A CuDeco spokesperson has confirmed that they anticipate operations to resume at the Rockland’s, Cloncurry mine in January 2019.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The spokesperson told The North West Star they advised the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), they suspended operations at Rocklands to allow for critical maintenance work and other business improvements.
“At this stage, we are working to resume operations as quickly as possible following the finalisation of a suitable long-term funding arrangement,” the spokesperson said.
“This together with an operational restructure will enable Rocklands to move forward in a fully funded and optimised manner, together with the commitment of funding to growth opportunities such as exploration.”
“CuDeco will also undertake a number of business improvement projects and financial assurances during this period,” he said.
“We have continued to keep employees, shareholders and other stakeholders informed and are working to resume operations.”
RELATED STORIES: CuDeco employees worry for the future
RELATED STORIES: CuDeco stay suspended while subsidiary goes into receivership
RELATED STORIES: CuDeco suspends Rocklands operation for a week
“We however are working hard to ensure a successful and viable operation at Rocklands that provides long-term employment opportunities and other benefits to the local community,” he said.
The spokesperson said they sincerely regret the impact of this suspension on our staff and the Cloncurry community.
Mining at CuDeco’s Rocklands operation halted nearly three months ago.
However some employees, who wish to remain unnamed, have told The North West Star that CuDeco used a 'smoke and mirror' tactic to continually ask the ASX for voluntary suspensions of trading.
The employees also believed this story is in the public interest of the region and would like to take the information they have further.
The company released their annual report in June 2017 which highlighted the gross loss of the Rocklands mining operation.
The document stated for the last financial period, a gross loss of $6.4m and net loss after tax of $135.6m was reported.
It said as a result of below budget performance and increased processing costs, the group completed an impairment test of the Rocklands mining operation and recorded impairment of $76.0m at 30 June 2017.
In addition, the group recorded impairment of exploration and evaluation assets of $0.9m and ore inventory write down of $19.5m, the document stated.
CuDeco has communicated with all staff and requested that individuals provide full details of their queries, so the company can investigate and take the appropriate action.
