Rio Tinto has laid off 121 workers at its Argyle Diamond mine as part of the transition from open-cut to underground diamond mining. The giant diamond miner claims that the redundancies at its Argyle Diamond mine are part of a long-term plan without connection to the economic downturn.



Workers were informed yesterday that 87 company employees and 34

contractors will be laid off at the East Kimberley diamond operation. The diamond miner has guaranteed alternative employment for its employees in the form of fly-in, fly-out jobs at its Pilbara iron ore mines.



Argyle Chief Operations Manager, Kevin McLeish, stated: "This was always part of our transition from open-cut mining to underground diamond mining. Essentially our new underground mine will be state-of-the-art and automated, and therefore need significantly less people than an open-pit mine."