HR & Compliance Manager

Our Company

PanAust Limited is an Australian-headquartered copper and gold mining company with operations in Laos, and pre-development assets in Papua New Guinea and Chile.

In Papua New Guinea, PanAust holds a 100 per cent interest in the Frieda River Limited Copper-Gold project, which is a transformative pre-development integrated mining, renewable energy and infrastructure project. The complete Frieda River Project represents a nation building opportunity for Papua New Guinea and a transformative sustainable development opportunity for the Sepik region. The Project will help build stronger and more viable communities by establishing necessary public infrastructure, generating skilled employment, and creating business opportunities for local people.

In Laos, PanAust owns a 90 per cent interest in Phu Bia Mining Limited with the Government of Laos owning the remaining 10 per cent. Phu Bia Mining owns and operates PanAust’s two award winning operations – Phu Kham Copper-Gold and Ban Houayxai Gold-Silver, both located in Xaisomboun Province, 120km north of Vientiane.  

In Chile, PanAust holds a 66 per cent interest in the Inca de Oro Copper-Gold Project through a Chilean incorporated joint venture company, Inca de Oro S. A.

The Role

We are currently recruiting for an experienced Human Resources & Compliance Manager to join our team, based in our Port Moresby Office. Reporting to Project Director Frieda River, the role will be responsible for strategic leadership and operational oversight of all human resource, workforce compliance, governance and employee relations activities across Frieda River Limited. The role will ensure HR practices are aligned with project objectives, Papua New Guinea legislative requirements, and Company governance standards while supporting workforce growth through the project development phase and into project operations. 

Key Responsibilities include:

• Support workforce and people strategies, with significant focus on scaling our project.
• Provide strategic workforce, governance, and compliance advice to senior leadership and contribute to leadership decision-making and organisational planning.
• Be the first point of contact for HR concerns and provide leadership to the growing HR team.
• Promote a culture of compliance, safety, accountability, and continuous improvement amongst the HR team, and wider leadership group.
• Ensure compliance with PNG employment laws, visas, work permits, and company policies.
• Develop and maintain HR policies, procedures, and governance frameworks whilst also monitoring legislative changes to adapt FRL practices.
• Identify and manage workforce-related risks.
• Oversee and/or lead the end-to-end employee relations matters including investigations, grievances and disciplinary matters.
• Manage all internal control, audits and reporting for FRL HR.
• Develop workforce growth, succession planning, and talent management strategies while also focussing on workforce planning to support the project and operational needs.
• Oversee the travel and transport team, ensuring best practice management of all site travel and transfers while ensuring compliance, governance, and cost-effective travel solutions.
• Manage relationships with airlines, transport providers, and logistics teams.
• Represent HR at management and project meetings.

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates who:

Experience Required

• Tertiary education in Human Resources is highly desirable
• Senior strategic HR leadership experience, with focus on compliance and governance.
• Employee and industrial relations experience.
• Experience conducting workplace investigations and managing grievances.
• Developing and implementing HR policies and procedures.
• Experience managing training and development programs along with HR systems, reporting, and workforce analytics.
• Stakeholder management, including government and regulatory bodies to ensure compliance with employment law and PNG best practices.
• Experience supporting remote, site-based, or project workforces.
• Mining, construction, infrastructure, or resource sector experience preferred.

Why Join Us?

• Our Values: Our core values of Care, Leadership, Integrity and Performance and represent the foundations of our great culture.
• Meaningful Work: The work we do is valuable and connects all of our employees through a shared vision and our values.
• Sustainability: We actively focus on our environmental footprint and build upon community development initiatives in communities where we operate.

PanAust is focussed on building a workforce that embraces diversity and inclusion, aiming to create an environment that brings us all together through connection, security and community and harnessing what makes us unique. As an Equal Opportunity employer, we encourage and welcome applications from all genders, abilities, generations and cultural backgrounds.

Please note that due to the volume of applications we receive, only shortlisted candidates may be contacted regarding their application status.

Applications Close Wednesday 19th August 2026.

We are not working with agencies to recruit this role.