At the Aditya Birla Minerals Ltd owned Mount Gordon mine, QLD, the collapse of a vent shaft collar has resulted in a delay to reopen the mine. The company gave a statement saying that while there were no injuries resulting from the accident they had evacuated the workers in a bid to investigate what went wrong.
The most likely reason would have been the heavy rainfall in the region undermining the collar leading to its collapse. The mining company has been preparing the copper mine at Mount Gordon for a reopening since last year after it was mothballed in 2009 during the global economic crisis. The work towards restarting the activities at the mine had to be suspended in February 2011 due to the effects of the Cyclone Yasi.
The company had hoped to have the mine reopened by April 2011 but with the weather causing unplanned delays that may not be possible now. Shares in Aditya Birla have slipped to $1.26 after the company issued the statement saying that implications on the schedule for the re-commencement of operations will be ascertained once the risk to the underground operations and extent and nature of the remedial work on the collar is determined.
Aditya Birla Minerals is the Australian arm of the Indian company Hindalco Industries Ltd. It is already producing copper from the Nifty mine located in Western Australia. Hindalco Industries owns 51% of Aditya Birla Minerals.