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Wednesday, 27th December 2006 (3363 views)

A lightning strike has lead to widespread power cuts at the Porgera gold mining operations in Papua New Guinea.

Co-owner Emperor Mines confirmed that a series of lightning strikes in the Enga region caused damage to a number of generators and therefore production at the site has been significantly reduced.

Emperor Mines, which owns a 20 per cent state in the operation alongside Canada-based Barrick Gold, now plans to carry out a number of investigations on the gold mine in order to assess the full-scale of the lightning damage.

It is understood that a power supply at nearby Anawe is being used to help boost supplies at the site but it remains unclear how much production has been reduced by the bad weather, reports the Mining Journal.

The mine has a staff of around 2,300 workers and is one of the largest gold mining operations in the southern hemisphere, producing over one million ounces of gold over the past 12 months.

 

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