Wild Weather Impacting Gold Mining Production

Heavy rain has impacted the operations of Australia’s gold mining sector, with cyclones across swathes of the nation blamed for a drop in production. Production at Australian gold mines fell to 70 tonnes in the first quarter of 2024 compared with 77 tonnes in the December quarter 2023. This was due to a series of cyclones moving inland and dumping massive amounts of rain across Australia’s main gold producing regions. Consultancy Surbiton Associates said almost two dozen mines in Western Australia (WA), Queensland, and the Northern Territory (NT) reported production problems due to rain and flooding. “Wet weather makes haul roads dangerous and greasy. Wet ore ‘hangs up’ in ore bins, is difficult to crush and sticks to conveyor belts,” Director Sandra Close said....