Canadian-Owned Gold Mine in Suriname Temporarily Shuts Down Due to Strike

Canadian-Owned Gold Mine in Suriname Temporarily Shuts Down Due to Strike

The Rosebel gold mine in Suriname has been temporarily shut down after workers went on strike, company officials said.

A number of workers began the strike Thursday night at the mine, located about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the capital of Paramaribo, the mine’s parent company IAMGold Corp. said Friday in a statement.

Several calls placed to union officials went unanswered on Saturday. A call placed to the Toronto-based IAMGold was not returned. No further details were available.

The miners’ union said they went on strike because negotiations over the new collective bargaining agreement were going too slow, De Ware Tyd newspaper reported.

The miners went on strike last year in a bid to force the former owner — Cambior Inc. — to recognize its new union board.

The Rosebel Gold Mines NV became a subsidiary of IAMGold when that company bought Cambior in late 2006. The Surinamese government owns 5 percent of the mine, with the rest belonging to IAMGold.

Source: AP via biz.yahoo.com

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