A long string of troubles has left Papua New Guinea's giant state-owned Ok Tedi gold and copper mine with a dwindling pile of profits.

Ok Tedi has reported an after tax profit of $18.8 million, a dramatic drop from its 2012 profit of $472 million.

Just about everything that could reduce the profitability of a mine has happened to Ok Tedi in the last few years.

Low gold and copper prices, major flooding in its pit, low river levels affecting shipments, a typhoon, multiple major equipment failures and high fluorine levels in copper concentrate, all came together to bash the bottom line.

The company came in $70 million ahead of budget thanks to cost-cutting measures, but that was eaten up by $80 million in redundancies to 700 staff.

The Papua New Guinean Government has for years relied on the dividends and taxes from Ok Tedi operations, and one authority on the region’s economy has said the governmental budget will feel the strain as a result.

“Not just dividends but tax has contributed about a quarter of the national budget so the drop in profit obviously means that could have an impact on the national budget and the delivery of goods and services in Papua New Guinea,” commentator Martyn Namarong has told the ABC.

Meanwhile a power struggle is going on at the Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Program, which was set up to manage wealth from Ok Tedi after BHP Billiton pulled out over.

The PNGSDP holds $1.4 billion in long-term funds.

The trust has been appropriated by the PNG Government, and PNGSDP Chairman Sir Mekere Morauta has described the take-over as a robbery perpetrated on the residents of the Western Province.

PNG’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said he had to seize control of the fund to prevent an ongoing dispute from continuing.

“Lengthy and detailed work by the Eminent Persons Group I appointed has sadly failed to reach a resolution on the differences between the National Government and the PNG Sustainable Development Program on the structure and operations of the PNGSDP,” a statement from Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said last week.