Tara Mines has announced that production is to resume on September 2nd despite lagging zinc prices.
In a statement issued this morning the company said all employees would take their annual leave before the end of August and would return to work at the beginning of September.
"The implementation of the Tara Improvement Program that was started in March this year will be extended by one more month until the end of July," the statement said.
"This period will be used to further enhance the viability of the operation. All employees will take their annual leave before the end of August. This will support the plan to achieve full production rate immediately on start up. . .
"The zinc market is showing early signs of recovery. It is expected that the market will get back into balance towards the end of the year and into deficit in 2003."
A decision on the reopening of Tara Mines was delayed until today due to a fall in zinc prices.
It had been expected that an announcement would be made last month on the reopening of the mine, which closed last November, forcing its 700 workers into temporary redundancy.
At the time, the mine's owners, Finnish company Outokumpu, blamed the sharp fall in zinc prices on world markets for the decision.
Rises in the price over the past few months had raised hopes that the mine would be reopened.
In March, the company re-employed around 500 of the staff, some on a job-sharing basis, to work on a redevelopment programme at the mine. Outokumpu, the mines owner said it woould be opened this month if the mine could be made profitable through cost-cutting and an investment programme.
International prices for zinc are around their lowest for more than a decade due to excess supply and poor demand.
Shutting Tara in late 2001 was part of Outokumpu's move to quit capital-intensive base metals mining.
Tara is Europe's biggest zinc mine with annual production of almost 200,000 tonnes.