Low Zinc Prices Lead To Layoffs At Three Tennessee Mines

Zinc is used to galvanize steel. You can also find it in pennies. It’s bountiful in Tennessee, and at this point, with prices at six-year lows, it’s not always profitable to mine.

For that reason, Belgian company Nyrstar announced this week that three mines near the Cumberland Plateau will stay closed until the price of zinc increases. Almost 350 people were laid off indefinitely, receiving severace pay, according to the company.

Kelly Strong, vice president of North American operations, said in a statement that 
Nyrstar
 will keep a skeleton crew to maintain the mines and prevent environmental contamination.  

“We sincerely regret this situation but unfortunately we are a low margin metal producer and the 
external market conditions leave us no other alternative,” Strong wrote. “At this stage we are keeping essential 
personnel on site to be in a position to start up operations should the economic situation change, as well 
as to maintain our safety and environmental commitments.”

In Smith County, local officials are organizing to help those who were laid off. 

Billy Woodard of the Smith County Chamber of Commerce says he’s organizing a job fair for December 18 to help those affected by the closure.

“This obviously is a blow to the local economy and the local area, but there are employers out there that are looking,” Woodard said. 

Nyrstar’s mines in East Tennessee will remain open, along with a zinc processing plant in Clarksville. 

According to the
Financial Times, Nyrstar’s slowdown in Tennessee could be an effort to inflate commodity prices. The cost of zinc on the London Metal Exchange rose nearly half a percent after the announcement.