HudBay Minerals, Flin Flon, Manitoba’s largest employer, will shut down its local zinc plant and mine by this June, but it is ramping up work at other Manitoba mine sites.
“The closure date for the zinc plant is scheduled for the end of May. Operations at the 777 mine and Flin Flon mill will cease in mid-June,” said a company spokesperson in a March 9 statement to the Flin Flon Reminder.
The Flin Flon zinc plant will be shut down permanently, according to a company spokesperson, as will 777 mine.
Hudbay claims the number of workers who will be laid off once operations in Flin Flon close will be lower than expected.
The company has opened the New Britannia gold processing plant in Snow Lake, which is 200 kilometres east of Flin Flon and 685 kilometres north of Winnipeg near Hudbay’s Lalor mine, a large copper, zinc and gold play. The company spent about $150 million to refurbish the Lalor plant that had been idle for nearly 20 years.
“Approximately 275 Hudbay employees will be impacted as we transition our primary operation from Flin Flon to Snow Lake. Any employees affected by a loss of role will be provided 16-weeks’ notice as per the Canada Labour Code,” the company stated.
Flin Flon, on the northern Saskatchewan border, has a population of around 5,000.
Hudbay said some Flin Flon workers may relocate as it continues to ramp up production in Snow Lake, going up to 5,300 tonnes per day of production as workers and equipment start moving in.
“This expansion includes extension of surface facilities, additional mobile equipment and an increase in employee numbers at Snow Lake, all of which are important to achieving increased throughput, so that the capacities at both our Stall mill [also at Snow Lake] and New Britannia mill are fully utilized,” said the spokesperson.
