Australia's Newcrest buys stake in PNG gold mine

MELBOURNE/AUSTRALIA: Australia Newcrest Mining Ltd, Australia's largest gold company, has acquired an initial stake in a joint venture with South Africa's Harmony Gold Mining Ltd in Papua New Guinea.

Newcrest paid $230 million for a 30.01 percent stake in the joint venture, the company said in a statement, and can increase that interest to 50 percent by sole funding all project expenditure until the date of first production.

The joint venture covers the Hidden Valley gold and silver project, the Wafi-Golpu gold and copper deposit, and more than 1,313 square miles (3,400 square kilometers) of exploration tenements.
The first production from Hidden Valley is expected in mid-2009.