PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Iron-ore major Fortescue Metals has breathed a sigh of relief into the Pilbara after revealing that a member of its staff at the Christmas Creek operation had tested negative for the Covid-19.
Reports emerged earlier this week that Fortescue had placed an employee in isolation, and that the Christmas Creek mine site was undergoing sterilisation, after the employee reported flu-like symptoms that met the Department of Health’s minimum criteria for testing for Covid-19.
The miner said in a statement that the negative test result was welcome news.
“Since the outbreak of the coronavirus in January, we have communicated with our teams, suppliers and contractors across the business to ensure health and hygiene practices are followed and travel guidelines understood. All of these measures and protocols will continue in place,” the company said.
These measures include a 14-day ban from the mine site for any wokers that have travelled to Iran, mainland China, Italy and South Korea, a complete health assessment of any staff member presenting potential Covid-19 symptoms, the postponement of any non-essential travel to Fortescue sites and the restriction of international travel to a number of countries.
The miner said that it was not anticipating any impact to its production schedule, or changes to flights and rosters in and out of the mine sites.