JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - South African gold mining company Harmony Gold has expanded its exploration activities in Papua New Guinea (PNG), with the acquisition of two new projects in that country.

Harmony announced on Thursday that it had acquired the Amanab and the Mount Hagen projects.

The company owns Hidden Valley project in a joint venture with Australia's Newcrest in PNG, as well as other prospects.

The Amanab project EL1708, located north of the OK Tedi copper/gold mine, was granted on July 6 and comprises 863 km2 of tenure.

The Mount Hagen project comprises two contiguous tenements, EL1611 and EL1596, encompassing some 1 100 km2.

Harmony bought the mineral rights for EL1596 from Frontier Resources for A$300 000, and acquired the rights to explore the adjacent tenement over a four-year period on condition that its exploration programme meets a minimum yearly expenditure. Harmony could exercise an option to buy 100% of the tenement for six-million Kina.

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