PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper/gold miner Oz Minerals has warned that it may miss its gold production target for the year, owing to power interruptions at its Prominent Hill mine, in South Australia.
Operations at the copper/gold mine were suspended last week following a severe state-wide storm, which hit the state's power supply.
Oz Minerals reported on Monday that electricity to the mine site was likely be restored within the next seven to ten days. In the meantime, on-site generators are continuing to provide limited power, with some additional capacity now being put in place to assist with underground production.
Operations at the openpit mine remain unaffected, while the underground mine has resumed limited operations.
The processing plant is on stand-by, and has had maintenance programmes brought forward. Oz Minerals noted that the production of concentrate would start on the resumption of full power supply to the site.
In the interim, ore stockpiles are being prepared.
Based on the indicative timeframe from the electricity provider, the company expects copper production to remain within its yearly guidance of between 115 000 t and 125 000 t. However, gold production is likely to be below the lower end of the guidance of 125 000 oz to 135 000 oz.
The miner said it was reviewing other options around larger generation capacity, as it awaited power restoration at the site.
Edited by: Mariaan Webb
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online
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