El Nino halts Papua New Guinea gold mine-Barrick

SYDNEY, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Operations at the Porgera gold
mine in Papua New Guinea have been suspended due to drought
conditions, part owner Barrick Gold ABX.TO said on Monday, the
latest mine in the Asia-Pacific to be disrupted by El
Nino-induced dry weather.
Production had been halted due to low levels of water in the
mine's reservoir, used in processing the raw ore, operator
Barrick (Niugini) Ltd said in a statement to Reuters.
"Some water-intensive production activities at the mine have
been temporarily suspended during this extended dry season, and
we are using this opportunity to bring forward some scheduled
maintenance activities," it said.
"The very unusual extended dry conditions that we have seen
in recent months have meant that our supplies of production
water have run very low, and we have made the decision to shut
down our milling and processing plants for the time being to
conserve our water supplies."
Barrick earlier this year forecast Porgera would yield
400,000-450,000 ounces of gold in 2015, down from its peak years
of around 900,000 ounces when it was regarded as one of the
world's foremost deposits.
The privately held Ok Tedi copper mine in Papua New Guinea
has been forced to shut after drought cut off river transit
links, while in Indonesia Freeport-McMoRan FCX.N blamed El
Nino when it cut its 2015 forecast for copper concentrate sales
as less water affected milling.
The dry weather effects of El Nino are strongest in the
tropics and peak over the winter months, which have just passed
in the Southern Hemisphere.
Barrick and China's Zijin Mining 601899.SS each own 47.5
percent of the Porgera mine. The rest is divided equally between
the government and local landowners in Enga Province in the
Highlands region of Papua new Guinea.