Porgera Presentations: The group had another early breakfast on the final day of the tour, and were transferred on the Morobe JV bus to Bulolo airport to await the arrival of our two charter aircraft that had returned to Port Moresby after dropping us off on the previous day. Weather delays meant they arrived a few minutes late, although we quickly loaded and took off for Mount Hagen where we took on fuel to allow our flight to Porgera and then direct back to Port Moresby that day. We were forced to remain in Mount Hagen for almost an hour due to cloud over the approaches to Kairik airport at Porgera. However, when the pilots had received the 'all clear' we were soon in the air again, arriving at Kairik 35 minutes later, where we were met by the Chief Geologist for the Barrick-Porgera JV, Ettienne du Plessis, who escorted us to our bus and on to the mine. For safety and security reasons we were unable to go into the mine, and the visit comprised a series of detailed and comprehensive lectures on the setting and deposits by Ettienne and Brad Parker, Senior Exploration Geologist at Porgera (left), and the opportunity to study and discuss drill core from the main ore zone and the lithology reference set. The visit ended in mid-afternoon when we had to depart before the weather deteriorated again. Photographs by Mike Porter.
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