Central Asia Metals plc said it had started to clean the Kamenka River following a leakage from the tailings storage of it Sasa zinc-lead mine in North Macedonia.
The leak occurred on 14 September 2020 at the Sasa Tailings Storage Facility 4 (TSF4) and clean-up operations began in late October.
The company added that the leakage was soon stopped and that no one was injured. The company temporarily stopped producing ore and also paid an environmental fine of €65,000.
Surveyors calculated a total volume of leaked material from TSF4 of 8,000m3, of which 3,000m3 was the coarse fraction of the dam wall and the remainder comprised water and the fines fraction.
Phase 1 of the clean-up involves the physical removal of all reasonably extractable tailings from the full 13 kilometre length of the river to Lake Kalimanci.
A four-kilometre stretch of the river has so far been cleaned and the whole of Phase 1 is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2020.
Phase 2 will involve installation of in-stream sediment traps during Q4 of 2020 to collect the tailings not recovered during Phase 1, and removal of that remaining material will continue into 2021.
Central Asia Metals has received advice from Wardell Armstrong and local consultants EcoMosaic.
“The Sasa site team has made good progress advancing our river remediation plans and we have worked closely with the local mayor and authorities to maintain their support during this challenging period,” said chief executive Nigel Robinson.
“We are pleased that we have managed to return the mine to full production following the TSF4 incident.”
The company also announced today that there had been an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases at the Sasa mine and in the local town of Makedonska Kamenica.
Teams remain vigilant at both sites with regular testing of employees and contractors at Sasa and the establishment of Covid-19 procedures.
Central Asia Metals owns 100% of the Sasa zinc-lead mine in North Macedonia and 100% of the Kounrad SX-EW copper project in central Kazakhstan.
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