IGO Limited has announced the suspension of all operations at the company’s Nova Operation, following damage to the 10MW power station – which is owned and operated by the Company’s power partner, Zenith Energy – caused by a fire on 3 December 2022.
The Nova Emergency Response Team attended immediately and was able to isolate and extinguish the fire. There were no injuries and all personnel are safe.
The fire was contained to the diesel engine room, which was extensively damaged. There has been no damage to other infrastructure, including the control room, switch room, solar PV, battery energy storage and power distribution network.
The Nova Business Continuity Plan has been activated and the company is working with Zenith to re-establish power supply to the operation. This will be staged with the mobilisation of power generators to site.
Subject to permitting and approval receipt, it is anticipated mining operations will be able to recommence in two weeks, while restoration of the full power supply to operate the processing facility is expected to take approximately four weeks.
IGO expects to provide an update to Nova’s production and cash cost guidance as part of the December 2022 Quarterly Report due for release on 31 January 2023. A thorough investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.
IGO’s Acting CEO, Matt Dusci, said, “While this incident will result in the Nova operation being offline for several weeks, we are thankful that all of our people are safe and unharmed.
“I am also grateful to our Emergency Response Team for their quick and professional response and for restricting the fire to the engine room.
“We have activated our contingency plans and are working closely with Zenith to re-establish operations at Nova as quickly and safely as possible.”
