Photo by: Reuters
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner St Barbara on Friday announced that it would reduce its workforce at the defunct Gold Ridge mine, on the Solomon Islands, as a return to full-scale production would not be possible for “some time”.
Operations at Gold Ridge were suspended in early April following torrential rains and subsequent flooding. A force majeure was declared in April, and remains in place.
St Barbara noted on Friday that the company had been on-site since mid-June to assess the situation and to undertake stabilisation work.
The company had identified a number of factors hindering the restart to operations, including the Tinahulu bridge, which would require engineering reconstruction before heavy loads could be transported from site, the presence of hundreds of illegal miners encamped in the openpit operations, and the necessity to lower the water levels at the tailings storage facility to allow for the resumption of gold processing.
While St Barbara was ready and able to start the dewatering works, it was awaiting final approval from the government, in a timeframe which to date remained unknown.
The company said that as it was unsure of when full-scale production would resume, staff levels at the operation would now be reduced to more appropriate levels for the current scale of activities.
In the short term, and subject to government approval, the company would focus on dewatering the tailings storage facility and maintaining the processing plant and infrastructure.