Photo credit: Ok Tedi Mining - Mr Musje Werror
The Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic hit OK Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML) hard in 2021, creating production losses and incurring significant costs, according to the company.
Despite this, according to OTML's annual report for 2021, the company remained profitable, debt-free, and paid a K450 million yearly dividend.
According to Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Musje Werror and Board Chairman Roger Higgins, the most significant challenge in 2021 was the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.
“From the start of the pandemic our key priority has been to protect the health and wellbeing of our workforce, town residents and communities while minimising disruption to operations,” Werror said.
“Production was impacted by ongoing labour shortages due to isolation and our strict quarantine control requirements.
“The suspension had a direct impact on 2021 revenue, as well as additional labour costs associated with funding wages for people in isolation or quarantine.
“This resulted in a direct costs associated with Covid-19 management protocols at K155 million.”
The OTML board of directors adopted a revised strategic business plan in August, which includes a mine life extension from 2029 to 2032.
“This extension was the culmination of several years of detailed strategic planning work and will see the company generate an additional K10 billion of revenue to the benefit of stakeholders,” Higgins said. “The extension of mine life, and delivery of value, is premised on the timely implementation of several strategic imperative projects costing approximately K1.779 billion over the next two years.
“These include the removal of 20 million tonnes (Mt) of debris from the centre pit to access high-grade ore from 2023, the construction of a 400Mt engineered waste rock dump to enable a larger pit shell, and the potential option of in-pit waste rock disposal, and the major refurbishment and upgrade of aging processing facilities.”
Reference: The National (3 June 2022). “Ok Tedi paid out K450mil in dividend for 2021”.
