TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Rio Tinto-owned Turquoise Hill Resources expects to restart the massive Mongolia-based Oyu Tolgoi copper/gold mine’s concentrator, which was shut down after a fire broke out on Wednesday in one of the cyclone packs, on Friday.
Turquoise Hill on Thursday confirmed that there were no injuries, but said the concentrator was shut down to ensure safety and to allow the appropriate inspections by relevant authorities to take place.
The inspections were completed on Thursday and the operations team was busy confirming the extent of the damage and preparing the concentrator to restart.
The fire took place in the rubber lined pipes and launders of the cyclone pack. Initial indications were that the fire did not cause significant damage and that there was no damage to the ball mill or high-voltage electrical systems.
Following the completed inspections, the concentrator would return to service using the other mills and cyclone packs. The Oyu Tolgoi concentrator comprised four ball mills and four cyclone packs.
Any potential production impact would be assessed once the concentrator had restarted.
The Oyu Tolgoi copper/silver/gold complex, in the Southern Gobi region of Mongolia, is owned by Turquoise Hill, a Rio Tinto subsidiary (66%), and Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi (34%).