Canadian gold miner New Gold has suspended operations at its Rainy River mine, which is close to the US border, to allow its workforce to self-isolate for 14 days.
Border crossings to the local Minnesota communities is a common practice in the region and New Gold said that a significant number of employees had indicated that they had recently made such trips.
In line with recommendations by federal and provincial authorities relating to travel outside Canada, those who travelled internationally have to be in self-isolation for 14 days to slow the tackle the spread of Covid-19.
New Gold said that the closure of the Canada – US border to all nonessential travel was imminent, so no additional members of the workforce were expected to be required to self-isolate.
During the shutdown, the miner would fully sanitise the mine site, camp and mobile and fixed equipment to ensure the safety of its employees when operations resumed.
The company said that the suspension was unlikely to impact on its guidance for Rainy River this year. The mine produced 257 000 oz last year and is forecast to produce between 240 000 oz and 260 000 oz in 2020.
The New Afton mine, in British Columbia, continued to operate at normal levels with a minimal proportion of the workforce currently in self-isolation.