Mauritanian gold mine to reopen after govt row

NOUAKCHOTT: Production at a giant Canadian-owned gold mine in Mauritania will resume in August, the company said, after operations were suspended in June over a dispute with the government about work permits.

Work at the Tasiast site, one of the main gold mines in west Africa, stopped after the state ordered expatriates whose work permits had expired to stay home.

That order came a month after workers went on strike over plans by the owner Kinross to slash costs.

"Operations of extraction and treatment at the Tasiast mine should resume normally in the first half of August," said a statement from Tasiast Mauritanie Limited, a local subsidiary of Toronto-headquartered Kinross, on Thursday.

The resumption follows an agreement between TLMSA and the government of Mauritania to resolve the work permits dispute, according to the statement.

In June, the government intervened after a routine inspection of the mine to ensure workers had the necessary permits and that their rights were being upheld.

Workers went on strike for 18 days starting in May to dispute money-saving measures, including cuts to medical cover, tax cover and bonuses which they said had been instigated without consultation.

In May, the secretary general of the CGTM coalition of trade unions in Mauritania, Mohamed Abdallahi Nehah, complained of the pay gap between the Mauritanian staff and their much better-paid foreign counterparts.

"There are 2,600 Mauritanian workers employed by the firm of whom 1,041 are permanent, costing the company $36 million, while there are 130 expatriate employees who cost $43 million," he Nehah.

Nearly all of the mine´s permanent staff took part in the strike, which the government had denounced as illegal.

TLMSA said in the statement Thursday it was making efforts to employ more Mauritanians, estimating that 88 percent of its staff are locals.

"Over the next four years TMLSA plans to fill several expatriate posts with Mauritanians who will be trained and monitored to develop the required knowledge and the necessary experience for these positions," it said.