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42-589: The Porgera Gold Mine closed in April 2020, following the end of its special mining lease. Extensive negotiations for a new special mining lease were concluded in 2023 and the reopening of the mine was announced in December 2023, with first production expected in the first quarter of 2024. The new special mining lease was finally issued to New Porgera Limited, an entity 51% owned by PNG stakeholders (including state-owned Kumul Minerals Holdings Limited, local landowners and

84-551: A cash cost of US$ 192 per ounce. Its output fell to about 865,000 ounces in 2005, and has reached 572,595 ounces of gold at cash costs of US$ 515 per ounce in 2009. With its 2,500 employees and 500 contractors it is one of the largest gold mines in Papua New Guinea and Australasia , and is widely regarded as one of the world's top ten producing gold mines. The mine has had a large impact on its immediate local area. Modern health care and education services have been brought to

126-490: A community association) over the past ten years and injured many more. In 2009 rising insecurity around the mine led the government of Papua New Guinea to deploy several squads of mobile policemen to Porgera . According to Amnesty International , the deployment resulted in the eviction of nearby villagers and the burning of their houses. Human Rights Watch investigated and documented reports of abuse, including brutal gang rapes and beatings, carried out by security personnel at

168-476: A fleet of Elphinstone AD45 trucks. The management approach to community relations changed when Barrick Gold took ownership from Placer Dome, which was quickly followed by the termination of the community relations staff that Placer Dome has employed. The new approach to community relations was described as "more viscous" and "more cruel" by journalist Richard Poplak the Canadaland podcast in 2022. Although

210-513: Is considered to be sufficiently approximated by 31.10 g in EU directive 80/181/EEC. The Dutch troy system is based on a mark of 8 ounces, the ounce of 20 engels (pennyweights), the engel of 32 as. The mark was rated as 3,798 troy grains or 246.084 grammes. The divisions are identical to the tower system. The pennyweight symbol is dwt . One pennyweight weighs 24 grains, and 20 pennyweights make one troy ounce. Because there were 12 troy ounces in

252-501: Is dumped directly into the local river. This increases sediment loading by approximately 8 million tonnes per year. Additionally, the mine has two 'Erodible Dumps' – areas where soft waste rock are dumped, and the high amount of local rainfall gradually washes into the local rivers. The increase in sediment loading is hard to quantify but is generally thought to be in the range of 4 to 6 million tonnes per year. The river systems eventually deliver hundreds of millions of tonnes of sediment into

294-505: Is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically , physiogeographically , philologically , and ecologically , where the term covers several slightly different but related regions. Charles de Brosses coined the term (as French Australasie ) in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes (1756). He derived it from the Latin for "south of Asia " and differentiated

336-535: The People's Bank of China has previously used troy measurements in minting Gold Pandas beginning in 1982; since 2016, the use of troy ounces has been replaced by integer numbers of grams. The troy pound (lb t) consists of twelve troy ounces and thus is 5 760 grains ( 373.241 72 grams). (An avoirdupois pound is approximately 21.53% heavier at 7 000 grains ( 453.592 37 grams), and consists of sixteen avoirdupois ounces). A troy ounce weighs 480 grains . Since

378-777: The Porgera Landowners Association . Barrick Gold Corporation and Zijin Mining Group each own 50% of Barrick (Niugini) Ltd. In 2020 the Papua New Guinea government decided not to renew Barrick Gold's lease on the mine, prompting Barrick to sue the government within Papua New Guinea and at an international tribunal. The government backed down after negotiating a greater ownership stake in the joint venture. Porgera Gold Mine began operation in 1990. Originally an underground operation, open-pit mining became increasingly important after 1993, temporarily putting an end to underground mining in 1997. Starting in 2002,

420-482: The avoirdupois system, but the troy ounce is heavier than the avoirdupois ounce, and the troy pound is lighter than the avoirdupois pound. Legally, one troy ounce (oz t) equals exactly 31.1034768 grams. Troy weight is generally supposed to take its name from the French market town of Troyes where English merchants traded at least as early as the early 9th century. The name troy is first attested in 1390, describing

