- With support from the Government of Mauritania, Kinross Gold (TSX:K) has resolved a unionised strike at its Tasiast gold mine
- The strike was initially announced on May 5 this year, but few details relating to its cause have been made public
- Despite the operational disruptions, the company is not expecting any major impacts to its planned development of the site
- Kinross Gold had always disagreed with the basis for the strike but says it remains open to discussion with staff delegates.
- Kinross Gold (K) is currently down 0.55 per cent and is trading at C$9.90 per share, with a market cap of $12.46 billion
With support from the Government of Mauritania, Kinross Gold (TSX:K) has resolved a unionised strike at its Tasiast gold mine.
The open-pit Tasiast mine is located in northwestern Mauritania, approximately 300 kilometres north of the capital Nouakchott.
The strike was announced on May 5 of this year, following a notice from staff delegates. Since the complications began, Kinross Gold has maintained its disagreement with the basis of the strike but said that it remains open to discussions with its employees.
Few details have been made public regarding the root cause of the strike, but the company referenced a collective labour agreement that was finalised in November 2019.
In the original release from the beginning of May, Kinross Gold stated it had adhered to all applicable labour codes and was disappointed that Tasiast staff delegates had decided to pursue this opportunistic course of action during the global pandemic.
A key part of the site is the 24k Project, which Kinross Gold unveiled in September last year.
The project has been designed to gradually increase throughput capacity to 21,000 tonnes per day by the end of 2021, and then 24,000 tonnes per day by mid-2023.
Based on the results of a previously completed feasibility study, the 24k Project is anticipated to increase production, reduce costs, extend the mine’s life to 2033 and generate significant cash flow.
With operations now up and running, Kinross Gold stressed that the disruptions are not likely to materially affect 2020 production or the ongoing development of the 24k Project.
This is not the first time that labour-related actions have occurred at Tasiast.
There have been four such strikes to date, with the last one reported in 2016. The average length of these strikes was approximately nine days, and none have had any significant overall impact on the company.
Kinross Gold (K) is currently down 0.55 per cent and is trading at C$9.90 per share at 11:00am EDT.
