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EXHIBIT 12 (A)

CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 302(A) OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, Arthur Hood, certify that:

     1. I have reviewed this annual report on Form 20-F, as amended by this Form
     20-F/A, of Lihir Gold Limited (the "company");

     2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement
     of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the
     statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
     were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this
     report;

     3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
     information included in this report, fairly present in all material
     respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of
     the company as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

     4. The company's other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for
     establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined
     in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over
     financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and
     15d-15(f)) for the company and have:

          a.   Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
               disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
               supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
               company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
               to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
               period in which this report is being prepared;

          b.   Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
               caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
               designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance
               regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the
               preparation of financial statements for external purposes in
               accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

          c.   Evaluated the effectiveness of the company's disclosure controls
               and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about
               the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as
               of the end of the period covered by this report based on such
               evaluation; and

          d.   Disclosed in this report any change in the company's internal
               control over financial reporting that occurred during the period
               covered by the annual report that has materially affected, or is
               reasonably likely to materially affect, the company's internal
               control over financial reporting; and

     5. The company's other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on
     our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to
     the company's auditors and the audit committee of the company's board of
     directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

          a. All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design
          or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
          reasonably likely to adversely affect the company's ability to record,
          process, summarize and report financial information; and

          b. Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
          other employees who have a significant role in the company's internal
          control over financial reporting.


/s/ Arthur Hood
-------------------------------------
Chief Executive Officer

Dated: December 26, 2007