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- Aurelia Metals (AMI) shaft operations at the Peak mine stopped over the weekend due to a fault in the conveyance system
- The company said the detection system worked effectively and warned authorities of the problem, so that no mineworkers were hurt
- Due to COVID-19 the company has put in measures to keep its employees safe
- Travel restrictions have impacted its FIFO staff and Aurelia is looking at measures to help get staff to work
- Due to the uncertainty of the virus, the company is withdrawing all previous forward-looking statements and its guidance
- The company is currently expected to have similar gold production as the December 2019 quarter
- Aurelia is down 12 per cent on the market today, trading at 23.8 cents apiece
Aurelia Metals (AMI) shaft operations at the Peak mine stopped over the weekend due to a fault in the conveyance system.
The company said the detection system worked effectively and warned authorities of the problem, so that no mine workers were hurt.
Initial inspections showed that the suspended ropes that guide the man-riding and skip conveyances were not fully tensioned, causing the conveyances to lose alignment.
There has been no other damage to the shaft identified and it has been successfully
operated in low-speed mode since hoisting operations stopped.
Coronavirus COVID-19 update
Aurelia has put in measures for the health and safety of its employees during this pandemic. These measures will impact the underground mine, processing plants, accommodation and logistics operations, as well as at site and corporate offices.
Australian state governments have recently announced restrictions with interstate travel. The New Zealand government has also recently implemented strict international travel restrictions.
Aurelia’s Fly-In Fly-Out (FIFO) rosters at the Hera and Peak operations include employees living in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand.
“The company has been actively pursuing measures to minimise the impact on its rosters from the travel restrictions,” Aurelia told the market.
Due to the uncertainty of the virus, the company is withdrawing all prior forward-looking statements and guidance or outlook statements pertaining to forecast metal production and operating costs for the 2020 financial year.
Due to the above operational impacts, the company is currently expected to have similar gold production as the December 2019 quarter for the March 2020 quarter.
Aurelia remains in a strong net cash position, $64 million at December 31, 2019, and has no debt. It has confirmed that gold sales and base metal concentrate shipment schedules remain unimpacted at this stage.
Aurelia is down 12 per cent on the market today, trading at 23.8 cents apiece at 1:31 pm AEDT.
