Newmont stops production at Telfer mine

Newmont has temporarily suspended gold production at its Telfer mine in the Pilbara, after finding cracking and seepage on one of its embankments.

The international goldminer confirmed it has ceased gold production or processing at its Western Australian mine for safety reasons, but told Business News other mining operations were continuing.

A Newmont spokesperson said the company found cracking and seepage on an internal embankment of one of Telfer’s tailings storage facilities on December 24.

“Following initial detection of cracking, Telfer activated its response plan including closure of some work areas near the TSFs while analysis and monitoring was undertaken using radar and drone technology,” the spokesperson said.

“The engineer of record and our Newmont tailings teams are continuing to work on developing a comprehensive tailings deposition plan so that the processing operations can be restarted.”

The spokesperson said the company’s engineer had signed off on the stability of the tailings facilities on January 6.

Newmont could undertake works on the affected tailings storage facility after the sign off, the spokesperson said.

The company would also undertake a post-incident review to find the cause of the issue, according to the spokesperson.

“Newmont has been liaising closely with regulators including the Department of Energy, Mining, Industry Regulation and Safety and the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation to facilitate safe reopening of the TSFs,” the spokesperson said.

“Newmont will continue engaging with all stakeholders including Martu native title holders through their prescribed body corporate JYAC.”

Belmont-based Newcrest mining operated the Telfer mine until the Newmont takeover in October, which was the biggest goldmining acquisition in history in a $26 billion merger.

Newmont Corporation is headquartered in the US but has an Australian office in Subiaco.