New owner lays off 75 at Lupin

Nunavut’s last producing mine is on life support.

Kinross Gold Corp., which assumed control of the Lupin gold mine in January after a merger with its previous owner, Echo Bay Mines, is dumping 75 employees at Lupin this year, and imposing numerous other cost-cutting measures.

In 2002, Kinross reported a loss of $30.2 million on its overall operations, and lost $7.9 million in the first quarter of 2003.

The company’s president, Robert Buchan, was quoted in the Globe and Mail this month as saying that the company may close Lupin if its costs can’t be brought into line.

With the recent demise of the Nanisivik and Polaris mines, Lupin is the only producing mine currently operating in Nunavut.