A total of 221 workers at Galmoy Mines in Co Kilkenny are to lose their jobs over the next three years, it emerged today.
The union representing the workers, Siptu, said the mine was to be closed on a phased basis between now and 2011.
It said a redundancy package worth 6.75 weeks pay per year of service had been negotiated after intensive negotiations that finished this morning.
The first 36 redundancies will take place this year, the union said in a statement.
The zinc mine is said to be closing because it is reaching the end of its natural lifespan.
Galmoy chief executive, Stefan Masson, said the pending closure was not a surprise for workers.
“We will have depleted recourses by 2011,” he said.
“This has been well known by all our employees for at least two years, so this decision did not really come as a shock to them.
“They were aware that at some stage we would have to wind-down operations.”
Mr Masson added that management still had to enter negotiations with the TEEU and talk to staff directly about the process.
The Labour Party’s Seanad finance spokesman Alan Kelly said the job cuts marked the end of a dismal week for the economy.
“The fact that these jobs are not to be lost immediately now offers the Government an opportunity to ensure that alternative industrial projects are found to ensure that the 220 Galmoy miners do not have to join the 40,000 that have been added to the live register since Brian Cowen became Taoiseach in May.”
