SSR Mining stock sinks on Turkish gold mine disaster

SSR Mining‘s (TSX: SSRM; NASDAQ: SSRM; ASX: SSR) share price was cut in half on Tuesday after a disaster at its Çöpler gold mine in Turkey forced it to suspend operations.

As reported by Reuters, nine workers are missing, according to Turkey’s energy ministry. Rescue efforts are under way.

A video on X showed the massive resulting landslide.

A large slip on the heap leach pad at Çöpler occurred around 6:30 a.m. EST, the company said in a news release.

Located 1,100 km southeast from Istanbul, Çöpler represents one of SSR’s cornerstone assets, boasting 3.2 million oz. of gold in proven and probable reserves with an estimated mine life of 20 years.

The mine has been operating since 2010 and is currently processing ore through two producing plants – the oxide and sulphide plants. The oxide ore is processed via heap leach while the sulphide ore is processed using pressure oxidation.

The leap leach incident is not the first time that Çöpler was forced to stop operating. In June 2022, the Turkish environment ministry ordered the mine’s suspension due to a spill of cyanide waste.

Shares of SSR Mining fell by over 55% at $4.36 by 11:40 a.m. in New York, having hit a new 52-week low of $4.27 earlier in the session. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock traded as high as $17.72 apiece. The company’s market capitalization is $909.2 million.