25 Sep 2012

Spring Creek cuts hit West Coast community

8:24 pm on 25 September 2012

Greymouth risks losing many of its most skilled and highly paid workers with news that one of the town's biggest employers, the Spring Creek mine, will be mothballed.

Greymouth risks losing many of its most skilled and highly paid workers with news that one of the town's biggest employers, the Spring Creek mine, will be mothballed.

Along with the jobs of 234 workers and 130 contractors, the cuts will affect the incomes of many West Coast businesses.

Greymouth Business and Promotions Association chair Kerry Miedema says every job at the mine supports a myriad of related jobs such as engineering and IT, while retail and hospitality sectors benefit indirectly from having the mine workers in town.

Mrs Miedema says the region is already suffering a downturn in its other big earner.

"Most industries go in cycles - unfortunately for us mining and tourism are both on a down cycle but I remain optimistic that it's going to pick up in future. We just hope that it picks up before the skills are lost in the community."

She hopes the opportunity to manufacture building materials on the West Coast to be used in rebuilding in Christchurch will go some way to keeping the skilled workers in the region.

Students 'in tears'

Greymouth High School acting principal Ross Brockbank says the mothballing of the Spring Creek mine could not have come at a worse time for his students.

Mr Brockbank says he has had students in his office in tears following the announcement on Monday while others have been left feeling numb.

Mr Brockbank says up to a quarter of the nearly 600 students at his school have a parent employed at the mine and the stress of its closure will distract them as they prepare for end of year exams.

He also expects the school roll to fall next year as parents formerly employed by the mine are forced to look outside the town for work.

Mr Brockbank says the closure will be particularly hard on families who have come from South Africa and the United Kingdom to work at the mine and don't have family and friends around to help them.