WA:Magellan to lay off mine staff

AAP General News (Australia)
04-08-2011
WA:Magellan to lay off mine staff

PERTH, April 8 AAP - Controversial lead miner Magellan Metals looks set to lay off
nearly 200 staff as it mothballs its Wiluna mine following the discovery of lead-contaminated
mud on a container at Fremantle Port.

Canadian parent company Ivernia says the mine, 980km northeast of Perth, is being placed
into care and maintenance and Magellan is in talks with its employees about potential
redundancies.

"Some contractors have already been informed not to return to the mine site, and Magellan
Metals is holding talks with its major service providers," Ivernia said in a statement.

About 220 employees and contractors are employed at the mine and another 15 people
in Magellan's Perth office.

Ivernia said the mine was expected to be under full care and maintenance by April 15,
2011, with around 40 staff members retained for that purpose.

"The company cannot, at this time, provide any further guidance on when the company
will restart operations at the Magellan Mine," the company's statement said.

Magellan on Wednesday voluntarily ceased operations at Wiluna following its third breach
of strict lead transport conditions in four months.

Lead was found last week in caked mud under a container at Fremantle Port.

Magellan's vice-president of corporate and social responsibility, John Yeates, said
the lead may have been picked up at the railhead at Leonora where containers were placed
on the ground before being loaded.

He said investigations were under way to find out if it was residual lead, left at
the railhead from previous lead exports through Esperance between 2005 and 2007.

But the rail operator, the Australian Railroad Group (ARG), says an independent analysis
of soil samples from the Leonora site proves the rail yard is not the cause of the latest
lead contamination.

Premier Colin Barnett said on Wednesday his government's patience with Magellan had
"pretty much run out".

"I think they have recognised this, they are closing the operation down, I guess to
consider the future," Mr Barnett said.

In December, the WA government suspended Magellan's transport of lead after traces
of airborne lead were found in containers carrying sealed bags of lead carbonate railed
to Fremantle.

Just after lead shipments resumed, they were halted again in March after it was found
the dangerous metal was railed along lines that were not part of the route specified in
the strict environmental conditions imposed.

In 2007, Magellan was barred from shipping lead out of the southern WA port of Esperance
after extensive lead contamination there killed thousands of birds and boosted lead levels
in the blood of children.

AAP ldj/nb

KEYWORD: LEAD

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