Mediation is beginning between the Papua New Guinea government and Canadian miner Barrick over the Porgera gold mine.
Porgera gold mine. Photo: Richard Farbelini at English Wikipedia / Public domain
The two parties had been in a stand-off in recent months after the James Marape-led government refused to renew the company's mine lease.
Looking for a new future operator, the government had wanted mining to continue through a transition period.
But Barrick and its Chinese partner in the Porgera joint venture, Zijin, suspended the mine operations, while pressing for the government to revisit its decision.
Almost 3,000 local employees were laid off, while both the PNG national and Enga provincial governments had been losing millions of kina in the interim.
With neither the developer or the state able to agree on how to proceed, a court-ordered mediation process was to get underway this week.
