Finnish-based Talvivaara Mining Company has confirmed its plans to downsize the workforce at its nickel mine in Finland, as part of its attempts to avoid bankruptcy.
The London-listed miner operates a nickel mine in eastern Finland and announced that it will lay-off 246 out of a total of 530 employees.
Talvivaara Mining stated that it is necessary to adjust the number of personnel to the current operating scheme, as ore production is temporarily discontinued. The downsize will support the company and Talvivaara Sotkamo’s corporate re-organisation.
Bio-heap leaching and metal recovery activities will continue as normal, the company said.
Talvivaara added that waste water leakage issues, the slump in the price of nickel and a fall in global demand has forced the company to seek additional financing and reduce production costs.
Meanwhile, the metal recovery plant and ore production at the comany’s Sotkamo site in Finland has been suspended, as a consequence of its revamp strategy.
In Q3 of 2013, Talvivaara produced 2,595t of nickel and 5,645t of zinc. It produced 7,103t of nickel and 13,239t of zinc over Q1, Q2 and Q3 of 2013
Last month a Finnish court agreed for the creditor’s decision to include native administrators to undertake the Talvivaara re-structuring programme.
Talvivaara Mining had a net debt of about €460m by the end of Q3, of which more than half is scheduled to mature in 2015.
.gif)
