From Fairfax:
Sackings have taken place at Fortescue Metals Group, as the troubled iron ore producer begins shedding jobs to cut costs.
Workers were woken at FMG’s Cloudbreak mine in the Pilbara at 3am on Wednesday and told to pack their bags, while truck drivers who had just flown to site from Perth were told to return home immediately.
Most of the workers who flew to Christmas Creek yesterday were sent home immediately.
“About 90 per cent of the operators at the fixed plant at Christmas Creek got made redundant, so there doesn’t seem to be more redeployment going on,” he said..
Meanwhile, in China:
“We are not on a level playing field with global miners,” China Iron and Steel Association executive vice chairman Zhu Jimin said.
“We need to lessen the burden on our iron ore mines. We need a batch of mines that can survive even if the global price of iron ore falls to $US60.”
“It’s very difficult for a steel company to get out of the industry — what happens to employment? What happens to local-government revenues?” Mr Zhu said. “We need to build a policy structure for orderly withdrawals.”
Many more to come.
