Reuters reported that Romanian zinc and lead maker Sometra will temporarily halt production and dismiss 80% of its employees in response to falling metal prices.

Mr Eugen Secmerean spokesman of Sometra said that "We will temporarily stop activity and we will oust 80% of our 1,050 employees because of the global crisis. Zinc and lead prices fell dramatically and this causes us great losses." He added that a resumption of production would depend on global market conditions.

It may be noted that Sometra produced 65,000 tonnes of zinc and 20,000 tonnes of lead last year.

(Sourced from www.reuters.com)