Rio Tinto, the owner of Argyle diamond mine is to cut 121 jobs at the mine located in the Kimberly region of Western Australia.
The 121 workers include 87 company employees and 34 contractors. Mr Kevin McLeish the chief operating officer of the company states that” the new job cuts are to do with their transition from open cut to underground mining.Our new underground mines will be automated with state of the art equipment and will require less manpower than the open pit mines”
Alternative employment has been guaranteed at its Pilbara Iron Ore Mines.
According to the Australian Financial Review the company’s spokesman Gervase Green, Rio Tinto is comitted to the US$ 782 million underground mining expansion at Argyle.
