SSR Mining (Nasdaq, TSX: SSRM; ASX: SSR) says an independent review of last year’s heap leach failure at the Çöpler gold mine in eastern Turkey has revealed a third-party engineered design flaw as the most likely cause of the incident.

The heap leach failure on February 13, 2024, led to a massive landslide that dislodged approximately 10 million cubic meters of earth across a 200-meter slope, trapping and eventually killing nine workers at the mine site.

Days after the incident, Turkish authorities revoked SSR’s environmental permits and later demanded the company pay the cleanup costs. Until the landslide and water issues are addressed, the Çöpler mine will remain suspended.

The leap leach incident is not the first time that Çöpler was forced to stop operating. In June 2022, the Turkish environment ministry ordered the mine’s suspension due to a spill of cyanide waste.

Located about 500 km east of Ankara, Çöpler represents one of SSR’s cornerstone assets, boasting 3.2 million oz. of gold in proven and probable reserves with an estimated mine life of 20 years. The mine, owned 80% by the Denver-based gold miner, has been operating since 2010.

Expert findings

Call & Nicholas Inc. (CNI), the consulting firm commissioned by SSR to investigate the Çöpler incident, found that third-party test data overestimated the shear strength properties of the liner system at the base of the heap leach, which it believes inflated the calculated factor of safety values in the engineered design.

CNI’s analysis also determined that the heap leach pad construction and operation was carried out in conformance with the issued-for-construction engineered design parameters. In addition, the firm said it did not find any substantiation that excess water, ground vibrations from blasting, nor stacking beyond the design caused the event.

Commenting on the findings, SSR Mining’s executive chairman Rod Antal said: “Knowing now that the failure was the result of an engineering design flaw, and not the result of a failure in our operation or construction of the pad, provides clarity and some reassurance to the team on the ground as we seek to restart the Çöpler mine.”

SSR Mining’s shares traded at C$10.88 apiece, up 2.7% on the day, following the release of CNI’s findings. This gives the company, which recently became the third-largest US-based gold miner following an asset purchase from Newmont, a market capitalization of C$2.2 billion ($1.5bn).

Source: MINING.COM – Read More