NEWS ROUNDUP — Lac lays off 5% of workforce

Toronto-based Lac Minerals (TSE) has laid off about 5% of its workforce in a bid to lower its overall cash cost from US$245 to US$237 per oz.

The layoffs were spread “across the board,” said John Pearson, a spokesman for Lac, and affected a total of 16 employees at the Macassa mine at Kirkland Lake, Ont.

Lac employs about 3,600 people at mines and exploration offices in Canada, the U.S., Central and South America and Australia. All of Lac’s Ontario exploration activities are being run out of the Toronto office.