PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper miner Austral Resources has suspended mining and hauling activities in Queensland following heavy rainfalls.
The miner noted that over the past four days, 376 mm of rainfall had been measured at the Lady Annie operations but noted that there had been zero safety or environmental incidents to report.
While mining and hauling activities have been suspended, the Mount Kelly processing facility has continued to plate copper cathode.
The company told shareholders that its mining contractor Thiess remained 12% ahead of the Anthill project mining schedule, with the run-of-mill currently containing 157 000 t of stockpiled ore, which is sufficient to sustain the March hauling schedule. The company also has 40 000 t of broken ore stocks in the Anthill West pit, which has been mostly unaffected by the rain.