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PNG’s rich mineral bounty proves irresistible for ASX gold players

• PNG remains underexplored despite its rich mineral endowment
• Country has a supportive government with a mining act similar to Australia’s
• Well-educated technical workforce another benefit of operating in the country

Papua New Guinea shares more in common with Australia than you might think … fauna, history, a love of rugby league and, more pertinently for investors, a reputation for being rich in mineral resources.

This is best seen in the number of top-tier copper-gold projects in the country.

One notable example is the giant Ok Tedi mine that has been and continues to be a cornerstone of the PNG economy.

During 2025, the mine produced 106,018t of copper, 298,350oz of gold and 1Moz of silver to generate US$2.3bn in unaudited revenue.

Others include Newmont’s Lihir gold mine in New Ireland Province, which produced 614,000oz of gold in 2024 and had reserves of 15.8Moz of gold as of December 31, 2024, Harmony Gold’s Hidden Valley mine (164,193oz production in FY2025) and the Porgera mine that produced 92,000oz of gold in 2025.

Canada’s K92 Mining (TSX:KNT) produced 164,484oz of gold, 5.94Mlb of copper and 159,309oz of silver in 2025 from its Kainantu mine.

In December 2025, the Papua New Guinea government moved to invest directly in several projects to revitalise its mining sector.

One notable beneficiary was St Barbara (ASX:SBM), which nailed a $370m deal to sell half of its holding in the Simberi gold project to China’s Lingbao, paving the way for the development of a long-awaited sulphide plant capable of producing some 200,000ozpa of gold for 13 years.

A PNG state nominee will pay $100m for a 20% interest in the project, adding to its interests in other major projects across the country.

Post expansion, Simberi is expected to deliver strong post-tax NPV and IRR of US$1.8bn and 243% respectively at gold and silver prices of US$4000/oz and US$50/oz.

This will be achieved at a low all-in-sustaining cost of between US$1100-1400/oz from FY2029 to FY2036.

Resource riches

Speaking to Stockhead, St Barbara managing director Andrew Strelein asserted the key driver in PNG, as with most top mining jurisdictions, is the quality of the resource.

“PNG has an outstanding mineral endowment and large areas of land insufficiently tested and so is attractive from that perspective,” he said.

“PNG also has strong social, commercial and political ties with Australia, which makes it a familiar destination for Australian businesses.

“The government there is generally supportive of mining although some of the governance systems and processes that underpin that support are still developing.

“We have experienced very positive relationships in PNG with government at all levels, local landholders, and the business community.”

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​​​​​​​Source: Stockhead