Sibanye-Stillwater reported an incident at its Stillwater West mine in Montana, USA, during scheduled non-routine maintenance on the winder, which services the vertical shaft accessing the deeper levels of the Stillwater West mine. This incident resulted in structural damage to the shaft headgear, winder house and winder rope. There were no injuries to personnel from this incident and investigations into the causes of the incident are underway.
The company said the damage to the shaft infrastructure will require remediation, and access to the deeper levels of the mine will be impacted while remediation is underway. Access to the upper levels (above 50 level) of the Stillwater West mine and the Stillwater East mine (through the east portal) are unaffected and production from these areas, as well as from the East Boulder mine, will continue.
Production from the Stillwater West mine below 50 level will be suspended for approximately four weeks until the remediation is completed, resulting in a loss of approximately 25,000 2Eoz to 30,000 2Eoz for the year.
The company said they would provide updates once shaft repair schedules are finalized and production schedules have been fully optimized given current shaft constraints.
