Ok Tedi’s K450m Dividend Paid Western Province 33%, Not Marape’s 40%

Ok Tedi Mining Limited split its first-half 2026 dividend of K450 million two ways, managing director Kedi Ilimbit said in a statement carried by TVWAN on 6 September. Kumul Minerals Holdings Limited received K300 million for the State and the Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC) received K150 million for Western Province.

Western Province’s cheque was one-third of the total. Eight months earlier, Prime Minister James Marape had told the country that its people now owned 40 per cent of the mine.

Marape announced the 40 per cent stake in a release from his office on 23 January. The same statement said the mine would run until 2084. It also said seven per cent of revenue from Ok Tedi and other major resource projects would go into a sovereign wealth fund, held first at the Bank of Papua New Guinea.

Ok Tedi has published its 2025 production and cash figures. Exepreneur’s searches of company, Treasury and agreement-party statements since January found no public record of the equity transfer, no disclosed deposit into the fund, and no reserve estimate that runs to 2084.

A 40 per cent stake, a two-thirds cheque

Ok Tedi’s dividend statement described the State’s K300 million as payment for its 60 per cent shareholding. Two-thirds of K450 million is K300 million. A 60:40 split would have sent K270 million to Kumul Minerals and K180 million to MRDC, a K30 million difference for Western Province on one half-year payment.

The two-thirds, one-third division matches the ownership that existed before January. Business Advantage PNG reported in December 2024 that Kumul Minerals owned 67 per cent of Ok Tedi Mining, with three Western Province entities holding the rest.

MRDC has set out how that 33 per cent is carved up. MROT2 holds 12 per cent in trust for the Fly River Provincial Government. Mineral Resources Star Mountains holds 9 per cent for the mine-area villages, and Mineral Resources CMCA Holdings holds 12 per cent for the river corridor. The PNG Chamber of Resources and Energy gave the same 21 per cent community and 12 per cent provincial split in October 2025.

Published accounts also differ on who receives the extra seven points. Marape’s January release gave the 40 per cent to “landowners of Western Province.” The National reported on 30 March that the National Executive Council had approved an additional seven per cent for the provincial government, taking its equity from 33 to 40 per cent. The same report said the new Community Development Agreement would see landowners and the State “take 40 per cent each,” without explaining what that 40 per cent applied to.

The provincial government is the party that refused to sign. NBC News reported that Western Governor Taboi Awi Yoto walked out of the signing at the Hilton in Port Moresby on 27 March over a clause in the agreement. The State, the Star Mountains Local Level Government and the Mt Fubilan Resources Association signed.

According to NBC, the signing cleared the way for equity and royalty payments to customary landowners. Benefits for the Fly River Provincial Government would be withheld until it signs, and the province intended to challenge the matter in court. Mining Minister Solen Loifa said at the time: “They are a party to the agreement, and we respect the provincial government and the leader’s rights.”

Exepreneur’s searches found no public statement from Ok Tedi, Kumul Minerals or MRDC confirming that the additional seven per cent has been transferred or registered. In the September dividend statement, Ilimbit said the full dividend distribution should be accurately reflected.

Where the money goes after MRDC

MRDC’s trust companies receive the dividend and apply their own rules before any of it reaches a district or a village. MRDC’s published account of 2019 payments shows how one of them works.

MROT2 received K12 million from Ok Tedi in December 2019. Under an April 2019 Provincial Executive Council decision, it kept 40 per cent for investment and paid out K7.2 million. Of that, K720,000 went to school fees and the rest was split between the provincial government and the North, Middle and South Fly districts.

MRDC has not published an equivalent breakdown for the 2025 or 2026 dividends. Its published material does not set out how the Star Mountains and CMCA trusts pass their shares on to landowners. Exepreneur found no public schedule for when the K150 million paid in September reaches beneficiaries, or how much is retained.

