The Zinc plant at the Nyrstar smelter will shut down which will costs around 124 jobs by the end of 2016. However, there is great hope for future growth. The plant closure is a business decision as the plant has been making a great loss. There will be no forced redundancies, but the 124 employees now at the zinc plant will not be replaced.
Two week ago, positive news about Nyrstar reported that the company would invest around $514 million for the plant enhancement with the support of the State Government. Amid this, the news relating the plant closure came. The redevelopment is scheduled to finish by 2016 and it is reported that around 400 jobs would be created in the construction phase, but it is not yet clear about the overall job gains and losses.
On Wednesday night, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry networking forum at the golf club discussed about the subject concerning the job loss due to the closure of the zinc plant. Bertus de Villiers, Nyrstar vice-president for metals refining confirmed that the 120 plus workers would affect by the decision of closure and they would be redeployed, but their positions would not be filled.
He said that the decision to close the plant is basically a business decision as it had been making loss of around $20 million for the last four years. He added that it was a difficult but necessary decision and they were able to do this without taking the process of forced redundancy and were not affecting the employees by this negative decision. He added that the plant would run for another two months and of if they could make this things work, there would be plenty of opportunity for growth.
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