- Following the relaxation of New Zealand’s COVID-19 restrictions, OceanaGold Corporation (TSX:OGC) is tentatively resuming operations
- At midnight, local time, on April 28, the country’s Government reduced virus alerts from level four to level three
- Non-essential businesses are now able to resume regular activities provided they can demonstrate safe operating practices
- As such, mining, processing and development activities at Macraes and Waihi will move back to regular work schedules
- OceanaGold Corporation (OGC) is currently up 2.9 per cent to C$2.13 per share, with a market cap of $1.33 billion
Following the relaxation of New Zealand’s COVID-19 restrictions, OceanaGold Corporation (TSX:OGC) is tentatively resuming its operations.
At midnight, local time, on April 28, the country’s Government reduced its virus alerts from level four to level three, having significantly curtailed the spread of COVID-19.
New cases of the virus have not exceeded single figures for a number of days, with New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, proclaiming that the country had won the battle against worrying incidents of transmission.
“There is no widespread undetected community transmission in New Zealand, we have won that battle. But we must remain vigilant if we want to keep it that way,” she said.
OceanaGold says that it is well prepared to operate under the conditions related to the level three alert. Specifically, the company will be able to resume its regular operations provided it can demonstrate the implementation of strict health, safety and hygiene protocols.
As such, mining, processing and development activities at Macraes and Waihi will move back to regular work schedules.
In today’s announcement, the company said that development of the Martha Underground project at Waihi, as well as regional exploration activities, have already resumed.
In addition, mining and processing activities have picked up at Macraes, albeit under strict safe operating practices.
However, OceanaGold’s office and administrative staff, as well as additional employees with the necessary abilities, will continue to work from home for the duration of the level three alert. Further to this, any employees or contractors with underlying health issues will remain at home until a suitably safe environment can be guaranteed.
Michael Holmes, President and CEO of OceanaGold Corporation, said that the health and wellbeing of the company’s workforce continues to be the greatest priority.
“At OceanaGold, safe operating practices include effective health screening procedures, physical distancing, contact tracing and restricted site access to essential employees and contractors only.
“With these strict protocols in place, we have resumed mining and processing at Macraes and development of the Martha Underground,” he added.
To date, there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 among any of OceanaGold’s employees or contractors.
OceanaGold Corporation (OGC) is currently up 2.9 per cent to C$2.13 per share at 11:30am EST.