Xstrata threatens to wield jobs axe

Xstrata says it will be forced to axe 300 jobs and shelve the McArthur River zinc mine if an immediate decision on the operation is not made by the federal environment minister. Xstrata warned on Friday that stockpiles of zinc-lead ore at the mine in the Northern Territory would be depleted by January 26. Mining and civil works at the mine ceased on December 17 after the Full Bench of the Federal Court upheld an appeal against a judgment in June. The judgment by Justice Mansfield was that a decision by the federal environment minister to approve a controversial open-cut expansion was invalid because of procedural errors by the commonwealth government. "If we do not have a decision by the federal government on whether we can continue mining at the McArthur River mine by that date, we will unfortunately have no other option than to lay off 300 workers and suspend all operations," Xstrata Zinc Australia chief operating officer Brian Hearne said in a statement. Xstrata rechannelled a 5.5-kilometre section of the McArthur River in 2008 as part of the conversion of the mine from an underground operation to an open cut. The company said it had complied with a request from the federal government to supply the necessary information from its approval process immediately following the court decision. Xstrata said the next step was for federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett to consider all the relevant information and make a decision about the mine's futures. SOURCE:news.theage.com.au