More job losses at Trail smelter

Toronto-listed Cominco has laid off 190 union employees at its smelter complex in Trail, B.C., bringing the total number of layoffs this year to 285.

The company said the job losses are part of a continuing program aimed at improving performance by $50 million per year by reducing costs and increasing production.

The program also involves ongoing discussions with union representatives on how to improve workplace practices.

The business plan is tied in with Comincos attempts to modify its lead smelter. Due diligence is ongoing with respect to a conversion to the Kivcet process to replace the Queneau-Schumann-Lurgi (QSL) system, which did not live up to original expectations.

Last year, seeking an alternative to QSL (a German-North American system which employs a slag bath as a medium for both oxidation and reduction), the company carried out a full-scale commercial test of Trail-type feedstock at a Kivcet plant in Kazakhstan.

The test indicated that the Kivcet process has the reduction capacity and plant requirements needed at Trail. (Kivcet was originally considered by Cominco before the Teck-led consortium acquired control of the company in 1986.)

Cominco is continuing discussions with the British Columbia government on taxation issues related to the survival of the Trail smelter operations. With base metal prices in a slump, Cominco reported a loss of $16.3 million for the 1993 second quarter ended June 30, compared with earnings of $18.1 million a year earlier.

Production has improved at the Red Dog mine in Alaska, but not enough to offset the effect of the drop in zinc prices since the start of this year.