THREE hundred workers at Newcrest Mining's Cadia Valley Operations (CVO) will lose their jobs over the next 15 months as the construction phase at Cadia Valley East comes to a close.
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Around 1,200 people are currently employed at the mine, but CVO general manager Tony McPaul said that number would be scaled back to 890 employees by July next year.
Mr McPaul said every area of the operation would be impacted by the job cuts as the construction of projects finished up.
"Most of the construction workers have gone, and then there's a mixture of Newcrest employees, labour hire contractors and contractors that have been leaving and will continue to leave over the next 12 months," he said.
Mr McPaul said since January 2010, when the project was approved, he had been clear with the employees, contacting companies and the Orange community that jobs would be cut when the Cadia Valley East construction was completed.
"We actually showed them the numbers, we said this is where we are today, you will see a ramp up when we build Cadia East, you're going to see a decline and we will end up pretty much back to where we were before," Mr McPaul said.
"One strong bit of advice I did give to local contractors was do not set yourself up around this construction phase. It's going to be here yes, take part in it, but make sure you're there to manage your way out of it when the numbers drop off."
Australian Workers Union NSW vice president Glenn Seton said he was concerned the job cuts would go too deep and leave workers in the lurch.
"It is going to have a large impact on the Orange economy. I was talking to one of the boys that came in who was laid off a couple of weeks ago. He said he got his name on a job that's going, but the job itself, had 70 applicants. There's not too many jobs around at the moment," Mr Seton said.
While Mr McPaul acknowledged the year ahead would be tough for everyone, there were positives to take away from the cuts.
"At the end of this period, when we drop back to 890-odd, we've set Cadia Valley up very well for the future. And for those who are lucky enough to be left there, their future is secured for the next 30 to 50 years," Mr McPaul said.