Miner works to get ahead of the COVID-19 curve

Atherton Tableland based Consolidated Tin Mines has partly caught up on payments owed to about 120 staff and is working towards restarting one mine. Consolidated Tin has entered its two mines, Surveyor and Mount Garnet, into care and maintenance citing complications to do with managing health standards in the face of COVID-19. As of Tuesday, April 14, the company had squared away 35 per cent of wages due on March 11, said managing director Ralph De Lacey. They were working with financiers to meet their commitments for the two weeks prior to the suspension of operations on March 24, Mr De Lacey said. The company had come under criticism from some staff on social media but the extraordinary circumstances needed to be taken into account, he said. The staff’s preference to stay 8 days-on, 6 days-off rather than move to an extended roster was a factor in making the decision to suspend operations, he said. “My suggestion to our workers was that we should follow what other miners are doing and, in the extreme, they are working two months on, two months off. “That roster would be easy enough to manage, but that's not acceptable to our workers so we will stay with the 8-6 and see how we can manage it. “Ours will be a blend of what others are doing and what our people are willing to work.” The company was working with financiers to restart the Surveyor mine and was scoping the possibility of bringing back some staff as early as next week. “The situation in Australia is looking a lot better now than it was when we were forced to stand down the workforce,” Mr De Lacey said. “At that point it looked very frightening. I deliberately made the decision not to bring the workforce back in on the next roster because I genuinely thought somebody would come in with the virus. “Now, the challenge is to restart and try not to bring the virus in. Personally, I don't think this virus has been defeated in Australia . I hope it has, but I think it'll flare up again. We're working through how to handle that. “Our plan is to not rush into it. Bring people back slowly and slowly restart with clear guidelines on keeping our people safe .” The 48 staff working through the care and maintenance period were being paid, Mr De lacey said. The announcement came around the same time as the failure of a $53 million deal to buy Auctus-owned operations in the Chillagoe region which Mr De Lacey said was still ongoing , with negotiations now continuing with the Administrators. Consolidated Tin Mines terminated the Sale Agreement because Auctus could not provide 2019 audited accounts making it impossible for the agreement to be completed before the end date of the agreement, Mr De Lacey said. Administrators for Auctus said Consolidated Tin could not come up with the deposit. https://www.i-q.net.au/main/consolidated-tin-employees-left-out-of-pocket

Miner works to get ahead of the COVID-19 curve

Industry Queensland

Related News

BHP in takeover bid for Anglo American

QAL upgrade attracts $94m federal grant

Bridge damage under scrutiny after excavator mishap

Get access to breaking mining news, now.