New book ‘102 Things to Do with a Hole in the Ground‘ spotlights global reclamation projects
Stories of reinvented coal mining regions, regenerated communities and rebuilt ecosystems are told in a new book published this month.
Australian gold miner St Barbara Ltd on Friday withdrew its production outlook for fiscal 2022, citing an outbreak of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus at its Simberi operations in Papua New Guinea (PNG) that has affected its workforce.
While gold production at Simberi operations continues, ramp-up of mining operations is not achieving target rates, the company said.
There were 139 active covid-19 cases at Simberi as of Friday, roughly a quarter of its daily workforce of 600, St Barbara said, adding that the majority of those cases were asymptomatic with zero hospitalisation so far.
St Barbara’s shares closed down 1.7% after the announcement after scaling as much as 4.3% earlier in the day.
“While we have experienced previous covid-19 surges, this Omicron outbreak is proving to be far more disruptive,” Chief Executive Officer Craig Jetson said.
The miner also warned that reduction in operation of commercial flights across PNG due to pilot shortage would impact its supplies and senior staff commutation. The mine and processing plant at Simberi continue to operate at reduced rate, it added.
St. Barbara had earlier flagged issues in sourcing labour and equipment for its Atlantic and Simberi operations, narrowing its 2022 production guidance to between 305,000 and 335,000 oz from earlier range of 305,000 to 355,000 oz.
(By Himanshi Akhand; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
Comments