In spite of the current pandemic, the financial and production forecast for Ok Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML) continues to be strong.
According to managing director and chief executive Musje Werror, they are managing the operations of the company well this year despite the ill effects of COVID-19. “Our production and financial forecast for 2020 remains strong and we expect to achieve budget profits on the back of the current metal prices and high-grade ore material,” he said. “We expect to perform better than last year despite the impacts.”
He said that he remains positive about the financial forecast of the company for the rest of the year, noting that the gold-copper mine in Western “successfully resumed safe operations on Sept 14 after a six-week suspension due to a spike in positive Covid-19 cases detected in the workforce”.
He added that when the first case of the coronavirus happened on Aug 4, the company was able to stop the virus from spreading into the community.
“During the six weeks outage, the company developed a restart plan incorporating a major quarantine and Covid-19 testing programme for 6,000 OTML and contractor employees,” he said. “To accommodate the quarantine requirements, the company had to amend the rosters by adding a fourth panel, rearranged the onsite accommodation and established entry point centres in Port Moresby, Tabubil, Kiunga and Bige to test all personnel before they start work.”
