Porgera Escrow Hits K290 Million After Three Missed Deadlines on Landowner Agreement

New Porgera Limited had paid K290 million in dividends into escrow for the Enga Provincial Government and the landholders around the Porgera gold mine by 30 June 2026, according to figures the company released in August. The same statement said moving the landholders’ shares out of escrow depends on the State completing a Community Development Agreement (CDA). Then Mining Minister Wake Goi aimed to finish it before the end of 2024, NPL General Manager James McTiernan told The National in December 2024.

Nearly three years after the mine restarted on 23 December 2023, that deadline and two later ones have passed. NPL told The PNG Sun in August that CDA negotiations were still under way, led by the State through the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA). Exepreneur found no report of the agreement being signed since.

Inside the escrow

The escrow holds the dividends on a 10 per cent stake in NPL set aside for local interests. NPL told The PNG Sun the stake splits three ways. Landholders inside the special mining lease (SML) get 5 per cent, affected landholders outside it get 2.5 per cent, and the Enga Provincial Government gets 2.5 per cent. MRDC (Escrow) Ltd receives the payments.

MRDC received K167.8 million from 2025 dividends alone, The PNG Sun reported in January, when NPL declared US$400 million (about K1.7 billion) for the year. By 30 June 2026 the escrow total had reached K290 million. On Exepreneur’s arithmetic, that equals one-tenth of the K2.9 billion in dividends NPL says it has declared since 1 January 2025.

NPL also said in August it had accrued K331 million in royalties since the restart, K121 million of it in the first half of 2026. All of it is “held in reserve” until the CDA settles who receives it and how, the company said. The company’s January statement put accrued royalties at K157 million as of 31 December 2025. Those figures do not reconcile: K157 million plus K121 million is K278 million, not K331 million, and neither statement explains the difference.

Adding NPL’s two 30 June figures gives about K621 million in escrowed dividends and reserved royalties, on Exepreneur’s calculation. That sum is not an NPL figure. It includes the Enga government’s 2.5 per cent, which NPL’s board has approved moving out of escrow, and a royalty base that remains unreconciled.

Taxes paid upfront

NPL paid K759 million in taxes to the Internal Revenue Commission in the first half of 2026, K662 million of it in advance payment tax, according to the August figures.

“Taxes will be paid upfront, ensuring immediate returns,” Prime Minister James Marape said of the deal in April 2025, according to The National, calling it “the most beneficial benefit-sharing agreement we’ve ever secured as a country.” The same report said the deal lifted landowner and Enga equity from 5 per cent to 15 per cent and raised the royalty from 2 per cent to 3 per cent with no deductions.

A trail of deadlines

Goi launched the CDA negotiations in May 2024, the MRA said at the time, and the authority announced that October that a draft had been initialled.

In February 2025, Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas said the CDA “continues to be unnecessarily delayed,” The National reported. He said the State negotiating team and the MRA “should have already compiled the finalised agreement.” The paper also reported his view that the lack of flow-on benefits posed significant risks to the project’s security and sustainability. A month later Goi told Parliament, according to The National, that the agreement was “95 per cent completed” and would be ready by the end of March or April.

In April 2025 Marape put the new Mining Minister, Rainbo Paita, in charge of finishing it. “We must finish the final leg,” Marape said, according to The National.

Porgera-Paiela MP Gidron Maso Karipe questioned him in Parliament that November. Marape said “more than K200 million in benefits,” including equity-related funds for Enga and the landowners, was held in trust, and that the CDA would be concluded before the end of the year, The National reported. His office said the government had committed K700 million to infrastructure development grants and SML resettlement.

NPL described the CDA as “still in progress” in January 2026 and as still under negotiation in August. Exepreneur found no 2026 public statement from Ipatas, Karipe or the MRA setting a new date.

The unfinished pieces

Marape’s April 2025 directive called for National Identification registration of all landowners, zero tolerance on illegal mining, a resettlement plan and a holding facility in Porgera, according to The National. Lagaip MP Aimos Akem told Parliament the previous month that “there are illegal miners that are causing problems at the mine,” The National reported. NPL said in January that law-and-order incidents caused 183.15 hours of stoppages at Porgera in 2025, with an estimated impact of US$17 million.

NPL proposed, and the State agreed, that royalties go directly into individual household bank accounts, the company said in January. Its August statement said the outcome of the CDA would determine who receives royalties and how they are distributed.

McTiernan told The National in the same December 2024 report that the CDA was a State-owned process coordinated by the MRA. He said proposed benefits, including a US$15 million landowner restart payment, were subject to “safe enjoyment and exclusive occupancy” of the mine’s tenements.

NPL’s board has approved moving the Enga government’s 2.5 per cent out of escrow to its nominee, Enga Minerals Resources Management Company Ltd, according to the August statement. The approval followed the State Solicitor’s confirmation that the State’s allocation offer was binding. Transfer of the remaining 7.5 per cent to SML and non-SML landholders depends on the CDA.

The LNG precedent

About K1 billion in PNG LNG landowner royalties sat in trust at the Bank of PNG in August 2021, awaiting landowner identification and clan vetting, The National reported. Marape blamed court injunctions filed by landowners, according to the same report. The project began production in 2014; the State started paying LNG royalties to landowners in September 2017, LNG Industry reported.

NPL has published no escrow or royalty figures beyond 30 June. A severe drought forced it to temporarily suspend processing this year, restarting intermittently as water allowed, the company said in August. Barrick Gold, which holds a 24.5 per cent interest in Porgera, reports third-quarter results on 9 November 2026.