Australian miner halts New Zealand operations

Photo: Oceana Gold

Australian miner OceanaGold has announced it is halting operations at its Macraes and Waihi gold mines in New Zealand in line with the government’s initiative to impose a countrywide lockdown.

 

Michael Holmes, the president and chief executive officer of OceanaGold, said in a statement that, so far, the company has "not had any confirmed cases of Covid-19 amongst our employees or contractors in New Zealand."

 

"Our assets remain in a state of operational readiness to resume normal operations quickly and safely once the restrictions are lifted," said Holmes.

 

Meanwhile, the miner’s Haile gold mine in the U.S. continues to operate at normal capacity, and the restart of the Didipio gold-copper mine in the Philippines is progressing as planned, according to OceanaGold.

 

The miner "continues to expect to achieve full year guidance at Haile and to benefit from the restart of production at Didipio in the fourth quarter," the statement said.