Mining Industry Feeling Deep Pains
By 250 News
Saturday, January 10, 2009 04:29 AM
Prince George, B.C.- The global economic meltdown is hitting the mining industry throughout B.C.. The most recent announcement coming from Taseko Mines as they handed out another 70 layoff notices at the Gibralter mine near Williams Lake, adding to the 75 that were issued last November.
“This was not an easy decision to make” says Taseko’s Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Brian Battison. “We had initially issued layoff notices last November, but things have not gotten better, they’ve gotten worse.” He’s talking about the economic situation which has seen copper prices plummet in 6 weeks rather than the normal 2 year cycle.
“The layoffs were only one part of the cost saving measures” he adds, “ We have cut all capital spending and all contractors were off site last fall.” That still wasn’t enough to weather the economic storm which has made the demand for copper sink.
The Gibralter mine north of Williams Lake was reopened by Taseko in 2004. Since that time, the company has put $250 million dollars into the facility to upgrade the equipment to current technology. The upgrades were aimed at reducing production costs.
Then, the market turned.
Battison says the company has a commitment to the mine which still has $4 billion dollars worth of minerals and a production life into 2035. “We want to keep the Gibralter mine operating, we are trying to keep as many people working as possible, we want to complete the environmental assessment of the Prosperity project and we want to position the people for the Prosperity project.”
Prosperity is a mineral deposit 125kms south west of Williams Lake. This large, gold and copper deposit has the potential to create 1700 direct and indirect jobs a year over the anticipated 20 year life span of the mine.
Losing experienced employees at Gibralter is not easy for Battison to take “These are good people, they are good workers, who, through no fault of their own are now unemployed. We are losing their knowledge of the way the mine works, their familiarity with the site, their expertise and there is always a danger that if Prosperty is approved, those valuable employees will no longer be in the region.”
This is the latest in a round of layoffs in the B.C. mining industry to be announced in recent months.
- First, Imperial Metals announced it was laying off 49 of its 397 employees at the Mount Polley mine north east of Williams Lake.
- Then Taseko handed out layoffs notices to 75 people.
- This week, Teck Cominco announced it will be cutting its payroll by 1400, of which 400 will be job losses in B.C.
- Western Coal has said it will cut production at its Brule and Wolverine mines in the Chetwynd to Tumbler Ridge corridor. The Brule mine is reducing production, putting 35 people out of work. Depending on coal demands, the Wolverine mine could see a curtailment that would put 425 people on the unemployment line.
- A temporary shut down of Western Coal’s Willow Creek at the end of November cost another 85 jobs.
- Then Taseko handed out another 70 notices at the Gibralter mine.
That means, since November, 714 direct mining jobs have been lost in B.C, with another 425 threatened.
The layoffs are coming amid hopes mining could fill the gaps created by the downturn in forestry. Many companies that have traditionally serviced forestry have made changes so they could service the mining industry. The impact of curtailments and job losses will be felt not only in the communities and regional economies but by the Province as a whole. Gibralter alone pumped $329 million dollars worth of revenue into the Province.
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Posted by: Mercenary on January 10 2009 6:22 AM