Mining halted at Ok Tedi

Mining at the State-owned Ok Tedi copper/gold/silver mine, in Papua New Guinea, has been suspended for an initial 14 days after seven positive Covid-19 cases were recorded this week.

The cases were recorded despite Ok Tedi Mining shutting down all charter flights in late July, with the company on Thursday saying that the source of transmission has been established as a person who traveled from Port Moresby to Kiunga on a commercial airline.

The company is now strictly limiting the movement of personnel between its operations, and is seeking support for commercial air services into Kiunga to cease.