South Africa's AngloGold Ashanti said Sunday it had suspended operations at its Mponeng mine after at least 164 employees at the site tested positive for coronavirus. AngloGold Ashanti said it had tested 650 employees at the site in Merafong, Gauteng province, after a first case was detected last week. "This process has indicated 164 positive cases with only a handful of tests left to process," the company said in a statement, adding that the "vast majority" of cases were asymptomatic. Operations at Mponeng mine have been "temporarily halted" to complete contact tracing and "sanitize the workplace". The world's deepest gold mine resumed operations at 50 percent at the start of this month after it was shuttered by a nationwide anti-coronavirus lockdown on March 27. Mining is a critical element in South Africa's already struggling economy, contributing eight percent to overall gross domestic product and raking in 45 percent of foreign exchange earnings. Mines are also one of the largest employers, with nearly half a million workers. Before AngloGold Ashanti's announcement, there were just 85 confirmed coronavirus cases in the whole of South Africa's mining industry, including one death. sch/bmm