Rio Tinto warns further job slashes at the landslide-hit Utah copper mine

Mining News  |  2013-05-28 06:42:17   |   By

Reports indicate that the mining giant Rio Tinto has cut 100 permanent jobs and is gearing up for further job slashes in the landslide-marred Kennecott Utah mines

WASHINGTON (Scrap Monster) : Reports indicate that the mining giant Rio Tinto has cut 100 permanent jobs and is gearing up for further job slashes in the landslide-marred Kennecott Utah mines.

The company states that the layoff of 100 workers was permanent. To reduce the impact, the company has given the employees the option to choose their preferences- vacation time, unpaid leave and one-time $20,000 resignation incentive for employees covered by Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) eligible for retirement. The set deadline for choosing one among the various options is 31st May. The company announced that it would be forced to implement further job cuts next month as part of its effort to bring down the operating costs.

Rio Tinto's Kennecott Utah Copper unit, located in the Bingham Canyon operation, in southwest Salt Lake County was hit earlier by a massive pit wall slide-one of the largest landslides in mining history. Although limited digging activities have resumed at the mine, Rio Tinto has stated that it would take at least one year for a full recovery. The company has already cut its production targets by 50%.

The Bingham Canyon Mine, also known as the Kennecott Copper Mine, is an open-pit mining operation extracting a large copper deposit southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA in the Oqirrh Mountains. The copper operations at Kennecott are managed through Kennecott Utah Corporation which operates the mine, a concentrator plant, a smelter and a refinery. The mine has been in production since 1906, and has resulted in the creation of a pit covering 1900 acres.

Kennecott produced about 25 percent of the nation's copper and 2 percent worldwide in 2010 and 2011. In addition to copper, the mine produces gold, silver and molybdenum.