The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The company set to purchase HBMS is dismissing concerns that it simply doesn't have the cash flow to operate Flin Flon's largest employer. Toronto-based Ontzinc Corp. reportedly intends to finance the anticipated $365 million deal with proceeds from a share offering and with borrowed money. "We do feel we'll be able to raise the financing required and be able to manage the company appropriately," said spokesman Landon French in a phone interview from his Toronto office. "We wouldn't be in this if we thought we couldn't do it." The comment came in response to concerns raised by Tom Davie, head of the largest union of HBMS workers, that Ontzinc doesn't have the financial wherewithal to pull off the deal. "I don't know where they're getting the money to do that," said Davie, who added in a separate interview that HBMS is a high-cost operation. Other Flin Flonners have in private expressed that same concern, with many having never heard of Ontzinc prior to news of the planned purchase. The expected transaction is also an issue for MiningWatch Canada. The environmental watchdog questions how Ontzinc will be able to afford to clean up the HBMS mines when they eventually close. "Anglo American (the current owner) would have been able to afford it, but Ontzinc certainly can't," Joan Kuyek, MiningWatch's national co-ordinator, told the Winnipeg Free Press. See 'Headway' P.# Con't from P.# If that's the case, Kuyek fears Manitoba taxpayers will be charged for the work. Ontzinc hopes to close the HBMS deal by the end of the year and says it is not planning any layoffs. French said the company is making headway in raising the necessary financing to finalize the acquisition. "I can't give you an amount or a figure or put a statistic on it, but things are progressing," said French. "Right now, things are on track for the end of the year, and I don't see any change in that. We're trying to do it as soon as we can, but it does take time."10/20/2004
