Rubicon Minerals lays off 330 as Phoenix Gold Project in Red Lake, Ontario halted

Rubicon Minerals Corporation announced a temporarylayoff of 330 employees Tuesday, as the company suspends activity at its Phoenix Gold Project in Red Lake, Ont.

In a news release, Rubicon president Michael Winship says the company still believes in the potential of the project but will stop underground work while it develops a plan that is more profitable.

Winship said the company has discovered that the gold deposit is more "geologically complex" than thought.

"Our job is to maximize value for our shareholders," he said. "Afterconducting an initial assessment of the Project following myappointment as interim CEO, we believe that we need to better definethe value of the deposit with further work."

Rubicon controls over 250square kilometresof exploration ground in Red Lake's gold district.The layoff represents 87 per cent of the company's employees.