Pacific

PNG's Porgera mine caught in the middle of vandalism over LNG issue

21:10 pm on 8 December 2009

The Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea says vandalism at a power plant supplying power to the mine was directed at another company.

Angry landowners have knocked down power columns at a plant that supplies power almost exclusively to the mine.

The plant was owned by Oil Search, a partner of Exxon Mobil, which is to spearhead PNG's multi-billion dollar liquified natural gas project.

The landowners are reportedly angered by the deal, saying they missed out on the benefit sharing agreement for the project.

A spokesperson for the mine, Andy Lloyd, says the issue is odd.

"This vandalism had actually nothing to do with the mine. It's related to a landowner issue around the liquefied natural gas project that's currently being negotiated in PNG. The vandalim was directed at that issue and really was totally unrelated to the Porgera Gold mine."

Andy Lloyd says the mine's processing activity has been restricted due to limited power.