Papua New Guinea’s mineral exploration and mining sectors are once again on display at the Prospectors & Developers’ Association of Canada (PDAC) 2025 convention, in Toronto Canada, (March 2-5).
The PDAC is the world’s premier mineral exploration and mining convention, that attracts about 30, 000 attendess from over 130 countries annually.
A team from the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) and the Ministry of Mining, led by the Minister for Mining Hon Wake Goi (MP), and the MRA’s Managing Director Jerry Garry, are attending the convention. The team is purposely attending the convention to promote PNG’s vast mineral exploration and mining industry, to potential investors on this global platform.
PNG is showcasing advanced projects, projects that need financing and potential joint venture arrangements, current airborne geophysics and geochemical data sets.
Specific sessions that are being attended include:
- Driving responsible exploration, sustainability and climate leadership
- Investor grade sustainability disclosures: Why, what and how?
- Why we need to urgently simplify the responsible mining standards landscape: Update on Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative
Between 2012-2018, most of the country was taken up by companies exploring for mineral resources. However, since 2019, PNG has seen a decline in mineral exploration interest due to lack of geoscience data amongst other issues. Another major concern for the government has been the depletion of mineral resources, and the fact that most of the major operating mines will have closed down by 2060. This is a major concern for the government as over 60% of the country’s revenue is generated from the mining sector - No exploration means no mining hence a less revenue for the country.
It is therefore, anticipated that PNG’s participation in the convention, will be an opportunity to once again generate interest from global exploraton and mining industry players.
