Thursday, 30th March 2006 (2984 views)

Fijian mining corporation Emperor has announced plans to commence a two-year programme of drilling and exploration of gold tenements in Papua New Guinea that will give the company a majority market share.

Emperor is expected to complete the acquisition of the Papua New Guinean assets of DRDGOLD, the Porgera venture and the Tolukuma gold mine, in the short term before embarking upon the exploratory plan.

Richard Johnson, executive vice-president for exploration at Emperor, claimed the announcement marked an important step in the development of the company.

"This programme represents the culmination of many years of investigation using new exploration technologies," he said. "It is now time to start drilling."

Emperor's chief executive, Mark Wellesley-Wood, said he believed the exploration to be an excellent opportunity to increase shareholder value through its "highly prospective tenement holdings [and] diversified and well balanced portfolio of projects".

In 2003, Papua New Guinea was ranked as the 11th largest gold producing country in the world but still remains a growing market for mining exploration.

It is also famed for having one of the most diverse human populations in the world, with over 700 indigenous languages in a community of just over 5 million inhabitants.

 

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