The Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea is set to be a larger and more important contributor to Barrick Gold"s Australia-Pacific operations.

Barrick Gold president Joc O"Rourke says the recent move to 95% ownership of the mine will mean Porgera will contribute 600,000 ounces in 2007 to group production. This output would be part of a total strong contribution from the region this year forecast at between 2.2 and 2.3 million ounces of gold, from Barrick"s 10 Australian Pacific mines.

Barrick spent $250 million to acquire a further 20% ownership of the PNG asset to take its total holding in Porgera to 95%.

Joc O'Rourke says: "Apart from existing operations, Porgera has considerable potential at depth and will be a very valuable piece of our portfolio going forward. We expect it to be a solid producer in our stable for a number of years to come and as such have made it one of three key sites for additional greenfields exploration."

Barrick has about 22 million ounces in proved and probable gold reserves in the Australia Pacific region and has current cash costs in the region of $385-$400/ounces.

Jock O'Rourke says Barrick remains on track to meet its full year guidance of 8.1 to 8.4 million ounces of gold this year at an average cash cost of $335-$350/ounces.

"If the current price for gold stays around where it is, we can expect to have a total group margin of around $325-340/ounces for the rest of the year." www.barrick.com

Sourced from International Mining Project News - www.im-mining.com