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Vancouver, CANADA:
“The situation in Ecuador has changed rapidly over the last few days. We are committed to the health and safety of our employees and the local communities in which we operate. In consultation with both local officials and the Government of Ecuador, we have made the decision to temporarily suspend operations in order to reduce the risk to our workforce and to local communities.”
Ron Hochstein
CEO, President and Director
Lundin Gold
Lundin Gold Inc. has announced that the company is temporarily suspending operations at its Fruta del Norte gold mine in Ecuador amid growing concerns regarding the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
“The situation in Ecuador has changed rapidly over the last few days,” said Ron Hochstein, Lundin Gold President and CEO. “We are committed to the health and safety of our employees and the local communities in which we operate. In consultation with both local officials and the Government of Ecuador, we have made the decision to temporarily suspend operations in order to reduce the risk to our workforce and to local communities.”
During the suspension, the Company will maintain a skeleton workforce at Fruta del Norte to conduct care and maintenance activities and special projects in order to minimize the impacts of this temporary shutdown. As the situation is dynamic and dependent on actions by both the local and national governments, the company indicated that it cannot currently indicate the duration of the temporary suspension on the Company’s operations nor its full impact.
Fruta del Norte is among the largest and highest-grade gold projects in the world, which is now in production, one of the few multi-million ounce, high grade gold assets in production, reaching commercial production in February 2020, ahead of schedule.
The Fruta del Norte gold deposit was discovered in 2006. Lundin Gold purchased the asset in late 2014 for US$240 million. Since acquiring the asset, Lundin Gold completed a feasibility study, signed all major agreements with the Ecuadorian Government providing for the fiscal and regulatory regime and economic stability, and subsequently financed and constructed the mine and infrastructure on time and on schedule in five short years. First gold production was reached in November 2019 and commercial production was achieved in February 2020.