BHP joint venture Antamina copper mine in Peru reports 210 positive virus cases

Peruvian copper mine Antamina — majority owned by global miners BHP and Glencore — has reported 210 positive cases of coronavirus.

The independently operated mine said in a statement it discovered the cases while conducting 600 tests on its staff and contractors, 500 of which have been returned by the laboratory.

It said that 87 per cent of the positive cases were asymptomatic while those with signs of COVID-19 mostly had mild symptoms.

Antamina said two weeks ago it would halt all operations for at least two weeks to mitigate against the spread of the virus.

The mine in the Andes Mountains is a joint venture between BHP (33.75 per cent), Glencore (33.75 per cent), Teck Resources (22.5 per cent) and Mitsubishi (10 per cent).

BHP last week revealed it had a small number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across its global workforce of 72,000, all of whom had recovered or were recovering well.

Reuters