UPDATE 2-Barrick: Strike-hit Tanzania mine 65 pct operational
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NAIROBI, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Tanzania's Bulyanhulu gold mine, owned by Canada's Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO), is about 65 percent operational despite a four-week strike, a spokesman for Barrick's Tanzanian arm said on Tuesday.
"When the strike took place, production went as low as 20 percent, but it progressively increased to 65 percent," Teweli K. Teweli, Barrick Tanzania's spokesman, told Reuters by phone from Dar es Salaam.
"Right now there is (gold) production."
Teweli would not elaborate further on how much gold was being produced.
The strike began on Oct. 25 when the firm said about 1,000 of its 1,971 workers had walked off the job in what the world's leading gold producer called an illegal action.
The workers, belonging to Tanzania Mines and Construction Workers Union (TAMICO), went on strike demanding that their grievances on pay, health and risk allowances be addressed.
Teweli said TAMICO had filed an injunction at a Dar es Salaam labour court on Friday to stop Barrick from hiring new workers.
The court decision, however, has been pushed back until Nov. 26 to give Barrick time to file a counter affidavit, which they did on Tuesday.
Teweli said 325 workers who had been fired for participating in the strike had been rehired after applying for their jobs, in addition to 766 workers who did not take part in the strike and 848 contractors who also were not part of the strike.
When the strike started, Barrick said it was illegal as TAMICO had called it without informing the management, and despite having reached a mediated agreement with the company on terms for labour discussions.
TAMICO in turn says that it followed all the procedures in calling the strike.
In late October, Barrick said some of the mine was still working, but almost no gold has been produced since the strike began.
Barrick has two other operational gold mines in Tanzania, and is developing a third as well as a nickel mine.
It acquired Bulyanhulu mine in 1999. The mine produced 330,000 ounces of gold last year at a total cash cost of $339 per ounce. It had proven and probable reserves of 11.2 million ounces at Bulyanhulu as of the end of last year. Continued...
