time will reach 700,000 tonnes per annum, averaging around 500,000 tonnes per annum compared to around 100 t0 180 000 tonnes produced by Ok Tedi. That is a significant increase in the years ahead.”
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