RE: Barrack needs oreBarrick to close one mill at Goldstrike
100 workers to be offered other jobs
By ADELLA HARDING- Staff Writer
Friday, July 31, 2009 4:55 PM PDT
ELKO — Barrick Gold of North America’s Goldstrike Mine is shuttingdown one of two mills that feed its ore-processing autoclaves on Aug.31, but the roughly 100 affected employees have job opportunitieselsewhere within Barrick operations.
“Everyone still should have a career with Barrick,” Goldstrike General Manager John Mansanti said Thursday.
Hesaid Barrick timed the decision to shut down a mill cycle at a timewhen there are job openings at Goldstrike and the Cortez Hills Projectin Lander County that Barrick expects to put into production early nextyear.
Most Cortez workers live in Elko, as do the Goldstrike workers.
“Our hope is it’s community neutral,” Mansanti said.
Jobsalso are open for the mill workers at Barrick’s other operations inNevada, including the Ruby Hill Mine at Eureka, Bald Mountain Mine inWhite Pine County and the Turquoise Ridge Mine in Humboldt County, hesaid.
Along with choosing to shut down one milling cycle nowwhen jobs are available, the timing also means Goldstrike can keepoperating the second mill longer, rather than pushing all the ore thatneeds processing in the autoclaves through both mills.
Continuingto process at full capacity would lead to a total mill shutdown andlayoffs sooner than slowing operations and using only a portion of thesix autoclaves.
“The timing drove this decision. We get to hangonto the talent, and we’re matching it with Cortez’s needs andexpanding the lift of the autoclaves,” Mansanti said. “Cost wasn’t aconsideration.”
Goldstrike processes sulfide ores through theautoclaves, which are basically pressure cookers where oxygen is addedto the ore at a high temperature.
“The amount of autoclave ore has been declining. It’s just the nature of the ore body,” Mansanti said.
Carbongold ores are processed at Goldstrike’s roaster plant. Barrick Gold ofNorth America’s manager of communications and community relations, LouSchack, said Goldstrike expects to operate the roaster for 20 moreyears.
Barrick administrators are meeting with night shiftworkers today and the day shift Saturday at the mill facing closure toexplain the plans and potential for other jobs with Barrick, Mansantisaid.
He said all the affected employees at the mill will beassigned a human resources representative to help them find new workwithin Barrick operations.
“They may have to go to the open pit or underground at Goldstrike or to Cortez or one of the other sites,” he said.
“Theideal is that everyone will have a job. If they don’t want a new job,then we have a severance package for them, but they will have to workuntil the mill shuts down,” Mansanti said. “They can also volunteer totake severance to open a job for someone else.”
“We don’t expect it to be a big number,” Schack said.
Mansantisaid there are more positions open at the Barrick operations than thereare people losing their jobs at the mill, so the loss of work at themill should be “a soft landing.”
For example, he said Goldstrikehas kept truck-driver positions open at Goldstrike, Cortez, BaldMountain and Ruby Hill in anticipation of the shutdown, and Barrickwill retrain the mill workers who choose to drive trucks.
Aportion of the Goldstrike mill building where the autoclaves arelocated has been on site more than 20 years. The mill cycle that willbe shut down will remain on care and maintenance in case it is neededagain, including for toll milling of ores from other mines, Mansantisaid.
“I’d venture to say probably 24 million ounces of gold orbetter has come out of the autoclaves since they started out,” he said.
The 24 million ounces are out of 35 million ounces produced at Goldstrike over the years.
Theextension of time with the shutdown also allows Barrick moreopportunities to look at new technologies and discover more ore thatmay need autoclave treatment, Mansanti said, also stating that thedecision to close one mill cycle came after months of study.