ISTANBUL - Gold miner SSR Mining on Tuesday suspended production at a mine in eastern Turkey after a landslide, which left at least nine miners missing and sparked a more than 50% plunge in its Toronto-listed shares.
The company said in a regulatory filing that operations were suspended as a result of a "large slip on the heap leach pad".
The mine in Erzincan province is operated by Lidya Madencilik and owned by Turkey-based Calik Holding and Denver, Colorado-based SSR Mining.
The mine produced 56 768 oz of gold in the third-quarter of last year, and is SSR's second-largest producing gold mine, operating since 2010. The stock slide wiped out about C$1.4-billion ($1.03-billion) from the company's market value.
SSR did not immediately respond to a request for comment at its Turkey office.
Security footage showed a giant mound of soil, which authorities said had been processed for gold and piled on the hills, rapidly crumble and flow into the valley in a deluge of earth and rocks, sending clouds of dust into the air.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 400 search and rescue workers were looking for the missing miners.
"In order to closely coordinate the rescue work, I will interrupt my international program with our president and move to the region as of tonight," Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said in a posting on X, formerly Twitter.
The government said it has launched an investigation into the incident.