An employee of an Australian mining company has been killed on the construction site of a high grade copper gold mine project northeast of Manila in the Philippines.
In a statement on Tuesday, Melbourne-based project owner OceanaGold Corporation says the worker, a male Filipino national who is an employee of the mining contactor to the company, died in an incident arising out of a recent storm that impacted the site of its Didipio project.
The statement says OceanaGold and its contractor have undertaken immediate investigations into the incident and that the company has arranged counselling and support services to be available to co-workers and family of the deceased.
Mick Wilkes, managing director and chief executive officer of OceanaGold has expressed condolences to the man’s family and friends and stressed that preventative measures will be taken to ensure similar instances are not repeated.
“We are extremely saddened by this tragic event,” Wilkes says. “Safety will always remain a top priority of the Company to eliminate harm to our employees, contractors and local community. Steps are being taken to ensure similar incidents do not occur again.”
The Didipio Project is a high grade gold copper development in located in Luzon, about 275 kilometres northeast of Manila in the Philippines. Once complete, the mine is expected to produce around 100,000 ounces of gold and 14,000 tonnes of copper on an average annualised basis over its 16-year lifespan.
Construction commenced in June last year and is expected to be completed in Q4 2012.
This week, Oceana said the cost of the mine had exceeded expectations by 19 per cent, to $220 million.
