“This includes limiting the movement of personnel to and from the site as well as to the community.
“Our COVID-19 logs have proven themselves in the early detection of cases. On-site isolation, quarantine procedures, contact tracing, and regular testing for staff and the community have all been shown to be effective. “
Soaring infection rates among Ok Tedi employees in PNG’s western province have resulted in a two-week halt from March 19.
About 4 percent of Ok Tedi’s workers are from outside PNG, most of them from Australia.
The company said it is exploring alternative options to get “expatriate” workers back to Australia amid tougher stance on aviation this week between the two nations.
The outbreak comes barely a month later Newcrest boss Sandeep Biswas He hoped the launch of vaccination programs would take the pressure off FIFO staff, who had spent unusually long stays at the Lihir mine last year and whose journey was extended by the two-week coronavirus quarantine upon their arrival in PNG and Australia.
Australia is not the only source of FIFO staff for PNG mining and petroleum projects. Many workers fly in from other parts of PNG.
Newcrest said it spoke to the Australian government to better understand the travel ban but was confident that Lihir’s gold production would not be affected.
“Currently, gold production at Newcrest’s Lihir operations remains unaffected. We enforce strict health and safety protocols on site, with strict hygiene, social distancing and other COVID-19 management protocols in place, ”said a spokeswoman for the gold and copper mining company.
“If necessary, this includes comprehensive testing, quarantine and precautionary contact tracing procedures.
“We will continue to work with our employees, suppliers and local communities to keep operations running and to minimize the impact of the coronavirus on our business in PNG.”
Oil Search said it believes it is “well positioned to operate and maintain operations within current restrictions on domestic and international business travel.”
“We are currently reviewing the situation and are seeking to clarify the full impact this may have on existing planned travel arrangements for our FIFO employees,” the company said.
“As part of our business continuity planning, which is preparing for scenarios with border closings and travel restrictions, we have identified business-critical processes and measures to ensure that our operations can continue safely and reliably.”
The outbreak comes when St. Barbara is about to expect one last investment Decision to extend Simberi within the next six weeks.
It remains to be seen whether the outbreak will have to delay that decision.
