An Australian company operating a gold mine in Solomon Islands is insisting that it hasn’t pulled out of the country.

Australian mining company St Barbara says it was forced to shut down operations at the Gold Ridge mine last Friday because of flood damage and subsequent security risks.

St Barbara’s managing director Tim Lehany said it doesn’t mean operations have ended for good.

“We haven’t walked out on the country, that’s just simply not true, and we’ve not abandoned the mine,” he said.

“We had no choice but to remove our employees from the mine site.”

The mine recorded 500 millimetres of rainfall in just 24 hours when flooding hit the country last week.

Lehany says the flooding limited access to the mine, making it too dangerous for workers to stay.

“When this started we had 200 people on site, so we completely lost access, the only way in or out was by helicopter and that was restricted due to weather conditions,” he said.

“We had diminishing food and fuel supplies and a large number of people there.

“If anyone was seriously injured we had no way of doing medivacs.”

But Solomon Islands Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo has accused St Barbara of walking out on the country.

He says he’s disappointed with the way the situation has unfolded.

There has been speculation over the future of St Barbara’s operations at Gold Ridge recently, with the company’s share price plummeting.

But Lehany says the decision to suspend operations was based purely around staff safety.

He says the flooding had also led to security concerns.

“We also had a number of random acts of violence and vandalism, and we can only see that escalating,” he said.

“Given the situation on the ground in Honiara, we were certain that we could not rely on external assistance to enforce law and order and provide security.

“So on that assessment people were at a significant safety risk and we had to remove them from the mine.”

Lehany says two vehicles were stoned and there had been a number of incursions into the site by illegal miners.

And there are fears disgruntled landowners may use the situation as an opportunity to loot from the mine.