SMM10, March 14: Australia's OceanaGold announced on Tuesday that it had laid off staff at Didipio Copper and Gold Mine in the Philippines, including 496 employees and about 400 contract workers.
OceanaGold said in a press release that a second round of permanent layoffs could be implemented in mid-November and that notice had been given to affected employees.
Since July 2019, local government departments have banned people from entering and leaving the Didipio mine and are awaiting a financial or technical assistance agreement from the Philippine government, (FTAA), which has made it difficult for the mine to operate in the past 15 months.
Didipio began production in 2013 and has proven and controlled resources of 1.3 million ounces of gold and 160000 tons of copper.
At noon on Tuesday, OceanaGold shares fell 1.6% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, with a market capitalization of C $1.28 billion.
