Low zinc prices claimed another victim on Tuesday as Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting announced that it will permanently close the Ruttan zinc and copper mine in northern Manitoba by May 31, 2002, instead of at the end of 2003, as previously planned.
Logan Kruger, Hud Bay’s president, said in a prepared release, “This difficult decision is a result of unprecedented low metal prices, a slowing world economy and a poor economic outlook. There are no likely circumstances that will allow Ruttan to be economically viable beyond that time.”
Hud Bay, the Canadian zinc-copper unit of mining conglomerate Anglo American (AAUK-Q), said the closure will result in the loss of 360 jobs.
The mine in Leaf Rapids, northern Manitoba, produces about 30,000 tonnes of zinc metal as well as some copper metal in concentrate annually.
On Monday, Breakwater Resources (BWR-T) announced that the Nanisivik mine, in Nunavut, will close in September 2002, ahead of schedule. Lower prices and head grades and higher operating costs combined to leave Nanisivik with an $8.3-million operating loss in the first half of the year. Breakwater plans on accelerating the removal of the mine pillars.
Also on Monday, Asarco, a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico, announced plans to indefinitely suspend zinc mining and processing operations at its Tennessee Mines division by mid-November.
The suspension will be phased in over the next several weeks, and see about 360 jobs lost at the company’s three zinc operations in Jefferson County in eastern Tennessee. A skeleton crew will remain onsite for care and maintenance and to continue processing agricultural lime from existing zinc production byproducts.
During 2000, the Tennessee Mines division produced 56,800 tonnes of zinc-in-concentrate. Cash costs at the mines are estimated at US48 per lb.
The company says that operations could resume if long-term market conditions improve.
On the morning of Oct. 31, the cash price of zinc on the London Metal Exchange was US34 per lb. A year earlier the metal was trading at US48 per lb.
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