Multinational OceanaGold’s Didipio operation, in the Philippines and the Haile mine, in the US, have managed to pull through the past weekend’s severe storms in the respective regions without reporting any injuries or a significant impact to production.
In the Philippines, where super typhoon Mangkhut pelted the northern parts of the country, Didipio received a moderate amount of rainfall, with the category five storm having travelled north of the mine.
The company said that the Didpio operation was designed for, and accustomed to, significant rainfall and strong winds, particularly during the typhoon season.
Operational activities were briefly stopped during the storm and then safely restarted, OceanaGold reported on Wednesday.
At the Haile mine, the centre of the tropical storm Florence travelled south of Columbia, South Carolina. Operations were temporarily suspended on Friday, ahead of the weather and for the safety of the workforce who had to commute to the site. The process plant was restarted on Sunday and mining resumed on Monday.
"Our valued workforce at both the Didipio and Haile operations were well prepared and equipped to deal with a worst-case scenario weather event and both operations are designed to withstand hurricanes, tornados or other severe weather. Our community relations teams remained in close contact with local authorities and communities throughout the storm and in the aftermath, we offered our assistance in recovery efforts,” said president and CEO Mick Wilkes.
The company’s production target for 2018 is gold output of 500 000 oz to 540 000 oz and copper output of 15 000 t to 16 000 t.