Loading ...Shares in Canadian miner Kinross Gold’s (TSX:G) (NYSE:KGC) were plummeting Tuesday as unionized employees at the company’s Tasiast mine in Mauritania began a strike.
At lunchtime, the stock was down almost 9% to Cdn$5.92 in Toronto and was trading 7.6% lower to $4.52 in New York.
Among other issues, Mauritanian miners complain that there is a major gap between their salaries and expats working for Kinross.
“There are 2,600 Mauritanian workers employed by the firm of whom 1,041 are permanent, costing the company $36 million, while there are 130 expatriate employees who cost $43 million,” workers’ spokesman Bounenna Ould Sidi told AFP.
The Toronto-based gold producer said it remained open to re-commencing negotiations on a new collective agreement and to resolve other outstanding items with union representatives.
In March, Kinross announced it was going ahead with the first stage of a two-phase expansion designed to boost gold production and drive down costs at the problem-plagued project.
cont. http://www.mining.com/kinross-gold-workers-strike-at-tasiast-mine-in-mauritania-shares-plummet/