462-521: The 12-ounce troy pound in the 19th century. It has been retained, though rarely used, in the American system. Larger amounts of precious metals are conventionally counted in hundreds or thousands of troy ounces, or in kilograms. Troy ounces have been and are still often used in precious metal markets in countries that otherwise use International System of Units (SI), except in East Asia . However,

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504-529: The Enga provincial government), and 49% by Barrick Niugini Limited (BNL), itself a joint venture between Barrick Gold and Zijin Mining of China. Porgera Gold Mine is the second largest mine in Papua New Guinea and is regarded as one of the world's top ten producing gold mines. In 2009, it produced 572,595 ounces of gold and 94,764 ounces of silver and had 2,500 employees and 500 contractors. Since it began operating,

546-514: The Gulf of Papua. The main concern with riverine tailings disposal as practiced by the PJV is not the quantities of sediment, but the toxicity of the tailings, which contains significant quantities of cyanide , mercury and other heavy elements. The mercury is 'fixed' in a compound state by which it is thought will not ultimately enter the food chain, but no conclusive research has been performed. However,

588-504: The PLOA as intended. Troy ounce Troy weight is a system of units of mass that originated in the Kingdom of England in the 15th century and is primarily used in the precious metals industry. The troy weight units are the grain , the pennyweight (24 grains), the troy ounce (20 pennyweights), and the troy pound (12 troy ounces). The troy grain is equal to the grain unit of

630-480: The Porgera Gold Mine, stating that “the company’s riverine disposal practice is in breach of international norms [and] the company’s assertions that its operations do not cause long-term and irreversible environmental damage carry little credibility [and that there is] reason to believe that the company’s unacceptable practice will continue in the future.” The local body, which was established to represent

672-498: The Public Record Commissioners translate as "troy weight". The word troni refers to markets. Wright's The English Dialect Dictionary lists the word troi as meaning a balance , related to the alternate form 'tron' which also means market or the place of weighing. From this, Watson suggests that 'troy' derives from the manner of weighing by balance precious goods such as bullion or drugs; in contrast to

714-472: The adoption of the metric system, many systems of troy weights were in use in various parts of Europe, among them Holland troy, Paris troy, etc. Their values varied from one another by up to several percentage points. Troy weights were first used in England in the 15th century and were made official for gold and silver in 1527. The British Imperial system of weights and measures (also known as Imperial units )

756-568: The area from Polynesia (to the east) and the southeast Pacific ( Magellanica ). In the late 19th century, the term Australasia was used in reference to the "Australasian colonies". In this sense it related specifically to the British colonies south of Asia: New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia, Victoria (i.e., the Australian colonies) and New Zealand. Australasia found continued geopolitical attention in

798-414: The community investment as "ghost whok". The town of Pogera was described as "hell" and a "dump ground". Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada spoke about how mountains of dumped tailings blocked passage between communities and polluted rivers. On 23 April 2007, local landowner groups protesting over proposed relocation settlements were successful in peacefully halting mining and processing operations at

840-566: The continent. The troy ounce and grain were also part of the apothecaries' system . This was long used in medicine, but has been largely replaced by the metric system (milligrams). The only troy weight in widespread use is the British Imperial troy ounce and its American counterpart. Both are based on a grain of 0.06479891 gram (exact, by definition), with 480 grains to a troy ounce (compared with 437 + 1 ⁄ 2 grains for an ounce avoirdupois). The British Empire abolished

882-419: The early 20th century. Historian Hansong Li finds that against the backdrop of British colonialism, German geopoliticians considered "Australasia" as a counterweight to the former German South Sea Edge (Südseerand), both of which form the "Indo-Pacific" region. The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary gives two meanings of "Australasia". One, especially in Australian use, is "Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea , and

