Canada-based Dundee Precious Metals announced the extension of its planned Ausmelt furnace maintenance at Tsumeb smelter in Namibia by up to 40 days. The announcement came on March 3. The shutdown for this maintenance work was planned during the first quarter, however, it was extended to ensure the safety and maintenance process as per the COVID-19 norms. Plans were also delayed as there was some flooding while carrying out the planned work. The smelter will return to its full operation by the end of March, mentioned the company release.
The company announced that due to this ongoing work, the complex concentrate smelted for Q1 2021 will be approximately 25,000-30,000mt.The complex concentrate processing at the company’s Chelopech mine will remain unaffected.
The extended timeline for maintenance work is not likely to affect the complex concentrate smelted of 220,000-250,000mt or Tsumeb forecast for 2021 or expected capital expenditure of $16-20mn.
Dundee Precious Metals is a Canadian-based international gold mining company having operations in Bulgaria, Namibia, and Serbia.