Mining companies untouched by tsunamis

Mining companies untouched by tsunamis

Paul Garvey, Miningnews.net

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Australian resource companies appear to have escaped the worst of the devastating effects of the tsunamis that have claimed the lives of more than 60,000 people in southern Asia.

Tsunamis hit Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and southern Thailand on Sunday in the wake of a massive underwater earthquake off Indonesia registering 8.9 on the Richter scale.

Kingsgate Consolidated's Chatree gold mine in central Thailand was unaffected by the disaster, according to Chatree general manager Phil MacIntyre.

MacIntyre told Miningnews.net that while staff at the mine "were in a state of shock", none of the employee's workforce were in the country's south at the time of the disaster. He said he did not believe the provision of supplies to the operation would be hindered by crisis.

The Aceh province, on the north-eastern tip of the island of Sumatra, was the worst-affected region in Indonesia.

Herald Resources' Dairi lead-zinc project in Northern Sumatra was unaffected by the disaster said managing director Michael Wright.

Newmont Mining Corporation, which has operations at Batu Hijau and Minahasa in Indonesia's east, said in a statement it would donate 5 million rupia to the nation's relief efforts.

Ian Price, managing director of Melbourne based Indonesian explorer Austindo Resources, said the tsunamis had had "absolutely no impact" on his company's Cibaliung exploration project in Indonesia.

According to The Hindustan Times, the disaster has triggered an unusual response by the residents of a fishing hamlet in the Indian district of Kollam, who have blamed two local mining companies for the disaster.

Reports indicate the villagers are planning protests against Indian Rare Earths and Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd, both of which actively mine mineral sands in the area. Close to 2,000 homes were flattened and at least 125 people killed in the village by the tsunami.