Managementat Tara Mines will submit a proposal to its Finnish owners for the reopening of the Co Meath mine.

Tara, Europe's largest zinc mine, closed last November, forcing its 700 workers into temporary redundancy. The mine's owners, Outokumpu, blamed the sharp fall in zinc prices on world markets for the decision.

Although zinc prices remain depressed, with uncertainty likely to continue in the first half of 2002, the closure of a number of mines globally is expected to improve Tara's prospects, the company said in a statement. It said the mine had the potential to be a "low-cost and long-term viable operation".

"The key is that we believe the zinc price will be higher in the second half," said Mr Eero Laatio, managing director of Tara Mines.

Tara said there was a significant need to improve the mine's technical condition, including the immediate need to carry out additional mine development and maintenance work. This would take around three months and cost between €70 million (£55 million) and €80 million, including acquisition of the Bula ore body, it said.

Around 300 people will be employed during the development and maintenance work. However, Mr Laatio said he hoped this number could be increased through job share arrangements.

Mr Laatio said he was confident the financing could be arranged to carry out the improvements and hoped to have this in place before the proposal goes to Outokumpu's board on March 15th.

"Should the decision be positive, the pre-production work would start immediately thereafter, leading to a resumption of full production from the mine in June 2002," the company said.

If the reopening gets the go- ahead, employees will return to work on a phased basis, with all 700 staff to return by the time the mine reaches full production. "We will employ everybody who was working for us," he said.

SIPTU Meath branch secretary Mr Christy McQuillan described the announcement as a "major disappointment and a major setback"."There is no real tangible date for the recommencement of work and we're going to have to go back to the Labour Court to ask it to make a definitive recommendation on the question of the indefinite period of layoffs, where that becomes a redundancy situation," Mr McQuillan said.

"All that's happening on March 15th is that the plan management has devised is going to be re-examined again and submitted as a proposal for reopening. There are no guarantees and no real date for recommencement of work with any certainty."

Mr McQuillan said he was also disappointed that a number of other issues, such as the acquisition of Bula, were now being presented as necessary for the plant being opened, other than just the price of zinc.

"Our members will feel a certain amount deceived because the whole picture wasn't revealed to them and it's now becoming clearer that there were more factors involved than just zinc market prices," he said.

Mr Laatio described the Bula acquisition as "crucial". "We hope to get that deal as soon as possible," he said.