- wlman
Gibraltar Mine is on its way up
| News |
By LeRae Haynes
Gibraltar Mine is only one of the businesses and industries hit hard by the recession in the Cariboo. Thanks to foresight, hard work, the rising price of copper and, according to General Manager Kim Barrowman, a lot of luck, the mine is getting back on track with its operations and expansions.
“We survived,” he said. “Back in December I didn’t know if we were going to make it. It was a roller coaster ride, and we didn’t know where the bottom was. We cut costs, laid off about a third of our workforce and cut capital expenditures.”
He explained that, with what’s happened in the lumber industry, it’s a good thing Gibraltar Mine made it, adding that a lot of good mines didn’t make it, even with good deposits.
“We were right in the middle of the credit crunch, working on a $30 million dollar loan and finally got it in February,” he continued. “Now we’re slowly starting to resume some of the expansion and modernization projects.”
He said that the mine doesn’t want to take on these projects until they have cash in their pockets, and that things are looking good. “The price of copper is looking great. China has been a huge help, taking most of the copper: they are forecasting an 8 or 9% growth,” he explained. “It’s pretty well China and India that are getting the world out of this recession.
“We were very lucky. We had pre-stripped an area for about two years, and I was able to back off for about eight months and not have to move all that waste: that helped get my costs down. I had a new shovel and four new trucks, and still managed to pay for them,” he said. “It was close.
“The mine had early layoffs in November and we slowed everything down. I had to sign every purchase requisition myself. We got everybody on board and said, ‘Listen: this is important.’
“We’ve had good support from a bunch of our suppliers and we’re not going to forget that,” he said. “Our third expansion has been cancelled for now, but the second expansion will be finished next year.”
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|