Chinese-owned Aurora Gold Mines (AGM) yesterday refuted reports of COVID-19 cases at its Region Seven site and its General Manager Victor Wu said Zijin Mining strives to observe and adhere to all the protocols in place.
Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton had told Stabroek News last week that he will be visiting the mine site to assess working conditions as the ministry had received reports of some workers contracting COVID-19.
Hamilton had said 17 of AGM’s employees had tested positive. The minister further noted that the cases at AGM were discovered after 112 employees were tested.
“These tests were only done because the employees had to depart the country but now it raises the question of the working conditions there [at AGM] and how these workers have been working during COVID-19,” the minister said.
However, the company yesterday refuted this and said that the report will have serious repercussions on the morale of the workforce and other stakeholders of the company.
Director, Corporate Office, Compliance and Governance, Peter Benny in the statement asserted that AGM has implemented stringent measures and controls such as temperature testing, oxygen levels testing, social distancing and the wearing of masks and hands washing at all its locations.
Benny, while noting that his company has less than 55 Chinese working at the mine said that only one of their staff had returned to China since operations resumed. That one employee‘s result was negative.
Benny related that “of the 24 Chinese working with AGM and the 26 working with Sino Hydro, none of them has been tested positive nor has any of our employees, whether it is at Aurora, or the Georgetown Office, or Buckhall.”
The Director pointed out that at the mining operations there is social distancing in the lunch rooms and mess hall and to further ensure they limit social interaction they have closed off the playground, gyms and places of recreations.
The Sunday Stabroek yesterday reported Hamilton stating that his ministry has received reports of the companies treating employees who display the symptoms of COVID-19 for malaria and typhoid.
Benny said that statement does not apply to AGM. He added that all employees are screened before leaving for the mine site and before they enter the site they are screened for a second time. Benny said the company has three full-time medical doctors and his company is known for having one of the best screening practices for malaria.
Hamilton had said that the Ministry of Health is currently working with the companies to ensure protocols are in place for COVID-19.
The Minister is scheduled to visit the mining site next Monday.
Last month, Troy Resources confirmed that several employees had tested positive for the illness and as a result announced that all employees who were to be deployed to the Region Seven mine site would first have to be tested and show a negative result prior to being allowed to travel into the site.
Additionally, a memorandum sent to all employees informed that they will have to go through pre-travel screening before being granted permission to enter the work site.
Workers were told that all employees and contractors must visit the company’s Georgetown office to be screened before they are granted permission to travel. Once their rapid test returns negative they will receive approval to travel to the site. However, should an employee test positive after the rapid test, they will be subjected to a PCR test.
Those persons travelling by road, the company said, will be screened at the Tri-Corner by its onsite medical personnel before being allowed to enter its camp. Persons travelling by air should present themselves at the Georgetown office two hours prior to their departure time to allow time for the screening process, the company said.
