WINNEMUCCA - Atna Resources announced Wednesday that operations at Pinson Mine would be suspended due to the declining gold prices, and 21 of its 25 employees were laid off, according to Valerie Kimball, corporate secretary and manager of investor relations for Atna.
Half of the 25 employees were contractors and the other half were Atna employees. The four remaining are full-time Atna employees and will work on demobilizing the mine and putting the mine on care and maintenance status.
The announcement comes only a month after operations were reduced for the first time. Prior to May 29, the mine had 100 employees - 80 contractors and 20 Atna employees. That number was reduced to 25 in order to scale back on costs.
Kimball said that because Pinson was a start-up operation, the declining gold prices created a difficult climate for the mine.
"There are things we need to do to optimize production," Kimball said.
She said that one of the things that Atna will be doing during this time is looking at alternate mining methods and determining the best way to get material out of the ground. As for reopening the mine, Kimball said it is definitely a possibility.
"We could very well reopen the mine," she said. "I don't know when, but that's the ultimate goal.
Kimball said Atna is disappointed about the decision to suspend operations at Pinson, but that it's the best way to move forward at this time.[[In-content Ad]]
