JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Iron pellet producer Grange Resources has lowered the production guidance at its Savage River mine, following a modification to its mine design after a recent safety incident.
A contractor died at the Tasmania mine in March, after falling a “considerable distance”.
Grange noted on Monday that remediation work, which included additional wall support to allow mining to continue and the installation of a rock catch fence to further improve the safety of the operation, had taken some time, and that additional support was required to ensure the stability of the area as it continued to operate.
“We have been mining through previous failure zones and a complex set of faults as we near the ore,” it said in a statement.
The delay in gaining access to the main ore zone during the remediation work would have a 400 000 t to 500 000 t impact on production in 2017.
Grange added that it would focus on installing the appropriate ground support to ensure safe operation and sustained access to high-grade ore.