Capstone, New Gold, Take Action Against Swine Flu

To help combat a potential swine flu pandemic, two Canadian-based mining companies shut down their mines from May 1-5, following a government order to stop all nonessential activities throughout Mexico for five days.

New Gold (NGD-T, NGD-X) closed its Cerro San Pedro open-pit gold mine in San Luis Potosi state, in central Mexico, where the virus has been most prevalent.

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

Capstone Mining (CS-T, CSFFF-O) shut its Cozamin mine in Zacatecas state as well, but said lost production wouldn’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,” said Capstone president and chief operating officer, Stephen Quin, in a statement.

Many miners, even the largest employers like Mexico’s Industrias Peoles (IPOAF-O, PENOLES-M) and Grupo Mexico (GMBXF-O, GMEXICOB-M) will be keeping their operations running, though workers are following strict sanitary guidelines to avoid spreading germs.

First Majestic Silver (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 four states where it operates, its mines will continue to run. The company reports “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.”