Tara Mines was first granted rights to mine the lead-zinc orebody at a site outside Navan in 1975, when it took up a 25-year lease. The State initially had a 15 per cent shareholding in the project as well as a 4.5 per cent royalty on taxable profits, with the controlling share owned by major international mining groups Noranda and Northgate.
A change of ownership came in 1986, when Finnish state-owned mining company Outokumpu moved to buy 75 per cent of Tara Mine’s share capital and 100 per cent of the preference share capital for just under £73 million from Noranda and Northgate.
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The mine was loss-making loss in seven out of the ten years from 1978 to 1989, with the State selling its stake and royalty entitlement to Outokumpu for $50 million, leaving the Finns as outright owners.
Since then the mine has had a chequered history, punctuated by a series of industrial disputes between workers and operators of the mine as competitiveness and cost efficiency repeatedly weighed on operations. In 2000, workers agreed to radical changes in work practices, but by late 2001, some 700 were facing temporary redundancy.
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At that stage, Outokumpu blamed a sharp fall in zinc prices on world markets for the decision to shut the mine, but there was already speculation that the group planned to sell part or all of the Meath mining operation.
The mine had been losing €3 million a month and the figure rose to €4 million in October that year.
By December 2001, a recommendation was issued by the Labour Court giving the company until mid-January to decide when the mine would reopen, by which time all but 80 of its 700 workers had been laid off.
In March 2002, the 700 workers laid off since before Christmas were told the mine would reopen in June as zinc prices had lifted, and the operator immediately re-employed around 500 of the staff, some on a job-sharing basis, to work on an initial redevelopment programme.
Outokumpu eventually announced its plans to reopen that September, almost a year after workers were initially laid off, with Swedish firm Boliden entering as new owner a year later. Industrial relations problems continued, however.
Management threatened another suspension of operations in 2004 until mediators were engaged to examine industrial relations issues. In 2009, nearly 700 workers at the mines were put on protective notice yet again in a row over cost-cutting measures, as zinc prices dropped once more. Workers voted to accept a cost-cutting package which provided for continuous, four-cycle shift working, and in the same year mine owner Boliden received a €118 million dividend.
In 2013 workers were placed on protective notice yet again as the firm tried to reduce costs. Management and unions ultimately reached an agreement that saw overtime costs reduced, and the company investing €110 million in the mine to maintain its operation to 2018 and beyond.
After a few years of calm, sharp increases in the global price of lead and zinc in 2021 contributed to Boliden recording pretax profits of €19.75 million for that year. Accounts show that Tara Mines Holdings DAC returned to profit as revenues increased by 37.5 per cent from €171.1 million to €235.2 million. The pretax profit of €19.75 million followed a pretax loss of €29 million in 2020 – a positive swing of €48.75 million.
According to the accounts the “current ore reserves indicate a mine life through 2029. The outlook for the mine’s future remains positive”.
Zinc prices have fallen again on international markets in recent months, dropping to the lowest level since 2020.
Boliden said on Tuesday that its latest shutdown in production and temporary lay-off of 650 workers was due to “a combination of factors”.
Zinc prices climbed to a three-week high after the announcement.
