The Papua New Guinea company, Lihir Gold Ltd says it will be shedding 200 workers from its under-performing Australian mining operation in Ballarat.
The Post Courier reports Lihir's managing director Arthur Hood saying the company would axe mostly contracting jobs from the Ballarat goldfields operation in central Victoria.
Mr Hood says while the gold is there, the company has found it is really not of a size which is amenable to large productive, bulk mining techniques.
He says consequently the firm is adjusting the way it is mining and because it is not getting the large volumes of ore out, it is not getting the revenue that it expected.
Mr Hood says the Lihir Gold is taking measures to conserve capital and reduce the operating losses, with a reduction in the overall size of the workforce from 500 workers to 300.
