Czech government refused aid to embattled mining firm

The Czech government has refused aid to the mining firm NWR which plans to cut some 3,000 jobs at its unprofitable Paskov mine in north Moravia. The interim cabinet will not pay any debts of firm’s owners, will not buy the firm’s subsidiary or the Paskov mine itself, Prime Minister Jiří Rusnok said on Wednesday. Instead, the government will focus on assisting those who will lose their jobs, Mr Rusnok added, arguing it made no sense to keep a mine running which loses 1.5 billion crowns each year.

New World Resources said they would close the Paskov mine by the end of next year, a move that would cut around 3,000 jobs. The firm said that if they received between four and six billion crowns in assistance from the Czech government, they would close the plant in 2018.