Newcrest Mining’s, Acting General Manager, Business Support, Felix Tavil said the response to aircraft emergency is one of Lihir’s material task.
He said emergency response is an important mitigating control to reduce impacts.
Regular training and drills are conducted to ensure employees are fit to handle any situation, in the unlikely event of an emergency.
The aircraft emergency response exercise was facilitated by Newcrest Mining in partnership with PNG Air.
Volunteers and crew including medical officers, firefighters, and International SOS officers went through the drills at Kunaye Airport near Lihir.
The training was on simulated fire and explosion, medical injuries and evacuations.
It was a great opportunity to test emergency response capabilities of Newcrest and PNG Air, as well as contractors and suppliers.
The exercise was observed by independent reviewers who also provided feedback for improvement.
In the meantime, real-time drills are conducted at every relevant site bi-annually, with a desk-top exercise on alternate years, to ensure ground operations staff knows the risk involved and how to respond.
