Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) economy is reliant on its minerals industry, with the mining and petroleum industries contributing an estimated 17.3% of the country’s GDP in 2003 (15% in 2002) and 55% ( 52% in 2002) of export revenues. Apart from the physical production, several local secondary industries are flourishing on the back of servicing the mining industry.
Gold, copper and silver are the main mineral products in PNG, which hosts some of the largest copper - gold orebodies in the world. Apart from the large scale mines operated by foreign companies, there is a large informal sector, mining mainly alluvial gold. It is these large scale open pit operations that have been the focus of several court cases involving issues ranging from pollution, land resettlement and environmental taxes.
