As many as 80 miners are out of work in Merritt, following the permanent and temporary closures of two operations.
Richard Hermann of Craigmont Mines says there's no magnetite reserves left at the mine located about 15 kilometres northwest of the city so permanent shutdown operations are underway.
Magnetite is used by the western Canadian metallurgic coal industry to process coal.
The Huldra Silver mine, which is located about 20 kilometres northwest of the city, has also been shutdown temporarily by the Ministry of Energy and Mines because of safety, health and the reclamation code of B-C violations. (Merritt Herald)
