Extraction of ore recommenced on June 28. This is a test phase and is the first time ore has been extracted from Cadia East since the seismic event on April 14 this year.

The Cadia East mine was placed under a Prohibition Notice by the New South Wales Regulator following the seismic event. Newcrest has submitted remediation and restart plans for Panel Cave 1 (PC1) and PC2 to the Regulator, which has resulted in the Prohibition Notice being lifted subject to Newcrest complying with these plans.

All remediation and upgrade work on ground support required for the safe restart of PC2 has been completed. The first phase of the restart plan is a test period during which ore will be drawn from each of the 165 drawbells in PC2. During this phase Newcrest will closely monitor the cave response with the cave seismic monitoring system. Both PC2 crushers and the conveyor system have been tested and are operational.

The testing phase is expected to take between 2-4 weeks before Newcrest will be in a position to confirm normal operations from PC2.

Meanwhile, remediation and upgrade work continues on the PC1 extraction level and crusher chamber, which is expected to be completed in Q1 FY18. Testing of the PC1 crusher and material handling systems has been successfully completed and are confirmed as operational.

The Ridgeway sub-level cave has been recommissioned and is currently producing approximately 6,000t/d of ore. A combination of Ridgeway ore and low-grade Cadia Hill stockpiles will continue to feed the processing plant until ore production from PC1 and PC2 returns to full production.

Newcrest states that the safety of our people remains its primary objective as it progresses the re-start activity.

Sandeep Biswas, managing director and CEO of Newcrest, said: "The Cadia team and our business partners have done an excellent job during the remediation and upgrade process. I am particularly pleased to note that this has been achieved to date without a single recordable injury".