Griffin Mining re-staffs China mine as coronavirus restrictions lifted

Feb 12 (Reuters) - Griffin Mining said on Wednesday it was returning essential staff to its Caijiaying mine in northeastern China to restart operations after Chinese government decrees restricting all non-essential businesses due to a coronavirus outbreak were lifted.

China reported its lowest number of new coronavirus cases since late January, bolstering a forecast by Beijing's senior medical adviser for the outbreak in the country to end by April, even though fears of further international spread remained.

Griffin, which has been developing the Caijiaying zinc and gold project since 1997, announced at the end of last month that mining operations at the mine had been suspended on Jan. 22 during Lunar New Year festivities.

The London-based company said this month that all non-essential local staff had been sent home and placed on standby with the expectation that operations would restart on Monday, as mandated by China. (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; editing by Jonathan Oatis)