New Ireland Province
Long narrow island where Lihir gold mine transforms society while Malagan funerary art traditions and Kavieng diving tourism provide alternative economies.
New Ireland Province extends along the narrow island that parallels New Britain—a territory where Lihir gold mine generates resource extraction revenue while traditional communities maintain cultural practices that isolation has protected. The island's thin shape prevents interior development, concentrating population along coasts where fishing and gardening sustain livelihoods.
Lihir gold mine operates on an island volcanic caldera, extracting precious metal from deposits that rank among the world's largest. The operation provides employment, royalties, and community development funds that have transformed Lihirian society—creating both prosperity and dependency on an extractive industry that will eventually exhaust its resource base.
Kavieng, the provincial capital, serves as administrative center and gateway to islands whose reefs attract diving tourists. The underwater environment—clear water, diverse marine life, war wrecks—creates tourism potential that some operators have developed. Yet infrastructure limitations and distance from major airports constrain visitor flows.
Malagan funerary art traditions—carved and painted figures created for ceremonies honoring the dead—represent cultural practices that anthropologists have documented and collectors have sought. By 2026, expect Lihir mine production to continue generating resource revenue, diving tourism to develop modestly, and traditional cultural practices to persist alongside extractive economy transformation.