Prime Minister (PM) James Marape this morning opened the Stakeholder Consultation on the National Gold Corporation Bill 2024 (Gold Bill) with one message, and that is for the concerned parties to find what is wrong with proposed bill and to work towards an amicable solution going forward. Today’s Consultation was arranged by the Minister for Mining in collaboration with the prime minister and aims to discuss this controversial bill that is currently before cabinet and on the notice paper to be presented in the May parliament sitting coming up in two weeks’ time. Papua New Guinea Chamber for Resources and Energy (PNG CORE), which is leading the concerned parties list in the mining sector in raising the alarm on the implications of the Gold Bill, stated that the proposed bill will take away certain powers from the Bank of Papua New Guinea and with it, negatively impacting the economy in the long run. However, Marape this morning defended the Gold Bill, stating that it reflects his government’s focus on downstream processing and creating wealth, economic prosperity and employment and should be supported. He said its high time PNG has its own gold refinery where gold ores from the country can be processed and then exported; the bill has no ill intention on the resource sector. “The last 49 years the mining sector helped PNG through, so the bill has no intention to harm the industry,” said Marape. “We want to add value to our resource sector, not just in the gold sector.” Nevertheless, the PM said the Consultation is important as there is a need to find a balanced approach to addressing the concerns and to eventually put the bill through. Marape said he and his government are open to any recommendations on the Gold Bill that would come from the consultations today that would be presented by the working committee. Meanwhile, the Senior Vice President of the PNG CORE, Mr. Richard Kassman made it clear that the PNG CORE is not against the Gold Bill in that it supports a gold refinery for PNG; however, it’s certain provisions in the bill that have raised concerns which must be addressed so that the bill does not pose any harm to the country’s economy. Mr. Kassman then suggested for a six-month extension be given for further consultations to take place as this is a very sensitive matter and just one day of consultations is not enough to fully grasp the gist of the Gold Bill, and to get every concerned party in the mining sector to have their say on this controversial bill.