adminwhich will resume on Monday, will be at 70 percent of normal production until mid next month.
“It is anticipated that for the first 19 days, mining output will be at an average of 70 percent of normal production, increasing to 100 percent by Monday 18th of June, 2012,” he said.
“The production loss during this period is estimated at 75 000 tonnes of ore which is more than covered by the current surface stockpile of 140 000 tonnes of ore. As a result, production of platinum ounces for the month and the quarter will not be affected and is expected to be on budget.”
Mr Chitando said the processing plant operations were not affected by the fire that was confined to underground operations.
The operations at the mine are divided into mining and processing plant operations. Mr Chitando said the fire was extinguished late on Tuesday.
“Further updates will be provided as and when more information becomes available. We wish to confirm that we managed to avoid injuries to employees and minimise on damage to equipment as a result of activation of our emergency preparedness procedures which were successfully applied.”
At least 178 workers narrowly escaped the fire, which broke out underground at the mine on Monday.
The workers were 100 metres below the surface when the fire cut off their way out by contaminating the air above them.
Online Reporter