Rock slip halts gold production

A slip on the north wall of Newmont Waihi Gold's Martha open pit has temporarily halted production. Photo: Stuart Whitaker

A slip on the north wall of Newmont Waihi Gold's Martha open pit temporarily halted production after rock fell from the wall on to the haul road.

Newmont Waihi Gold's external affairs co-ordinator, Kit Wilson, says staff had been monitoring the area on the north wall for several months.

The slip occurred last Thursday.

"We have a number of monitoring systems in the open pit. These showed some minor activity in the area in the early morning before the day shift was due to start. A drilling crew on night shift was moved out of the pit at this time. It was decided not to start the day shift. The slip occurred at 7.48am."

Wilson says all alarm systems worked and all procedures were followed, and there was no danger to staff at any time.

It is estimated there is between 12,000 and 15,000 cubic metres of material which has fallen from the north wall.

"We will let the area settle and assess the situation. At this stage we think ... it will take three or four days to remove. After that, we can get back into production."

"This incident is not unexpected, but it is certainly inconvenient."