Gold mining company Iamgold has closed its Toronto office, following the positive Covid-19 test results for one of its employees, who is in self-quarantine at home.

The Iamgold employee who tested positive for the novel coronavirus was last in the Toronto office on March 6.

“Toronto office employees have been asked to work from home until the end of the week, March 20, 2020, at which point the company will reassess,” it said in a statement issued on Saturday.

The person attended two private company events and the Northern Ontario Night on March 2, but did not attend the Prospectors and Developers Association Development Association (PDAC) Convention in Toronto.

It was confirmed last week that an attendee from Sudbury contracted the virus while he was in Toronto attending the yearly PDAC gathering, which attracted 23 100 people. As a precautionary measure, Glencore and Vale have reportedly asked their employees who attended the mining show to work from home, according to Sudbury.com.

On Thursday, gold miner Kinross announced that it had closed its Toronto office until at least March 20, after an employee tested positive for Covid-19.

Canada on Sunday had 313 cases of Covid-19, with all ten provinces reporting cases. Countries around the world are stepping up efforts to contain the spread of the virus, which has killed nearly 5 800 people with more than 153 000 infected globally. The World Health Organization has declared Covid-19 a pandemic.

In London, in the UK, Glencore temporarily closed down its London offices after one of its employees tested positive for coronavirus.

EARLY CLOSURE
Meanwhile, Toronto-based Marathon Gold has closed its camp at the Valentine gold project, in central Newfoundland, about two weeks earlier than planned. The yearly spring break-up and maintenance period would now continue for about a month.

The explorer stated that it did not expect the early spring site closure to impact the overall 2020 exploration programme.

Marathon is conducting a 44 000 m exploration drill programme and a separate site condemnation drill programme, with three drill rights and about 50 people in the exploration camp. The work is ahead of schedule.

The early closure relates to the remoteness of the mining site.

“The Valentine gold project is considered to be a remote work environment, and with the well-being of our employees and contractors in mind, we have assessed that should a team member present symptoms of Covid-19 at camp, we would be unable to follow the appropriate protocols of self-isolation and care management required.”

WEBCASTS
Diversified miner Teck Resources has also encouraged shareholders and other people not to attend in person its annual general meeting on Tuesday. Instead, it said sharehodlers should vote on matters before the meeting by proxy and view the meeting online through a live webcast.

The yearly investor and analyst day, previously planned to take place in person in Toronto on April 1, would be replaced by two conference calls with concurrent webcasts.