Business
Production resumes at Sasa
Production resumes at Sasa.
About this update from Central Asia Metals Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n \n \n RNS Number : 0235B\n Central Asia Metals PLC\n 05 October 2020\n \n \n \n \n 5 October 2020\n \n \n \n \n \n CENTRAL ASIA METALS PLC\n \n \n ('CAML' or the 'Company')\n \n \n Production resumes at Sasa\n \n Central Asia Metals plc (AIM: CAML) today announces an update following the 14 September 2020 leakage at its Sasa Tailings Storage Facility 4 ('TSF4').\n Environmental update\n Extensive planning for the river clean-up has been undertaken with the involvement of both Wardell Armstrong Limited and in-country consultants, and CAML expects to receive the official go-ahead to commence the clean-up work within a week. It is projected that the bulk of the tailings will be removed and disposed of in a secure and safe location on the Sasa mine site by the end of 2020. The clean-up of a high priority 350 metre section of the river has already been completed.\n The environmental fine of €65,000 levied on Sasa has now been paid.\n CAML continues to work closely with local community leaders and the authorities.\n Production\n As outlined in CAML's 28 September 2020 update, the physical repairs to TSF4 were completed during the previous weekend. All necessary engineering improvements to ensure the long-term safe storage of tailings have now also been completed.\n The Sasa management team received approval from the North Macedonian authorities to once again operate TSF4 late on Friday 2 October and processing re-commenced that day. The Sasa plant will initially operate at a reduced rate of approximately 50% for a trial period while the technical team confirms the safe operation of the facility. This trial period is expected to be in the order of one week before the ramp up to full production.\n In January, CAML gave 2020 Sasa ore production guidance of between 825,000 to 850,000 tonnes, resulting in zinc in concentrate of between 23,000 and 25,000 tonnes and lead in concentrate of between 30,000 and 32,000 tonnes. While 2020 ore mined is likely to remain within this guidance range, CAML now expects ore processed to be between 800,000 and 825,000 tonnes given the downtime from the incident. Despite this, both 2020 zinc and lead in concentrate production are expected to be within the original guidance. \n Excluding production downtime, an early indication of the total cost of the TSF4 incident, comprising dam rep...