Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) today announced that following the confirmed COVID-19 community transmission case in Perth, Western Australia, MRL has immediately implemented the Western Australian State Government Stay at Home and Closure (Perth, Peel and South West Regions) directions. The company is taking all precautions to keep its people healthy and safe, its operations running and providing continuous service to its customers.
All sites are operating as normal. Movement of workers will be minimized. Only essential workers will mobilise to site and all workers going to site will be screened and must return a negative result prior to mobilisation. Following the screening, the worker will be instructed to remain in strict isolation at home post-screening and before they fly out to site. If there is a positive result for COVID-19, the worker will not fly out to site and the Department of Health will be alerted and take over the case management. Our aim is to ensure that anyone travelling to site is free of the virus.
The COVID-19 screening, which is being undertaken by qualified nurses and overseen by a clinical pathologist, remains part of the Company’s standard ‘fit for work’ regime.
The screening is being carried out by two accredited pathology laboratories using US manufactured and sourced gold-standard machines capable of performing PCR COVID-19 tests utilising TGA approved reagents suitable for testing for SARS/COV-2 viruses. Both the machines and the reagents have been secured and are owned by MRL. The screening and reporting of results fully complies with all Government regulations and processes.
MRL has also opened its metropolitan COVID-19 testing facilities to the West Australian public to assist with the expected surge in testing. The two drive-through screening facilities, located in Wangara and at the Perth airport, were constructed by MRL in April 2020 as part of the Company’s effort to prevent the pandemic from spreading to Western Australia’s essential mining industry.
Mineral Resources Managing Director Chris Ellison said: “The health and well-being of our workforce and the safety of our community is our priority focus and we are doing everything possible to support the McGowan Government to limit the spread of COVID-19.
“The State Government has been very clear on their desire to keep the State’s mining industry open for business. Mineral Resources, as a key player of this essential industry and employing nearly 4,000 men and women, is committed to assisting the Government in this latest outbreak by offering our world-class facilities to the community to help take pressure off the Government screening facilities.
“We are fortunate to have been able to secure certified testing machines and the necessary testing kits to help Western Australia’s fight against COVID-19 and will do everything we can to help minimise the spread of the virus.”
