Tara Mines, which has been effectively shut since last summer, lost about €65 million last year, its parent company said, as management continues to negotiate with unions over job losses at the Co Meath mine.
The mine was put into “care and maintenance” due to a combination of low international zinc prices and high energy and other costs in July, but the company committed at the time that staff would be brought back on the same terms and conditions. Last month though it outlined a so-called rescue plan including job losses, changes to work practices and more effective use of new technology. The company claims the mine is one of the most expensive of its type in the world to operate and needs to work very differently if it is to be viable in periods when zinc prices are not high.
The loss “would have been substantially higher had we not temporarily suspended operations and entered care and maintenance in July 2023,” Tara Mines general manager Gunnar Nystrom said in a statement. “External market conditions remain extremely challenging, and the current price of zinc is of major concern.”
“This demonstrates the importance of reaching an agreement with the group of unions on the rescue plan proposals to enable the operation to re-open on a sustainable basis, with better protection against external market conditions. We remain in discussions with the group of unions and continue to work towards achieving an agreement,” he added.
Still, Boliden has not ruled out closing the mine permanently if zinc prices do not pick up.
While the company won’t put a deadline on when it would make a decision on the future of the business, Boliden chief Mikael Staffas warned it would shut the operation if need be.
“At some stage if we don’t think we can get anywhere so we can make it profitable, we have to close it, but what exact timing around that is relatively open,” Mr Staffas told analysts on Thursday.
The plant is “not really” important for Boliden to provide zinc as it can buy the raw material on the open market, he added.
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