Sinivit gold mine shut over safety issues

THE Sinivit Gold Mine at Mt Sinivit in East New Britain province has been shut down.
The mines inspection branch of the Mineral Resource Authority (MRA) – the regulator – shut down the mine’s operations after a stop-work order was issued last Nov 13.
The order was for safety and health reasons which resulted in the suspension of the ore processing operations and withdrawal of employees from affected areas.
MRA said in a statement yesterday that due to provisions in the Mining  (Safety)  Act, details of the statutory order could not be disclosed.
The order of Nov 13 followed an inspection of the mine carried out by the deputy chief inspector of Mines, Lave Michael on Sept 24, during which serious threats to employees’ safety and health were identified after which the mine’s management was notified.
Following the suspension, the company’s management made several submissions containing details of rectification work.
However, the mines inspector considered the submissions to be unsatisfactory and required the company to fully rectify the critical defects listed in his order before seeking any consideration for resumption of work on these areas.
All ore processing activities would remain suspended on safety and health grounds.