AngloGold Ashanti South Africa close down after 164 test positive for coronavirus

AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng mine in South Africa has been temporarily shut down after 164 employees tested positive for the deadly COVID-19 virus.

The gold mine was shut down when South Africa confirmed its first case in March. But was later opened to operate at a 50% capacity.

The company, in a statement said, “it had conducted 650 tests at Mponeng since detecting the first case of the virus there last week, and 164 employees had tested positive with only a handful of tests left to process.”

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“As a precautionary step, and after discussions with the regulator, operations have been temporarily halted on a voluntary basis,” the statement said.

This decision, they believe, would allow the mine to complete contact tracing, deep clean the workplace and other key infrastructure.

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Workplace infections remain a big headache for health authorities, as the contagion spread fast among workers.  In Ghana, a fish-processing factory in Tema recorded a swell of coronavirus cases that compelled it to be shut down temporarily.

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ACONS, the railway construction company working on the Tema to Mpakadan railway line, was not spared the scourge as one Indian expatriate infected his colleagues.