The continuing low price of copper coupled with the current lower production has necessitated a reduction in Gibraltar Mines’ workforce to 320 employees, says President A. J. Petrina.
About 35 hourly and staff employees at the company’s open pit copper mine near Williams Lake, B.C. are being laid off. The reduction will not affect the level of operations, says Mr Pertrina, but reflects a continuing need to maximize cost-efficiency at the mine, which has been operating at a loss since 1981.
The president said despite a modest increase in worldwide consumption of copper, excess supplies have kept prices depressed in the range of 6 cents per lb. The company continues to study other cost- cutting measures, including changes to the mining plan, which may become necessary should copper prices fail to improve.
Gibraltar is also constructing a solvent extraction and electrowinning plant to recover extra copper at lower cost through leaching of low grade dump. This plant is expected to start production of cathode copper late this year at a rate of 10 million lb per year.
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