Expert comment on cutback in production at Kumtor gold mine due to massive flow of ice and waste rock into the mine

Centerra Gold’s announcement that the February 2012 ice and waste fall into the Kumtor pit will result in a cutback in gold production indicates that the measures the company has put in place to address the causes of past pit wall failures have been ineffective since those measures were not effective at preventing Davidov ice and waste from falling into the open pit and causing the current production cutback.

The author of this comment is Paul Robinson, Research Director at the Southwest Research and Information Center.