Frieda River Project

 mine, open-pit mine

This is exploration concession area EL58 for the Frieda River Project copper-gold deposit which is one of the largest known undeveloped copper deposits in the world and is owned PanAust with 80% and joint venture partner, Highlands Pacific with 20%. The terms of the agreement between PanAust and Highlands provide that should the Government of PNG elect to take up its right under PNG Law to 30% of the project, PanAust will sell down the first 20% of its joint venture interest and thereafter the parties will sell down in equal amounts. Under a scenario where the Government of PNG elects to take up its maximum 30% of the project, the respective joint venture interests would be PanAust 55%, the Government of PNG 30% and Highlands 15%.

The pre‐feasibility study released in November 2010 indicated a 60Mtpa throughput for the first eight years with output averaging 246,000tpa of copper and 379,000ozpa of gold. The multi‐decade life mine will have an average throughput of 50Mtpa.