PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) mineworkers in Perth would be under lockdown as Premier Mark McGowen announced a five-day lockdown on Sunday.

The lockdown was instituted after a hotel-quarantined worker tested positive for Covid-19. The lockdown would last until February 5, and would affect Perth, the South West and the Peel regions.

McGowen said during a press conference on Monday that the mining industry had been informed that FIFO workers in Perth, Peel and South West would not be allowed to travel to mine sites during this time, except for those roles considered to be critical for the operation of the mines.

Mining operations outside of the affected areas will remain operational.

Gold miners Saracen Mineral Resources and Northern Star have both confirmed that their respective operations would not be impacted by a new five-day lockdown period in Western Australia, as their respective operations would not be affected by the lockdown measures, as they fell outside of the impacted regions.

The two companies last year struck a merger agreement to create a near two-million-ounce-a-year producer with a market capitalisation of A$16-billion.

The merged entity will have a 19-million-ounce reserve and resources of 49-million ounces, with the company holding three large-scale production centers in exclusively Tier 1 locations.

The merger would also result in the consolidation of the Kalgoorlie Golden Mile to be consolidated under one owner for the first time in more than 125 years.

ASX-listed Westgold has also stated that its operations would remain largely unaffected by the restrictions, with the company still expected to meet its production expectations.

Fellow-listed Red 5 said that the mining activities at its Darlot mine, and construction activities at its King of the Hills operation also remained unaffected at this time, with the company having implemented a range of measures to minimise the risk of infection and the rate of transmission of the Covid-19 virus.

Junior Mineral Resources on Monday said it was taking all precautions to keep its staff safe, while all of its operations remained running. Movement of workers would be minimized, the company said, with only essential workers being mobilised to site. All workers entering the Mineral Resources sites would also be screened and would remain in isolation until negative test results have been confirmed.