DALCY LULUA
New Porgera Limited (NPL) has announced a dividend of USD 80 million for the first quarter of 2025, marking a major milestone for the restructured mining venture.
In addition, the company has paid USD 48.9 million in corporate income tax to the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC), contributing approximately K198.9 million to the national purse.
Prime Minister James Marape thanked the Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas and the people of Enga for working closely with the Government to come this far.
“New Porgera Limited have returned declared USD 80m as dividends, it will be split between parties (landowners and provincial government who collected 5% before. We’ve increased it to 15% now and they’ll be getting 15% from the USD 80m,” Mr Marape said.
“This is tax coming back to us, this is just the first quarter, we’re looking forward to collect two more installments this year,” Mr Marape said.
“I want to apologies to the country for shutting down Porgera but the reason why is to get a better deal. We want to get more for our country.
“Papua New Guinea now owns 51% of share.”
The Prime Minister also thanked the NPL chairman Sarimu Kanu and his team for meeting the Government’s terms and conditions.
He urged the Porgera people to complete the by-election peacefully and not to destroy the resources that will sustain them.
“15% is yours, complete your elections peacefully and do not destroy the place,” Mr Marape said.
“Politicians will not come and look after you, Porgera will look after you.”
The Prime Minister added that the Government was also negotiating with Newmont Corporation for a better deal on the Wafi-Golpu gold mine in Bulolo, Morobe Province.
“My negotiations with Newmont for Wafi-Golpu, we’re not new to the mining and oil and gas business, we’ve been around for the last 50 years. We want to get a fair return for our people, people get it fair, they protect the resources.”