Vale has extended the shutdown at its Coleman mine for a second time, the company told CIM Magazine.

“Our current plans are to recall employees in mid-March, after which we will ramp back up to production,” Angie Robson, Vale’s manager of corporate and aboriginal affairs, wrote in an email.

The Levack, Ontario mine was shut down unexpectedly in November so the company could make important repairs to the mineshaft, and initially forecast a December reopening. The United Steelworkers Local 6500, which represents mine workers, told CBC in December that the work would extend until the end of January.

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In January, the company pushed the date again, to mid-February.

Robson said that more than 230 production and maintenance employees have been recalled to support work at Coleman mine or temporarily relocated to other sites. At the time of the initial shut-down, more than 400 workers were temporarily laid off.

CBC reported in January that the company has been topping up employment insurance benefits for employees who are not currently working with a supplemental unemployment benefit wage.