75 workers laid off during plant repairs at N.W.T.'s Ekati diamond mine
Workers are all temporary contractors, says mine owner Dominion Diamond Corp.
Seventy-five workers have been laid off from the Ekati diamond mine as its owner, Dominion Diamond Corporation, prepares to repair the mine's process plant following a fire.
Dominion Diamond said the repairs are expected to take three months. The fire happened June 23 during a planned outage at the plant. No one was injured and the fire was extinguished the same day.
"At this time Dominion Diamond is not able to confirm the total number of expected impacted workers, as workforce planning is still underway," said Brendan Bell, the company's CEO, in an email to CBC News.
"The 75 individuals who have been impacted thus far are temporary contractors."
Operations at some of the open pits are expected to be temporarily shut down to cut costs while the processing plant is being repaired.
Bell said workers repairing the processing plant are required to wear respiratory gear and hazmat suits until it is determined the area is safe.