PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mining operations at the Tarcoola gold project, in South Australia, have been temporarily suspended after two significant rainfall events in close proximity to each other.
ASX-listed WPG Resources said on Wednesday that all roads leading to the mine have been temporarily closed, which have caused interruptions to scheduled deliveries of potable water, diesel and camp supplies.
Heavy vehicle access between the Tarcool and Challenger sites have also been interrupted, with ore haulage to Challenger interrupted since April 22. However, WPG expected the ore haulage to resume upon the rail access corridor road becoming passable.
Pit production ceased on April 25, and will remain suspended until further notice.
No ore is scheduled to be mined this week, the company said, adding that a decision on when to resume mining activities will be made next week.
There was currently sufficient run-of-mine ore at the Challenger operation, allowing milling operations to remain unaffected.
Mining at Tarcoola started in November last year. The project is expected to have a mine life of two years, and a treatment period of three-and-a-half years.