Miner and commodities trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) is closing up its Brunswick Lead Smelter in Canada’s New Brunswick, by the end of the year, as the unit has become “uneconomic” since the mine closed six years ago.
The plant, which employs about 420
people, processes lead/silver concentrate, by-product from the zinc smelter and
a wide variety of recycled materials, including batteries and lead glass.
The facility was supposed to transition
to a custom smelter, with Glencore planning to spend up to $64 million on an
acid plant there.
The first phase, worth about $20
million, was completed, but the project was cancelled in August amid a contract
dispute with unionized workers, which included safety concerns.
Employees and the United Steelworkers (USW) union, who represent more than half of the smelter’s employees, were scheduled to block today three of Glencore’s facilities in the Montreal area, beginning at the company’s Raglan Mine headquarters, in Laval, just around the time the closure announcement hit the wires.
They say they have been off
the job since April 24 in a contract dispute that included safety concerns.
“We have thoroughly assessed all our options and come to the unavoidable conclusion that the smelter is simply not sustainable, regardless of the recent labour dispute,” Glencore Canada’s spokesperson Alexis Segal, said in the statement.
“We need to be very clear that
the plant was not making money for the last three years,” he added.
“In fact, the plant lost in average over the last three years $30 million
per year.
Segal also said the labour dispute was
unrelated to the decision to close the facility in Atlantic Canada, adding that
the company intends to provide pension, severance and outplacement support
services to all employees as part of closure settlements to be agreed on.
The Brunswick smelter opened in
1966.