2,900 miners to lose jobs

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Placer Dome Inc. plans to lay off almost 3,000 workers at a South African gold mine in which Canada's second-biggest gold producer owns a 50 percent stake.

A restructuring plan suggests workforce cuts of up to 40 percent -- or 2,900 employees -- at the Western Areas Mine outside of Johannesburg.

Low gold prices prompted Placer to announce in July that it would shut down one of its gold mines at the recently acquired Getchell property in Nevada and lay off 216 of 610 employees.

The company has also recently stopped construction of its massive $575 million Cristinas mine in Venezuela until gold prices rebound.

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