More than 120 of Rio Tinto’s Argyle Diamond mine employees will be redeployed in to other areas of the business as part of the company’s long-term economic plan.
Rio spokesperson Gervase Greene told MINING DAILY that 87 company employees and 34 contractors were informed that they would lose their job at the East Kimberly Operation.
“Some of Rio Tinto’s open-pit workforce will be redeployed,” he said.
“All of the employees have been guaranteed a job in another area of Rio Tinto’s iron ore section if they wish to remain with the company.
“We will provide fly-in, fly-out opportunities for each employee so that they do not have to move.
“Having only informed employees of the redeployment yesterday, Rio Tinto is unsure of how many will take up transfer opportunity and remain with the company.”
Greene said the job cuts were always part of the company’s transition from open-cut mining to underground mining.
“Essentially our new underground mine will be state-of-the-art and automated, and therefore need significantly less people than an open-pit mine,” he said.
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