Harmony Gold has been granted regulatory approval in South Africa in support of acquisition of its joint venture partner’s 50% share in the Hidden Valley Gold-Silver project in Papua New Guinea. Acquisition of Newcrest Mining’s share will give Harmony 100% of the operating mine.

Harmony says the acquisition is in line with its overall aspiration to increase overall annual production to 1.5 million ounces within three years. It believes the mine has the potential to contribute approximately 180,000 ounces of gold annually at an all-in sustaining cost of less than US$950 per ounce.

The company plans to invest and develop stages 5 and 6 of the mine initially, mining approximately 1.4 million ounces of gold and 27 million ounces of silver over a period of seven years.

“Harmony has the skills and technology to successfully recommission one of PNG’s most recent mine developments,” said chief executive officer Peter Steenkamp.
An update on the life of mine plan for Hidden Valley will be included in the South Africa-based company’s production update to be released on November 10.