- Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) is a large-scale, cost-competitive producer of copper concentrate in Papua New Guinea.
- The company operates mining, milling and shipping facilities in the country's Western Province.
- The operation is located on a world-class, copper-gold ore body at Mount Fubilan in the Star Mountains of the Western Province, close to the border of West Papua.
- Initial development of the mine took nearly eight years and cost US$1.4 billion.
- Production of gold ore began in 1984. Copper concentrate production began in 1987.
- Ownership of OTML was restructured when BHP Billiton divested its shareholding of 52 per cent early in 2002. These shares were transferred into a new company, the PNG Sustainable Development Program Limited. The State of PNG has a shareholding of 30 per cent (2.5 per cent is held on behalf of mine area landowners, 2.5 per cent on behalf of the Western Province government and 10 per cent on behalf of the people of Western Province). Canadian public company, Inmet Mining Corporation holds 18 per cent.
- Its principal markets are Japan, Asia and Europe.
- The mine is an open-cut operation with an average of 160,000 tonnes mined each day.
- The processing plant treats an average of 78,000 tonnes per day.
- In 2007, OTML exported 668,475 dry metric tonnes of copper concentrate. This contained 186,525 tonnes of copper, 16,281 kilograms of gold, and 50,169 kilograms of silver.
- OTML directly employs about 2,000 people. 95 per cent of these employees are PNG citizens, and more than a third of these are from the Western Province and local areas.
- Export sales in 2007 were K4.6 billion* which represented approximately 32 percent of PNG's total exports. OTML is one of PNG's most important sources of foreign exchange. (* AUD$1.9 billion based on an exchange rate of 2.45 at December 2007)
- In 2007 OTML contributed 22.9% of Papua New Guinea's GDP.
- Since mining began, the mine has contributed an estimated K2.9 billion to the Western Province.
- Fifty-six million tonnes of tailings and overburden were discharged to the Ok Tedi in 2007.
- The build-up of mine sediment in the lower Ok Tedi has caused a rise in the river bed, flooding and sediment deposition on the flood plain, leading to the death of forest vegetation ("dieback"). To date, about 1,633 square kilometres has been affected by dieback while 28 per cent of this area (459 square kilometres) has undergone some form of recovery. Up to 2,400 square kilometres of forest may ultimately be affected. These forests are expected to take many years to recover after mine closure.
- To reduce sediment-associated dieback in the river system, OTML has installed a large cutter suction dredge at Bige on the lower Ok Tedi. Currently, approximately 13 million tonnes of sand is dredged from the river each year. Approximately 150 square kilometers of die-back recovery has been observed in the lower Ok Tedi (where a total of approximately 215 square kilometres has been impacted), largely as a result of the dredging operations.
- Dividends paid to the Sustainable Development Program Company are distributed in the form of sustainable development projects to the people of the Western Province and the wider PNG nation under arrangements between shareholders allowing BHP Billiton's exit from the project. Two-thirds of these dividends will be invested for future generations until after the mine closes.
- Several hundred companies provide contract services to OTML. Over 80 per cent of the contracting companies are wholly PNG-owned.
- Under the current mine plan, the mine will close around the end of 2013.
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