Aureus Mining has temporarily halted gold production at the New Liberty Gold Mine in Liberia due to a mechanical failure within the secondary crusher.

The company has already sourced a 200t per hour mobile crusher, which is currently being transported to the mine and will be on-site by 23 October.

Aureus Mining president and chief executive officer David Reading said: "The team at Aureus has reacted quickly to the mechanical failure of the secondary crusher, which happened last week.

"The team at Aureus has reacted quickly to the mechanical failure of the secondary crusher.

"Though this is a challenging development during what are the early stages of the ramp-up of the New Liberty Gold Mine to commercial production, we believe that the installation of a temporary solution whilst the secondary crusher is being repaired will result in only a few days of lost gold production."

The company said it is working with DRA, the engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) contractor, and technicians from the secondary crusher’s original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to assess the damage.

Completion of the repair work and having the secondary crusher fully operational are expected by 31 October.

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Once the secondary crusher is repaired, the mobile crusher will be retained for a period of time to provide additional flexibility during the continued ramp-up of operations.

According to Aureus, the temporary shutdown will not severely impact production levels but may halt gold production for up to two weeks.

Meanwhile, the company will continue with mining operations to increase its ore stockpiles.

The Liberty Gold Mine is located within the southern block of the 100%-owned Bea Mountain mining licence that covers 478km² and has a 25-year mineral development agreement.

Aureus started gold sales and initial mining and processing operations from the site in September.