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924-506: The form of British pre-decimal pennies, in which pounds, shillings, and pence were indicated using the symbols £ , s , and d , respectively. There is no specific 'troy grain'. All Imperial systems use the same measure of mass called a grain (historically of barley ), each weighing 1 ⁄ 7000 of an avoirdupois pound (and thus a little under 65 milligrams). Mint masses, also known as moneyers' masses , were legalized by Act of Parliament dated 17 July 1649 entitled An Act touching

966-559: The history of sexual violence perpetrated by guards at the mine in 2010, Barrick Gold set up a compensation scheme and paid 119 survivors of sexual violence approximately CAD$ 8,000 per person on the condition that they agreed not to sue Barrick Gold. The mine has, for many years, been severely contaminating the Porgera River, adjacent rivers, and the Gulf of Papua . The mine practises riverine tailings disposal, by which processed ore

1008-475: The implementation of the international yard and pound agreement of 1 July 1959, the grain measure is defined as precisely 64.798 91   milligrams . Thus one troy ounce = 480 grains × 0.064 798 91 grams/grain = 31.103 476 80 grams. Since the ounce avoirdupois is defined as 437.5 grains, a troy ounce is exactly 480 ⁄ 437.5 = 192 ⁄ 175 or about 1.09714 ounces avoirdupois or about 9.7% more. The troy ounce for trading precious metals

1050-423: The landowners around the mine, the Porgera Landowners Association ( PLOA ), is funded by a percentage of royalties from the mine, receiving $ 1.4 million in 2009. However, the PLOA refuses to publish its accounts, and many landowners accuse the leadership of the PLOA of lining their own pockets at the expense of ordinary landowners. As a result, the mine negotiates with individual landowners direct rather than through

1092-583: The mine has been certified as fully compliant with the International Cyanide Management Code . The mine also has three vast dumps of waste rock—stone with quantities of gold ore too low to be processed economically. In January 2009, Norway's finance ministry announced that the Government Pension Fund of Norway excluded Barrick Gold from its investments due to the “severe environmental damage” caused by

1134-531: The mine has produced more than 16 million ounces of gold and almost 3 million ounces of silver, accounting for about 12 percent of Papua New Guinea's total exports. The mine's proven and probable mineral reserves as of 2009 amount to 8.1 million ounces of gold. Porgera Gold Mine has consistently been criticized for environmental and human rights issues. Its internal investigations have revealed that killings, brutal gang rapes, and beatings have been carried out by mine security personnel. It began production in 1990 and

1176-457: The mine is nominally a joint venture, it is managed by Barrick Gold personnel, who are employed on a fly in fly out basis. None of the management team lives in the Porgera region, and all are accommodated in the mine's camp facilities. The mine has an extensive training and education program, offering diverse traineeships and apprenticeships to locals. This has resulted in many people gaining

1218-460: The mine utilised both open-pit and underground mining methods for ore extraction. The site of the last open pit to be excavated was Mt Waruwari. When operating, the open pit mine could move up to 160,000 tonnes of rock material and gold-bearing ore daily, and the underground mine over 2,000 tonnes. Ore was processed in a mainly conventional plant, utilising several SAG and Ball mills, four Autoclaves , floatation cells and CIP / CIL. Gravity recovery

1260-587: The mine. After having denied previous claims of crimes committed at the mine, Barrick Gold launched an internal investigation which confirmed the findings. In 2022 Canadaland reported hundreds of rapes undertaken by employed security contractors, and starting in 2003 or 2004 a policy of using sexual violence as a means to deter people from salvaging for gold on around the mine. Canadaland quoted Akali Tange's 2005 report The Shooting Fields of Porgera Joint Venture which documents allegations of murder of local residents by mine security contractors. After acknowledging

1302-443: The mine. The suspension lasted for ten days, during which various local landowner clans, PNG government representatives, and PJV mine management eventually agreed on how best to move on. The mine employs its security force, numbering between 400 and 500 persons. Some sections of the security forces are licensed to utilize lethal force. Police and security guards have killed eight people (the company's figures) to 14 people (according to

