Endeavor Mine employees will today find out what the mine’s future holds at a ‘State of the Nation’ meeting this morning.
Endeavor Mine general manager Denver D’Angelo said the mine’s parent company CBH Resources (which is wholly owned by Toho Zinc) had invited all of the mine’s employees to attend a ‘State of the Nation’ presentation, this morning at the Cobar Bowling & Golf Club.
“I understand there had been a deal of uncertainty surrounding our future,” Mr D’Angelo said.
He said the presentation aimed to inform employees of the company’s proposed changes for Endeavor.
“These changes require the company to consult with employees.”
So that all employees could attend the presentation, operations at the mine ceased at 7pm yesterday.
Mr D’Angelo advised drilling activities would recommence tomorrow however all other operations at the mine would not be resuming until next Wednesday.
Employees were also advised they would be required to attend individual consultation meetings following today’s ‘State of the Nation’ presentation.
This information, coupled with the notice of a one week shutdown period, has sparked local rumours of imminent redundancies.
Endeavor, which commenced operations in 1983 as the Elura Mine, has had an up and down history over its 36 years of operation.
In 2008, it was severely hurt financially during the Global Financial Crisis.
The mine cut 116 jobs in February 2016, almost half of the workforce, as a way of preserving the life of the mine. A review of their operating strategies saw production level targets cut from 64,600 tonnes of zinc and lead concentrate to 10,900 tonnes.
However by November of 2016 things were looking better and the mine had started to ramp back up again, aiming to re-employ more than 100 people.
As part of the ramp-up, Endeavor conducted an extensive underground exploration drilling program and the company revised their production targets with the aim of producing 40,000 tonnes per month by May 2017.
At that stage the 2016 reserves confirmed a life of mine out to 2019, and the company was hopeful their exploration program would see the mine last well in to the 2020s.
In October 2017 the mine reached a significant milestone with the first cut in the decline made in almost a decade to access a deeper zinc lode. By June 2018 the company was hopeful of a significant extension to the life of mine “well into the 2020s” and their three year plan aimed for production levels of 720,000 tonnes per annum.
In addition to significant capital expenditure on equipment and improvements, $2.5million was invested in a drilling program.
