Property damage to cost K92 mine K13mil-plus

Business

By SHIRLEY MAULUDU
THE cost of the damage by landowners to the K92 mine in Eastern Highlands has been put at K13 million by the operator K92 Mining Ltd.
This is broken down into K10 million for the damage to mobile equipment, K2 million to fixed plant and K1 million to damage underground.
This will likely result in the suspension of underground production for at least one month which may cost the operator US$2.5 million (K7.82 million) loss.
In addition, about 200 workers and contractors will be stood down or laid off for a while.
Mineral Resources Authority managing director Philip Samar said the damage to the mine on Aug 24 was huge.
“The mine employees have gone back to work. But I don’t think they will go straight to commercial production. The damage is significant,” Samar said.
“From the briefing that I have received from the company, it’ll be something like two months before they go into commercial production.”
He said royalties for the months of July, August and even September may not be paid also.
“In terms of return to commercial production, it’s difficult because of all these things they need to be fixed. All the cabling into underground, everything was ripped up. Significant damage there,” he said.
Samar said other costs could be added on later for the mine to return to normal operation.
“Those underground miners are not easy to replace,” he said.
“And to replace one of those trucks, it’s not easy.
“You can’t make a phone call (to order a new one) for them to ship one over just like that.
“There is a leave time in access of six months for one. They destroyed two trucks. You can’t use a wheelbarrow to do that.”