Contact established with trapped Newcrest?s employee at Gosowong
Wednesday, February 10 2016 - 03:09 PM WIB
ASX-listed Newcrest Mining Limited announced on Wednesday that contact has been established with its workers trapped at the Kencana underground mine at the Gosowong gold mine on Halmahera Island, North Maluku province.
?I am very pleased to confirm that at approximately 10 am today (Wednesday) local time we made verbal contact with Pak Mursalim Sahman who is trapped underground at the Kencana Underground Mine,? Newcrest Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sandeep Biswas said.
Contact was established via a small diameter hole drilled through 54 metres of ground to where Mursalim is located.
?Kencana mine personnel were able to speak with Pak Mursalim and he confirmed that he is in good health and good spirits and that he has supplies of food and water. He only expressed concern about how his family had been faring.
?We are now preparing to send down additional water and food as well as a communication link.
?While this is a pleasing development, a lot of work remains to be done to get Pak Mursalim out safely. We are drawing upon expertise and assistance from other mining companies and specialist advisors who have led similar underground rescue efforts around the world. I am not able to give a timeframe at this stage on when we expect to extract him,? Biswas said.
Mursalim is from North Halmahera in North Maluku Province. His family are at site and are being supported by Gosowong management.
Earlier, the firm announced that at approximately 8:30 pm (local time) on Monday a geotechnical event occurred at the Kencana underground mine. The event caused damage to a number of mining levels. The mine was evacuated immediately after the event and all personnel have been accounted for, except for one employee, Mursalim, who is believed to be trapped approximately 300 meters underground. No other injuries have been reported,
The cause of the incident will be the subject of a full and thorough investigation. The Indonesian Mines Inspectorate arrived at site on Wednesday. All mining and processing operations remain suspended.
Gosowong is owned and operated by PT Nusa Halmahera Minerals (PTNHM), an Indonesian company 75 per cent owned by Newcrest, which holds contract of work that is valid until 2029.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon