Capstone, New Gold, take action against swine flu

To help combat the swine flu pandemic, two Canadian-based mining companies say they will shut down their mines from May 1-5 following a government order to stop all non-essential activities throughout the country for five days.

New Gold (NGD-V, NGD-N) has shut down its Cerro San Pedro open pit gold mine in San Luis Potosi state, which is in central Mexico where the pandemic has been most prevalent.

New Gold says the company has adopted a stringent approach to minimizing the risks of the flu and reports that no cases of swine flu have been confirmed at the mine or in the neighbouring communities. The company doesn’t expect the shut down will have a great impact on its anticpated production of 80,-100,000 oz. gold and 2.25 million oz. silver this year.

Capstone Mining (CS-T) will shut down its Cozamin mine in Zacatecas state as well, and says that lost production won’t be that significant. The mine produces copper, silver, lead and zinc. Capstone expects to produce 40 million lbs. of copper this year.

“While, as far as we are aware, there have been no cases of swine flu reported in Zacatecas or among our workers, Capstone will do its part to help reduce the risk of the flu spreading,” Capstone president and chief operating officer, Stephen Quin, said in a statement.

Many miners, even the largest employers like Mexico’s Penoles and Grupo Mexico, will be keeping their operations running though workers are following strict sanitary guidelines to avoid spreading germs.

First Majestic (FR-T, FRMSF-O) says it has daily conference calls to keep up with the latest developments but because swine flu hasn’t been detected in any of the fours states where its operations are, operations will stay running. The company reports that, “No staff members have been affected and we continue to monitor the situation and be vigilant with regards to the well being of our employees.”