Fourteen years since the Wafi-Golpu joint venture began, Newcrest Mining Ltd. CEO Sandeep Biswas wants Papua New Guinea's government to act on the major copper-gold project to capitalize on the green energy boom.

Biswas hopes that Papua New Guinea's July election — in which Prime Minister James Marape was reelected — will lead to a renewed focus on Wafi-Golpu, where deep drilling has identified a "world-class" copper-gold porphyry deposit suited to bulk underground mining techniques, similar to the Cadia gold mine in Australia.

Wafi-Golpu's indicated mineral resource stands at 800 million dry metric tonnes grading 0.84 g/t, with 22 million ounces of in-situ gold, as of June 30.

The Wafi mineralization was identified in 1977, while the Golpu porphyry copper deposit was discovered in 1990, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. took over operator Abelle Ltd. in 2004 before Newcrest joined in April 2008, when the 50/50 joint venture was formed. The joint venture then applied for a special mining lease in 2016 and submitted an environment impact statement, which has been under regulatory review.

In June, the managing director of the country's Mineral Resources Authority, Jerry Garry, said negotiations over Wafi-Golpu were "very much in the final leg," PNG's Post-Courier newspaper reported.

With Marape yet to appoint his cabinet, the joint venture has not yet been reengaged since the "flurry of activity and discussions" between the miners, the state negotiating team and various ministers came to a standstill during the election period, Biswas told an Aug. 19 analyst call for Newcrest's fiscal 2022 results.

Newcrest Mining CEO Sandeep Biswas. Source: Newcrest Mining

"We're hopeful that once the prime minister sets his team out and would like to recommence discussions as soon as they're ready, we're ready," the CEO said.

"It's a great project, and I do still want to get that going. It's only become more valuable with the copper and the gold and where the world is headed in those commodities; and it's time, I think, to get it going for the benefit of the PNG people, the country, the communities and the developers."

The same cannot be said for the Namosi copper project in Fiji, which has an indicated mineral resource of 1.8 billion dry metric tonnes containing 6.4 Moz of in-situ gold.

"Nothing of that size in a location at sea level in our neck of the woods can be ignored forever. But right now, it's not a priority," Biswas said of Namosi. "I'm slowly thinking of dusting off the file on that, but at the moment we've got a lot on."

Feasibility studies for the Red Chris Block Cave in British Columbia, the Havieron Stage 1 project in Western Australia and the Lihir Phase 14A project in Papua New Guinea are all progressing, while the one for the Cadia PC1-2 project is due with the September quarterly report.

Newcrest has also identified further synergies and cashflow improvements on the Brucejack gold mine in British Columbia, which came with the recent C$3.5 billion acquisition of Pretium Resources Inc.

The fiscal 2022 net profit of Newcrest, Australia's largest gold miner, fell 25% to US$872 million from the prior year. Gold production slipped 7% to 1.96 Moz and copper output slumped 15% to 120,650 tonnes, leading group revenue to drop 8% to US$4.21 billion.

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