JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – An employee of Impala Canada has died after testing Covid-19 positive, Implats said on Thursday.

Twenty-five employees tested positive at Impala Canada’s Lac des Iles operation, resulting in the mine being closed and placed on care and maintenance.

The workforce quarantined for a two-week period from April 13, but regrettably, Implats stated in its quarterly report for the three months to March 31, the deceased employee passed away on April 23.

Although a state of emergency was declared in the North American country, work continued at Impala Canada’s Lac des Iles mine, as the Ontario provincial government had classified mining operations as essential business. During that time, South African mines were in lockdown.

Implats told Mining Weekly on Thursday that 19 of the 25 who had tested Covid-positive had since recovered.

The deceased employee – a resident of Thunder Bay – died while the majority of mine’s employees were in self-quarantine until April 27.

Mining Weekly Global on Wednesday quoted Impala Canada VP for corporate affairs and communications Erin Satterthwaite as saying: “This terrible sadness weighs heavily on all of us at LDI, as it does for people across the entire Thunder Bay region. As we navigate the days ahead, we are once again reminded of the seriousness of this global pandemic.”

Implats said in its third-quarter report that employees were undergoing Covid-19 screening, thermo-scanning of skin temperature and, if necessary, core temperature screening, before entering their work areas.

Employees with risk indicators were isolated at dedicated areas at the operations and then transported to designated medical facilities for diagnosis and, if necessary, testing, quarantine and/or hospitalisation.

A key part of the strategy of the group, Implats said, had been to identify potentially vulnerable employees and to institute additional precautionary measures to increase protection.

This included the provision of vitamin and dietary supplements, flu vaccinations and critical medical screening.

In addition, employees had been provided with pre-packaged supplies of chronic medication for a period of six months to ensure high-risk employees did not need to visit hospitals or clinics during this time.

Suitable temporary company accommodation was also being availed to employees who might not be able to self-isolate or practise recommended physical distancing measures when not at work.

The acquisition of Impala Canada, which was concluded in December 2019, provided Implats with the 700-employee, round-the-clock mechanised Lac des Iles, which has no more than 200 people underground at any one time, compared with Implats’ 40 000-employee Southern African operations where thousands work in close proximity to one another in underground mines.

The nine-year-life Lac des Iles has measured and indicated mineral resources, inclusive of mineral reserves, of five-million ounces of palladium at a grade of 2.14 g/t, and proven and probable reserves of three-million ounces of palladium at a grade of 2.31 g/t. Platinum and gold, together with nickel and copper, are Lac des Iles' primary coproducts.

Implats’ large underground joint venture Mimosa mine, in Zimbabwe, also suffered a death in the period when Stephen Chizola was fatally injured in a fall-of-ground incident on March 24, but, to date, no Implats’ Southern Africa employees have died from the pandemic and nor have any employees tested Covid-positive.