Tolukuma

In November 2013, the Tolukuma gold mine on the Owen Stanley Range, 100 kilometres north of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, received support from its stakeholders; the Yulai Landowners Association, the Woitape Local Level Government, the Central Provincial Government and the Papua New Guinea Government, with the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding. All parties expressed satisfaction with the new agreement and agreed it would deliver much needed benefits to affected landholders and the impacted communities. The original
Memorandum of Agreement had been signed in the 1990's and it was last reviewed in 2007.

The Tolukuma Mine Consists of Underground and Open pit Mining
The Tolukuma gold mine consists of a small open pit that began production in 1995 and a larger underground mine that has been in production since 1997. It contains high grade, narrow epithermal veins with a long history of having its gold reserves being continuously extended.

The Tolukuma gold mine that is located at an elevation of 1,550 metres, has a mining lease and eleven exploration licence tenements. The lease covers an area of eight square kilometres and the exploration licences a further 8,000 square kilometres surrounding the mine site.

Tolukuma Mine Fully Owned by Petromin PNG Holdings Limited
The Tolukuma gold mine is owned and operated by Petromin PNG Holdings Limited. An independent company established by the Papua New Guinea Government to retain control of the country's mineral, oil and gas assets so that maximum benefit goes to its indigenious owners. Petromin PNG Holdings Limited works with resource developers to provide opportunities for Papua New Guineans to increase ownership of their own resources. Petromin PNG Holdings Limited wholly acquired the Tolukuma mine from Emperor Mines in february, 2008.

Mining is carried out at the Tolukuma gold mine in five sections, each of which have differing geological features. The main zones are known as; Gulbadi, Tinabar, Tolimi, Zine and Tolukuma. The Gulbadi zone incorporates the Galbadi C and Galbadi veins, clay zones of differing widths which are located in intersections of multiple structures. The project is a high grade, low capacity mining operation that employs 630 people directly, along with 130 contractors.

Underground Mining the Main Producer at the Tolukuma Mine
Tolukuma mine production mainly comes from its underground operation that produces 92 percent of the mine's output. The remaining eight percent is produced from open pit mining. All mining at the Tolukuma mine uses plant and equipment owned by Tolukuma Gold Mine and access to the underground workings is gained bu means of declines. Mining itself is undertaken via conventional benching methods and backfill.

The Tolukuma gold processing plant is relatively small but follows the traditional technology of extracting gold from highly mineralised ore bodies. It is located on a steep mountain side and receives ore from the mine by road transport. After being milled the ore is subjected to a conventional carbon in leach (CIL) and gravity circuit. The plant comprises a SAG mill that can process 18,000 tonnes of ore each month.
As the Tolukuma mine is located in an extremely remote area, the company produces all its own electricity needs. This power is generated from a combination of hydro and diesel powered sources. There are three hydro power generators in existance at the mine along with the diesel generators which are held on standby for periods when water supply is inadequate to drive the hydro units.