Job cuts at Waihi mine

Newmont Waihi Gold has today announced it is likely to make 20 workers redundant.

External affairs manager Sefton Darby said "costs go up faster than gold prices. We have had five years of ever-increasing costs and we need to pare them back."

He said the cost-cutting was necessary if the company was to go ahead with its proposed Correnso development which is at the pre-resource consent stage.

The company began its consultation process with staff on Monday morning.

Mr Darby said some will be made redundant while others will be offered work in other departments or at other Newmont sites globally.

It is expected that approximately 20 staff and contractors will be affected by the cuts, though it will not be possible to confirm the full scope of losses and changes until the consultation process has finished on October 2.

He said it was difficult to say what areas would be affected but did say the exploration and geology teams were going through significant budget cuts.

The cuts are part of a wider package of job cuts across all Newmont sites globally.

Staff at Newmont's four mines and regional headquarters in Australia have also been notified this week of likely redundancies.

Newmont Waihi Gold's general manager Glen Grindlay said the decision to reduce the workforce is not one taken lightly.

We will be working closely with all staff to help them through this difficult period."