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Mines/Papua New Guinea

Lihir mine

Lihir mine, Papua New Guinea. Producing, open pit, mining gold, copper, silver.

Why Lihir is famous

Open-pit gold mine on Aniolam Island, Papua New Guinea. Newcrest bought it in 2010 and Newmont took full ownership with the 2023 Newcrest purchase. Gold output was 585 koz in 2025 and reserves were 16.0 Moz at the end of 2025. Lihir lies on Aniolam Island, about 900 km north-east of Port Moresby, and is an epithermal gold deposit in an alkalic volcanic island chain. Newcrest acquired it in 2010 and Newmont took full ownership by buying Newcrest in 2023.1,2,3

Story cards

Lihir today

Where gold is mined todayWhere copper is mined todayWhere silver is mined todayMining in Papua New Guinea

Where next

Mines

ExamplesPorgeraPapua New Guinea gold: Porgera in Enga Province and Lihir on Aniolam Island.4

Sources

  1. Form 10-K for the year ended 31 December 2025 Newmont Corporation (SEC)
  2. data/minerals/operations.csv Prospector Trails (internal)
  3. Form 10-K for 2025 Newmont Corporation (SEC)
  4. Minerals Yearbook 2020-21, volume III: The Mineral Industry of Papua New Guinea US Geological Survey

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Pictures: Chiquicamata Mine, Chile, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)); NASA's ASTER Shows Brazilian City After Dam Disaster, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)); Kimberley, South Africa: miners and washing gear at the Bultfontein diamond mine. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0).