As many as 182 staff and contractors for Consolidated Minerals Ltd (ConsMin) face retrenchment or redeployment at two of its Western Australia mines because of the deteriorating global outlook for minerals.

ConsMins said its Kambalda nickel mine in the Goldfields region will soon be placed on care and maintenance, while the Coobina chromite mine near Newman will be downsized.

"Regrettably, due to deteriorating market conditions and the uncertain outlook for our product, these measure have become unavoidable to ensure the ongoing viability of our business," a spokesman for the Ukrainian-owned company said.

"The company has been looking at implementing a number of measures for cost containment and optimisation to manage the impact of the current market downturn.

"Where any redundancies become necessary, we are exploring all options for the redeployment of staff."

All operations at the Kambalda mine will be progressively suspended from Friday until mid-December, he said.

About 78 full time employees and 55 contractors are expected to stop working at the mine.

A "transition team" of about 30 staff will remain at the mine to manage the move to care and maintenance.

After that, the care and maintenance team will comprise 10 staff.

The spokesman said the mine would remain on care and maintenance "until market conditions improve".

The company was on track to produce 5,500 to 6,000 tonnes of contained nickel from the mine by the end of this calendar year.

All nickel from the mine is sold to BHP Billiton under long-term offtake agreements.

The spokesman said operations at the Coobina mine would be downsized "as soon as practical".

"That will lead to mining operations and the existing lump ore processing plant being placed on care and maintenance by mid-December," he said.

"We will, however, continue with a new chromite fines processing plant, which involves low-cost production of chromite chips and sand from our existing fines stockpile."

Over the next four weeks, full-time employee numbers at the mine will be roughly halved, while about 21 of 25 contractor positions will go.

Between 24 and 28 permanent staff will cease work at the mine, down from 49, leaving between 21 and 25 staff to manage the fines processing plant, and the care and maintenance of other facilities.

"As with Kambalda, we're hopeful that we'll be in a position to resume lump ore production when economic conditions permit," the spokesman said.

The news follows revelations by the now de-listed company earlier this month that it had laid off 14 staff from its exploration team at Kambalda and its geology team in Perth.

The list of mining companies that have been forced to sack staff continues to grow as the global financial crisis deepens.

The ConsMin spokesman said the company's Woodie Woodie manganese mine near Port Hedland would be its key focus for the foreseeable future.

"As far as Woodie goes, we would be adjusting future forecast production in line with market demand."

Manganese is a non substitutable input in steel-making, while nickel and chromite are used in the production of stainless steel.

Concerns abound that China's appetite for such minerals is waning as it too experiences an economic slowdown.

The Coobina mine was purchased by ConsMin in 2001 through the acquisition of Danelagh Resources Pty Ltd.

ConsMin acquired the Kambalda operations in 2005 through the friendly takeover of Reliance Mining Ltd.

ConsMin was itself taken over late last year when Ukraine-based Palmary Enterprises won a protracted bidding war. – Associated Press