Egypt-focused gold miner Centamin (LON:CEY) (TSX:CEE) said on Wednesday that operations at its Sukari gold mine remained unaffected by covid-19, and that it had stockpiled enough critical supplies to last until the end of June.
The company, which rejected a takeover approach by Canada’s Endeavour Mining (TSX:EDV) earlier this year, said early action taken at Sukari has helped prevent contagion. The measures include a ban on non-essential travel, workforce education, and setting checkpoints at the airport where workers fly into, as well as at the community centre and mine gate.
Egypt’s borders are closed until April 15, but goods and supplies can still cross, Centamin said.
“As of 24 March 2020, Centamin has no cases of covid-19
amongst its workforce and has experienced no material disruption to operations,
supply chain or gold shipments,” it said in the statement.
The company, however, has postponed publication of its full
year 2019 results “for a minimum of two weeks”, following the request
issued on March 21 by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
A mounting number of miners are being forced to suspend or limit production and processing as governments worldwide implement emergency measures to slow down the spread of the coronavirus.
Egypt’s borders are closed until April 15, but goods and
supplies can still cross, Centamin said. It added that is fully stocked with
critical supplies for the next three months.