Copler Gold Mine out of permission after the landslide

Landslide

Turkey has revoked the environmental licenses of SSR Mining Inc. Çöpler Gold mine after a landslide of 10 million cubic meters of earth fell suddenly from a gulley.

Binali Yildirim former Tukey Prime Minister said after his visit at the mine site that several workers were able to escape, however, the mine has determined that nine of the employees are unaccounted for. Moreover, he has added: ”Although an extraordinary effort has been made in a race against time, it is useful to say that the conditions are not on our side, considering the magnitude of the incident.” The BBC News has reported that: five of the trapped workers are thought to be in a container, three in a vehicle and one in his truck in a different part of the site.

No contamination

On Saturday Alparslan Bayraktar, Ph.D. indicated that all rescue efforts are still being taken. He has added that the water contamination tests were made and results so far didn’t show any contamination in waters near the landslide.

Investigation

After the landslide fell four people, including the pit’s field manager, have been arrested as part of an investigation into the incident. Moreover, the Turkey Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change has stated that mining permissions and licenses were ended.

On Friday SSR Mining informed us that all operations at the mine remained suspended.

Çöpler Mine

The Çöpler Mine has been operating since 2010 and is currently processing ore through two producing plants – the oxide and sulfide plants. The oxide ore is processed via heap leach and the sulfide ore is processed using pressure oxidation. The current estimated mine life is over 20 years.