Project Benefits

The Project Benefits include:

New Long-term Capital Investment in PNG

• An initial investment of approximately USD160 million for the construction of the initial Refinery and Mint facilities, and associated infrastructure and offices, at Jacksons International Airport and the LNG Park.
• The construction cost will be fully funded and arranged by Refinery Holdings.
• So far as practical, the construction labour and fabrication, earth moving and road construction, and other goods and services, will be sourced within PNG. Construction is expected to occur in progressive phases over an estimated 3 years.

New PNG Jobs & Business Opportunities

New direct and indirect jobs, and business opportunities for PNG businesses, estimated to include:

• Construction phase - 200 – 300 PNG employees/contractors.
• 350-450 full time direct employment positions, across the full range of service, administration, technical and managerial positions in the new Project businesses, being the National Gold Refinery, National Mint & Gold Vault, National Gold Bank and National Gold Marketing.
• up to 120 full and part time regional employment positions in alluvial gold mining and other areas.
• hundreds, if not thousands, of new jobs and business opportunities for existing and new PNG businesses which will over time participate in supplying goods, materials, maintenance, earthmoving and road construction, security, technology and other services during construction and then long-term operations.
• potentially thousands of more jobs and business opportunities for current and new tourism operators, hotels and other accommodation providers, throughout the country expected from the new ‘Gold Tourism’ industry, which is also expected to develop in PNG as it does in other places, like the Perth Mint, and could see thousands of tourist visitors arrive to see the Refining and Minting activities, gold mining and other exhibitions, and then visit other tourist destinations in PNG.

New, Major USD Foreign Currency Inflows

• The Project will generate urgently needed US dollar inflows from the start, with the expected early commencement of commercial production and sale of value-added bullion bars and coins while the Refining and Minting facilities are under construction.
• The entire Project is projected to generate US dollar inflows of approx. USD5-7 billion per annum and upwards once the Project is fully operational and, for example, as refining volumes of PNG and non-PNG gold and precious metal production progressively increase over time.
• These USD inflows will occur year after year for decades to come as the National Gold Corporation Group and Project will be a permanent feature of the PNG economy, and owned 100% by the State at a time of the Government’s choosing.

New Project Taxes and Dividends for PNG

• Full corporate income tax is payable (no tax holiday).
• Full dividend withholding tax from Refinery Holdings (no tax Holiday).
• Significant dividends to the State every year.

Stopping the State’s PNG Gold Industry Taxable Revenue Losses

• The Refinery Holdings is aware of the Government’s priority to stop the State’s huge taxable revenue losses, estimated by the Government to be in excess of K1 billion per annum, from malpractices in the PNG gold industry, including underreporting of gold production, transfer pricing in foreign refineries, theft and large- scale smuggling of gold.
• The Company supports the effort of the Government to stop these losses by the mandatory refining of all gold and precious metals through the National Gold Refinery before export, and the significant benefit this will have to the State’s finances and budgets.
• Refinery Holdings acknowledges that the State can financially justify the National Gold Corporation Project by simply stopping these taxable revenue losses, without any of the other many and substantial financial (such as new taxes and dividends payable to the State) and other benefits (such as substantial new long-term employment and new business opportunities) provided by the Project.

PNG gold mining industry to have a dedicated World- class PNG gold refinery

• Refinery Holdings, like the Government, expects the PNG gold mining industry will welcome having a World-class gold refinery in PNG dedicated to serving their refining and gold sales requirements as this will avoid the costs and risks, including adverse price movement risks, they incur or are exposed to, for example, in shipping doré bars to foreign refineries.
• Similarly, and like the Government, we anticipate that the critics of the mandatory refining of gold will be loudest from those who are currently engaged in industry malpractices, including smuggling gold out of PNG, and now face the loss of their illegal and undeclared profits, and serious criminal penalties if they are caught continuing to operate illegally.

Stopping abuse of Alluvial Gold Miners & Providing market prices for Alluvial Gold

• The Company supports the Government’s effort to stop the cruel abuse of the thousands of alluvial gold miners by notorious and greedy PNG ‘middlemen’ who pay unfair low prices for their gold and then resell that gold at huge profits overseas.
• The National Gold Refinery will have buying offices and agents throughout the alluvial gold mining areas. This means that alluvial gold miners will be able to cut out the ‘middlemen’ and sell their gold directly to the National Gold Refinery, receiving proper market prices for that gold.

PNG controls downstream processing and value adding to PNG gold & precious metals

• Refinery Holdings supports the Government’s vision to establish, for the first time in PNG, a World-class downstream processing and value-adding industry for PNG’s gold and precious metals.
• The Company also acknowledges that the Government vision to bring PNG right to the forefront of modern approaches to downstream processing and value- adding and its regulation, and, by so doing, achieve the objectives of the Marape Government’s Take Back PNG policy.

Enhanced PNG International Reputation

The Project, when fully operational, will show PNG is:

• a mature, stable and safe investment destination for exploration, mining and production of gold and precious metals.
• a refiner of gold and precious metals to World’s best standards.
• a producer of globally accepted gold and precious metal bullion bars and other gold products.
• a producer of World’s best standard gold and precious metal legal tender coins as numismatic (coin collectors) and investment grade products.
• the provider of a new, clear and modern regulatory environment for gold and precious metals refining and related matters.
• a globally important ‘hub’ of expertise in gold mining, smelting, refining, minting, bullion banking and trading services.

The Project will put PNG on the ‘World Gold Map’ because PNG branded international investment grade gold and precious metal bullion bars, coins and other gold products will be traded and invested in around the World, instead of PNG gold, as it currently is, being refined in foreign refineries and branded as foreign gold.