Papua New Guinea OK Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML) says it expects to report a profit of US$200 million (K700.40mil) (unaudited) for 2020 despite the challenges that year.
The company said it expected to release its 2020 full year report later in the year.
The company also clarified that the US$100 million loss reported in The National yesterday was the estimated impact of the damages caused by a fire that occurred at the mine site and that it had not made a loss in its 2020 annual report.
“OTML expects a profit after tax of more than US$200 million (unaudited) for 2020 despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the impact of the fire late last December of 2020,” the company said.
“As of last Wednesday, ore processing has commenced at one of the two processing circuits (SAG-1) which was impacted by the fire incident after significant remedial work was completed.
“The other processing circuit (SAG-1), which sustained severe damages as a result of the fire incident is expected to be operational by late January.”
It said a dedicated team worked tirelessly over the Christmas and New Year period to conduct much-needed repairs to get the processing circuit operational.
The remedial work for SAG 2 took almost 10,000 man hours.
“An investigation report into the cause of the fire incident and the recommended actions to prevent a re-occurrence was submitted to the chief inspector of mines who has given us the approval to re-commence operation after careful deliberation and assessment of the report.”
The National / Pacific Mining Watch
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