LONDON (Alliance News) - Griffin Mining Ltd shares rose on Friday after it said it has fully restarted operations at the Caijiaying mine in China following the death of a contractor in the middle of last year.
Griffin shares were up 7.8% to 24.80 pence per share on Friday morning.
The death of an employee of the mining contractor operating the mine in the middle of last year initially led to operations being suspended for a couple of weeks. However, in October, operations were suspended again so it could carry out an internal investigation into the death.
Although operations had been suspended since mid-October, Griffin continued to process its stockpiled ore to maintain production rates.
Last week, the Chinese state safety bureau completed an investigation into the death and ruled that the primary cause of death was the poor quality cement provided and lifted the suspension.
On Friday, Griffin said: "Approval to resume blasting has been given by all appropriate Chinese authorities and as such operations have fully recommenced at Caijiaying."
Operations have resumed slightly later than expected, as Griffin was hping to have restarted blasting operations before the end of last week.
Blasting is an essential part of the mining cycle. In virtually all forms of mining, rock is broken by drilling and blasting the rock. Blasting technology is the process of fracturing material by the use of a calculated amount of explosive so that a predetermined volume of material is broken.
Griffin was fined CNY500,000 over the death, which equates to a small sum of GBP52,000.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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Griffin Mining (GFM)