The sums have grown since 2019. Ok Tedi reported unaudited 2025 revenue of K9.3 billion from 106,018 tonnes of copper, 298,350 ounces of gold and 1,008,346 ounces of silver. The company said it paid K1 billion in dividends, K1.09 billion in taxes and K178 million in royalties, and spent K766 million under the tax credit scheme.

“2025 has been another exceptional year for Ok Tedi,” Ilimbit said in the results release. That release did not state how the K1 billion was split between the State and MRDC.

The sovereign wealth fund on paper

Marape’s January release did not define “revenue.” It did not say whether the seven per cent applies to Ok Tedi’s gross sales, its profit, or the State’s receipts from dividends, tax and royalties.

On 5 January, eighteen days before the Ok Tedi announcement, Marape told NBC News that seven per cent of PNG LNG earnings would go into the fund. He said Kumul Petroleum Holdings had been tasked with managing it. The Ok Tedi release, and The National’s report of it, placed the fund at the central bank.

The 2026 National Budget Volume 1 does not mention a sovereign wealth fund. The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), published in September, lists “SWF” only in its abbreviations table. Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey’s supplementary budget speech of 1 September does not mention it. Exepreneur found no disclosure in those documents, or in Ok Tedi’s 2026 releases, of any deposit into the fund.

Treasury is counting on the mine’s cash all the same. Volume 1’s 13-year fiscal plan budgets K1 billion in dividends from “Ok Tedi and Other” in 2026, falling to K900 million in 2027 and K800 million in 2028. “Payments of dividends, at only 3% by mid-year, is particularly concerning,” the MYEFO foreword said of the State’s portfolio.

What stands behind 2084

The expected closure date has moved three times since 2019. Marape said in January that he was advised in 2019 that Ok Tedi would close in 2028. “I did not accept that outcome,” he said, according to The National.

In November 2022, then-chief executive Musje Werror told The National the estimated closure date was 2032. He said about 200 million tonnes of resources remained, enough to support operations into the 2040s or 2050s. Islands Business reported that the board approved a plan in September 2023 to extend the mine to 2050. The National reported in April 2024 that the Mineral Resources Authority had granted a 20-year lease extension after a two-year review.

None of these documents carries an ore reserve or mineral resource statement that reaches 2084. Ok Tedi’s 2025 results release does not mention mine life or reserves. The National reported in January that the government had directed further exploration and a reassessment of resource data. Exepreneur found no reserve figure, grade or technical study from Ok Tedi, Kumul Minerals or the Mineral Resources Authority that supports the date.

Werror said in 2022 that managing waste rock and tailings was the main obstacle to a longer life. Kumul Minerals managing director Sarimu Kanu told Business Advantage PNG in 2024: “The future of Ok Tedi will not always be a riverine tailings operation.” The magazine reported that the company was studying terrestrial tailings placement. Exepreneur found no published decision on it.

North Fly MP James Donald said in October 2025 that four of the CMCA trust regions were badly affected by mine waste carried downriver, The PNG Bulletin reported. Ok Tedi has said matters relating to the CMCA extension agreements are before the court and has declined to comment on their merits.

A dry year on the Fly

Ok Tedi’s copper concentrate leaves the mine by the same river. NBC News reported on 2 September that the Fly at Kiunga stood at 5.080 metres, classed as extremely low. Below-average rainfall was forecast for September to November.

Ok Tedi has said mining and processing continue, but that it is paying more for logistics as it reroutes fuel and equipment. “While the current conditions present additional logistical challenges, Ok Tedi has contingency plans in place,” Ilimbit said in a company statement.

The MYEFO cut its 2026 forecast for mining-sector growth from 8.3 per cent to 1.0 per cent, citing Porgera and Ok Tedi. It recorded that Ok Tedi had revised down its 2026 production projection. “According to OTML, the impact on production is currently minimal,” the report said. By 3 November the company had flown 41 tonnes of drought relief into Western Province on its chartered Hercules, PNG Business News reported.

Ok Tedi’s next dividend declaration will test the January announcement on two counts. One is whether Western Province’s share has moved off one-third. The other is whether any of the mine’s revenue has reached a sovereign wealth fund.