Mining Magazine is making some of its most important coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic freely available to readers. For more coverage, please see our COVID-19 hub. To subscribe to Mining Magazine, click here.

On May 9, Russian public health agency Rospotrebnadzor said 89 workers had tested positive at Olimpiada, with only 5% showing symptoms. 

Workers who tested positive with symptoms at the mine, located in the Siberian province of Krasnoyarsk, were transferred to hospitals while those without symptoms were placed into quarantine.

The company has said all personnel on site are subject to regular testing, social distancing and the mandatory use of personal protective equipment to minimise the risk of further infection.

"Operations at Olimpiada are currently uninterrupted" Polyus wrote in a statement to media. "To date, the coronavirus has had only insignificant impact on production or product shipments."

Olimpiada, which employs more than 3,300 staff, is the company's largest operation, with proven and probable reserves of 26 million ounces of gold.