Australian gold producer halts Indonesian operations, worker missing

Australia's largest gold producer has halted operations at its Indonesian mine and are attempting to rescue a worker trapped 300 meters underground following a "geo-technical event".

The employee was unaccounted for after the immediate evacuation of the Kencana mine at the Gosowong Gold Mine in Indonesia following "a geo-technical event" at 20:30 local time on Monday, which has caused damage to a number of mining levels, Newcrest Mining Ltd said in a statement on Tuesday.

The cause of the "geo-technical event" is not yet known.

"Our priority is to contact and rescue the trapped employee and provide all support necessary to the employee's family and the Gosowong workforce," Newcrest said.

"All efforts and specialist resources are being applied to the rescue."

All mining and processing operations at Gosowong, which was forecasted to produce 300,000 to 350,000 ounces of gold in the year to July, have been suspended, Newcrest said.

At 12:25 local time, Newcrest's shares were up 1.10 Australian dollars (70.43 U.S. cents), or 7.09 percent higher to 16.62 Australian dollars (11.71 U.S. dollars) in a market that's been heavily sold.

Worries concerning the state of the global economy, low oil prices and uncertainty of U.S. interest rate rises have seen investors return to the safe haven gold, pushing futures contract prices near 1,200 U.S. dollars an ounce. Endit