Newmont confirms earthquake damage to Cadia mine ‘insignificant’
After temporarily suspending underground operations at the Cadia mine, in Australia, on April 15 owing to seismic activity following a regional earthquake, global gold miner Newmont Corporation’s inspections have indicated minimal damage to underground areas.
The company confirmed previously that seismic activity was experienced in the area late on April 14 following a recorded earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Local Magnitute scale in Central West, New South Wales.
Newmont proceeded to activate all safety protocols, including to return underground personnel to surface, and reported no injuries from the incident.
“Inspections indicate that while damage is present in certain underground areas, it is not significant. Processing operations have been steadily ramped up and are returning to normal throughput.
“All surface infrastructure, including tailings facilities and dams, were inspected immediately after the earthquake and no damage has been identified at this time,” Newmont stated.
Based on current assessments, the company did not expect its near-term production to be impacted.
However, Newmont is still undertaking underground assessment work to determine the full recovery timeline and whether there could be a longer-term impact to production.
