“Papua New Guinea’s Kumul Minerals Holdings Ltd is open to talks with Canada’s Barrick Gold and its joint venture partner to restart production at a highlands gold mine, the state-owned miner’s chairman said, according to a report on Wednesday. The overture follows this week’s dismissal by Papua New Guinea’s National Court of Barrick’s request for a review of the government’s earlier refusal to extend Barrick’s lease at the remote Porgera mine. Barrick has said it would appeal the ruling while challenging an apparent move by PNG Prime Minister James Marape to grant a new lease to Kumul Minerals. “My hope is that we can engage quickly and find a way forward,” Kumul Minerals chairman and acting managing director Peter Graham told The National newspaper in PNG.”