PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper miner Finders Resources has suspended operations at its Kali Kuning openpit project, in Indonesia, following a series of pit wall failures.
The ASX-listed company on Friday noted that the failures predominantly consisted of sloughing of loose material from the side of the pit, which had previously experienced failures.
Waste from the recent failures has extended across the base of the pit, covering ore and impacting on mining activities.
Furthermore, the pit wall monitoring system has identified broader movements along the pit wall, which could be driving the sloughing, with Finders telling shareholders that a geotechnical review will now be undertaken to review the situation.
The review will include the development of a plan to complete mining of the Kali Kuning pit, with some 92% of the scheduled ore having already been recovered. Mining of the remaining 8% of the ore was scheduled for completion by May this year.
While the review is being undertaken, the mining equipment from the Kali Kuning openpit has been re-deployed to the Lerokis openpit development, with ore production from this mine expected to start in mid-March.
Finders said on Friday that the earlier start at Lerokis will partly mitigate the impact of the suspension of mining at Kali Kuning.