JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – JSE- and NYSE-listed Sibanye Gold on Tuesday confirmed that partial production at its Beatrix 4 shaft had resumed on Monday, in line with expectations.
Operations at the mine were suspended on February 20, following a fire that affected a significant part of the shaft.
Beatrix management had isolated and sealed off the affected area.
On Monday, the morning shift resumed operations in the unaffected working areas and crews from the affected area had been redirected to gold recovery activities in older working areas.
A total of 1 029 oz of gold output had been lost during the four-day suspension of operations at Beatrix 4 shaft.
Sibanye, led by CEO Neal Froneman, stated that the fire had not yet been extinguished.
“Management is unsure when it will be able to resume operations in that area or the extent of the damage, which may result in partial sterilisation of the ore body,” it warned in a statement.
Further, Sibanye expected to lose about 1 961 oz of gold for every month it was unable to operate in the affected area.