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1344-459: The monies and coins of England . A grain is 20 mites, a mite is 24 droits, a droit is 20 perits, a perit is 24 blanks. The troy system was used in the apothecaries' system but with different further subdivisions. Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania , comprising Australia , New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia ), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia ). The term

1386-455: The necessary skills for employment at the Porgera mine and other mining operations in Papua New Guinea and other countries. In 2009, out of 2,427 employees at the mine, 93.49% were PNG nationals, 1,606 were Porgerans, 33 other Engans, 630 other PNG nationals, and 158 were expatriates. The mine was originally one of the world's major low-cost gold producers, but operating costs have increased. In 2004 it produced over one million ounces of gold at

1428-490: The old troy pound, there would have been 240 pennyweights to the pound (mass) – just as there were 240 pennies in the original pound-sterling . However, prior to 1526, the English pound sterling was based on the tower pound , which is 15 ⁄ 16 of a troy pound. The d in dwt stands for denarius , the ancient Roman coin that equates loosely to a penny. The symbol d for penny can be recognized in

1470-496: The troy weight system of Bremen . (The Bremen troy ounce had a mass of 480.8 British Imperial grains.) Many aspects of the troy weight system were indirectly derived from the Roman monetary system . Before they used coins, early Romans used bronze bars of varying weights as currency. An aes grave ("heavy bronze") weighed one pound . One twelfth of an aes grave was called an uncia , or in English, an "ounce". Before

1512-404: The valley by the mine, and some members of the community have profited from the mine's presence. However, alcoholism, lawlessness and illegal mining have all increased. In 2022, Canadaland featured journalist Richard Poplak who criticized the mine for providing buildings but not maintenance or staff, analyzing that the modest investment in the local community would not last; Poplak described

1554-515: The weight of a platter, in an account of the travels in Europe of the Earl of Derby . Charles Moore Watson (1844–1916) proposes an alternative etymology: The Assize of Weights and Measures (also known as Tractatus de Ponderibus et Mensuris ), one of the statutes of uncertain date from the reign of either Henry III or Edward I , thus before 1307, specifies " troni ponderacionem "—which

1596-567: The word 'avoirdupois' used to describe bulk goods such as corn or coal, sometimes weighed in ancient times by a kind of steelyard called the auncel . Troy weight referred to the Tower system ; the earliest reference to the modern troy weights is in 1414. The origin of the troy weight system is unknown. Although the name probably comes from the Champagne fairs at Troyes , in northeastern France. English troy weights were nearly identical to

1638-407: Was also used, with Knelson concentrators used for primary recovery, and an Acacia Reactor treating the concentrate. A large fleet of Cat 777 and Cat 789 trucks were used on the surface, fed by O&K shovels, and smaller excavators and loaders. A collection of underground development and production drilling equipment was used to break ground, which was bogged by Elphinstone RH series LHD 's into

1680-532: Was based on, and virtually identical with, the pre-1824 British troy ounce and the pre-1707 English troy ounce. (1824 was the year the British Imperial system of weights and measures was adopted; 1707 was the year of the Act of Union which created the Kingdom of Great Britain .) Troy ounces have been used in England since the early 15th century, and the English troy ounce was officially adopted for coinage in 1527. Before that time, various sorts of troy ounces were in use on

1722-614: Was developed and operated by Placer Dome , which was acquired in 2006 by Barrick Gold , the world's largest gold mining company at that time. Emperor Gold Mine, holding a minority stake of 20%, was sold to Barrick in April 2007. This gave Barrick (Niugini) a 95% ownership of the operation. The remaining 5% is owned by Mineral Resources Enga (MRE), which the Enga Provincial Government owns, the Papua New Guinea National Government, and

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1764-405: Was established in 1824, prior to which the troy weight system was a subset of pre-Imperial English units . The troy ounce in modern use is essentially the same as the British Imperial troy ounce (1824–1971), adopted as an official weight standard for United States coinage by act of Congress on May 19, 1828. The British Imperial troy ounce (known more commonly simply as the imperial troy ounce)

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