Goldcorp dogged by strikers

Officers of Goldcorp (G-T) faced off against an angry group of striking miners at a tense annual meeting held recently in Toronto.

The workers, members of the United Steelworkers of America (Local 950) have been on strike since 1996 at the Red Lake mine in Balmertown, Ont. In the meantime, Goldcorp has carried out a major exploration campaign, completed a feasibility study for the mine’s new High Grade zone and closed a major financing (T.N.M., May 31-June 6/99).

During the meeting, Goldcorp employee and union member Nancy Hutchison explained the union’s position: “From 1990, there hasn’t been a true set of negotiations with Goldcorp, where the workers were able to put all our issues on the table. From 1990 to 1994, there were no increases in wages, pensions or in the drug plan.

“So when 1995 came around and you hit the Motherlode [the High Grade zone], we thought maybe Goldcorp was going to give us something back for our patience, for our goodwill, for our reasonableness in extending the collective agreement and for agreeing in 1994 to not discuss monetary issues. It hasn’t happened — it put us on strike and we’re still on strike.”

In response, Goldcorp Chairman Robert McEwen said, “It is our objective to resolve the strike before we go into commercial production. It is conceivable to go forward without settling the dispute, but it is not our preference.

“We’re looking at a new mine built on an old mine site, with a new approach to working. There’s new equipment that will make the place less accident prone.

“To get back into production as soon as possible means that the benefits that we see coming from this new discovery will be shared by a large group of people — our workers, the local community and our shareholders. We see that a quick resolution of this dispute will benefit all those parties.”

During the meeting, Vice-President of Exploration Gilles Filion outlined Goldcorp’s exploration program for 1999, which has a budget of US$8 million just within the Red Lake camp. The program will include more definition and delineation drilling of the High Grade zone, as well as exploration drilling of new targets both at the Red Lake mine and the nearby Cochenour property.

Regarding the recent drilling into the High Grade zone, Filion commented, “The preliminary results match our expectations and we are looking forward to increasing reserves by year-end.”

Bruce Humphrey, vice-president gold operations, said the company could see substantial production increases at the Red Lake mine within two years of startup in late 2000, thanks to refractory gold recovery and modest amounts of expansion capital. This increase, he said, would further lower the costs of what is expected to be one of the world’s lowest-cost gold producers.