Outokumpu, the Finnish owner of Tara Mines, may decide not to re-open the Navan-based zinc mine in September, contrary to previous expectations, writes Una McCaffrey

Tara Mines managing director, Mr Eero Laatio, said yesterday that "no decision" had been made on whether to re-open the mine for full production next month.

Mr Laatio said that Outokumpu was "still checking a few issues" in light of prevailing conditions in the zinc market. Prices for the metal reached their lowest level for more than 50 years a few months ago.

Mr Laatio had previously expressed confidence that full production at the zinc mine - the largest such facility in Europe - would restart in September.

"We will make a decision at the end of this month," he said yesterday.

Until this decision is made, the position of the 550 workers who are currently on the payroll at the mine will remain unchanged, Mr Laatio said. He refused to speculate on what the effect of a decision to keep the mine closed would be.

Outokumpu has made clear in the past that it intends to exit the base-metal mining business over the long term.

Tara laid off in the region of 700 workers last November when poor zinc prices originally prompted Outokumpu to close the mine.

The company had planned at that stage to restart production in June but subsequently deferred the restart until September.

About 550 workers were re-employed in March of this year, and these employees are engaged in maintenance and upgrading work at the mine.

Mr Mike Jennings, regional secretary at the Midlands and South-East branch of SIPTU, said yesterday that he still expected full production to re-commence in September. "I'm still confident that the logic of going back into full production is there," said Mr Jennings.

He acknowledged nonetheless that the union's optimism was tempered by a slight sense of nervousness. Whatever the decision made by Outokumpu at the end of this month, Mr Jennings said that agreements between SIPTU and Tara's owner would still stand.

Last month, Outokumpu paid €35 million for an ore body at Nevinstown in Co Meath that had previously owned by Irish exploration company, Bula.

Bula has since claimed that the acquisition, which was already the subject of legal wrangling spanning four decades, was illegal.

Mr Laatio yesterday dismissed any suggestion in this regard.

"The matter is closed," he said.