- Buffalo Coal (BUF) has reported a case of COVID-19 at its Aviemore operation near Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal
- The employee, who works in an underground section of the project, was identified via contact tracing efforts external to the company
- Afternoon production shifts have now been suspended, and all primary contacts associated with the infection have been requested to self-isolate
- This is the second case the company has reported, after a separate infection at its Coalfields site on July 13
- Buffalo Coal (BUF) is currently steady at C$0.005 per share
Buffalo Coal (BUF) has reported a case of COVID-19 at its Aviemore operation near Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal.
The company confirmed today that an employee working in an underground section of the project had tested positive for the virus after they were identified via external contact tracing efforts.
Afternoon production shifts at Aviemore have now been suspended, and all primary contacts associated with the infection have been requested to self-isolate.
Buffalo Coal noted that any areas where the employee may have worked have been well-cleaned and sanitised, and that production activities have now resumed following the satisfaction of the company’s COVID-19 risk management procedures.
This is the second case of COVID-19 to be reported by Buffalo Coal, following a separate infection at its nearby Coalfields operation on July 13.
Notably, the company has decided to not report infections on an individual basis and will determine the need for further updates according to the significance of virus-related impacts.
South Africa has seen a steep increase in the number of COVID-19 infections and is now reported to have one of the highest daily infection rates per capita in the world, with more than 324,000 confirmed cases and 4,669 deaths to date.
The country’s leadership has come under fire in recent months for its approach to the management of the virus, which always assumed that a severe pandemic was inevitable.
Compounding the arguable mismanagement of the pandemic is the rampant inequality that still exists, with predominantly white South Africans isolating themselves in suburban compounds while densely-populated poorer townships fuel a surge in cases.
According to a report published by Reuters on June 13, nearly 12 per cent of all infections in the Western Cape are in Khayelitsha, the largest township in Cape Town, despite accounting for just six per cent of the province’s population.
Buffalo Coal (BUF) is currently steady at C$0.005 per share at 10:35am EDT.