OceanaGold (TSX:OGC, Stock Forum), a Melbourne Australia-based firm engaged in the operating, development and exploration of gold assets, announced today that a section of the west wall at the Macraes Open Pit mine failed on April 19, 2014, after heavy rainfall cutting off access to the underground mine without damaging the mine itself.
According to the news release, the wall was being monitored before it failed with no crew working in the open pit at the time of the incident and all underground personnel were brought safely to the surface without injury.
Authorities are in the process of investigating the event with the company's full cooperation while operations at the open pit remain suspended so that OceanaGold is able carry out an incident review to develop a new plan of operation. The review is anticipated to last a few weeks.
Roadwork to re-establish access to the underground entrance has been started by Earthworks and it is expected that underground operations will re-commence by the end of the week.
The release went on to note that ore production continues from stockpiles and the company expects that there will only be a minimal impact on near-term production as a result of the incident.
OceanaGold was in the news recently when the company announced the date of its conference call to discuss 2014 financial results.
Currently there are 300.5m outstanding shares with a market cap of $694.2 million.