BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 1
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
The quarantine at Tortkuduk operation operated by KATCO LLC remains in effect, with additional protections in place, including a slow-down of several operational activity to minimize further spread, Trend reports citing Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom National Atomic Company.
In January 2021, Kazatomprom announced a COVID-19 outbreak at its Kazakh-French Joint Venture, KATCO LLC, operating in the Turkestan region of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
As of 22 January 2021, all employees and contractors at KATCO’s Moinkum and Tortkuduk operations were tested for COVID-19, showing 128 positive cases out of the 666 PCR tests performed, with 20 cases showing modest symptoms at the time.
Personnel who tested positive were isolated and receiving treatment if required, and contact tracing was completed to quarantine exposed individuals. In accordance with the orders of local health authorities in the Suzak District of the Turkestan Region, both sites were placed under quarantine.
As of February 1, 2021, all 158 employees and contractors at KATCO’s Moinkum operation had been retested and the results indicated there were no longer any positive cases. According to medical authority protocols, the quarantine at Moinkum was lifted and following enhanced cleaning procedures, a shift change was completed. Employees and contractors arriving at site underwent the Company’s COVID-19 screening process prior to arrival.
At KATCO’s Tortkuduk operation, partial results indicate 30 employees out of 470 retested remain positive for COVID-19, with further results still pending. The quarantine at Tortkuduk therefore remains in effect, with additional protections in place, including a slow-down of several operational activity to minimize further spread.
However, the site is able to safely continue key production processes and therefore does not expect any significant impact on its planned 2021 annual production volumes.
Furthermore, at the end of January 2021, three employees who had previously tested negative upon arriving for shift change, presented symptoms while at work at JV Semizbai-U LLP, at the mine in the Akmola region.
According to the lessons learned from the previous cases at the site, the affected employees were immediately taken to a specialized regional hospital and testing was carried out on 158 employees and contractors working at the operation. Including the initial three cases, a total of 10 positive cases were identified and sent to hospital for observation, and 16 close contacts were identified and isolated.
A shift change began on 29 January and the situation is stable; production and development activities have not been impacted.
At Karatau LLP, mandatory exit testing of 143 employees leaving for shift change at the end of January revealed 25 positive cases, all of which were immediately taken to regional hospitals. Contact tracing resulted in the isolation and quarantine of an additional 17 personnel to date. As a result of the exit testing, the plan to rotate personnel was halted and retesting is underway at both Karatau, as well as nearby JV Akbastau, with the results pending.
The Company is working with health authorities to ensure the employees with positive tests are quarantined and isolated according to Government protocols, and taking all necessary measures to ensure the health and wellbeing of personnel both on and off site.
Kazatomprom is monitoring the situation at KATCO, Karatau and at all other operations, and will continue to follow national and regional COVID-19 developments, restrictions, and governmental directives, to ensure that any required actions to reduce the spread and/or impact of the pandemic are implemented without delay.