Managing director Francis Vanbellen said that since its Mae Sot zinc mine in Tak province – after 32 years of operation – would be fully depleted by the end of this year, and PDI had failed to obtain permits for new mine deposits in Thailand and neighbouring countries, the company’s board of directors resolved on Thursday to cease its zinc operations by the end of 2017.

Vanbellen said he could not provide exact figures on the number of people who would have to go, since the company wanted to communicate with its staff first, but more than half of its 826-strong workforce would have to leave by the end of next year.

Most of the 460 employees who are currently working at PDI’s zinc smelter in Tak, as well as most of the 200 workers at the Mae Sot mine, as well as some of the 100 staff at its roaster plant in Rayong and smaller numbers of staff at its Bangkok headquarters, will have their employment contracts terminated.

All of them will receive one month’s compensation for every two years of service, on top of severance pay under the normal standards stipulated by law. For example, a staff member who has been with the company for 10 years will receive 10 months of severance pay, plus five months extra.

The provisions for the closure and worker compensations will be announced by the end of this month when PDI reports its 2015 annual results to the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Vanbellen said the company would still show a positive result on its consolidated 2015 account, after impairment charges.

Both the Mae Sot mine and the Rayong plant will cease operations by the end of this year. The smelter in Tak will limit its operations by the end of this year, to produce only zinc metal and alloys until the second half of 2017. Beyond 2017, zinc activities will be completed based on recyclable domestic and possibly imported sources, according to PDI’s statement.

Vanbellen said PDI would continue to look for new businesses to succeed its zinc operations, consisting of renewable energy, waste management, recycled materials, and any opportunity in green businesses.

“We have Bt1.5 billion that we have allocated for our equity investments next year for these projects,” he said.

Vanbellen said PDI was conducting due diligence on three biomass power projects that it is looking to take over, and one of them would be finalised in two weeks. Each biomass plant, if managed well, will be able to generate Bt60 million to Bt80 million in annual profit for the company, which booked net profit of Bt312 million in 2014.

PDI is 13.81 per cent owned by the Finance Ministry, which founded the company. Country Group Holdings took a 15-per-cent stake in the company last year.PDI has also been invited to bid for building a municipal-waste treatment plant in Tak, where it has also been vying to obtain official permits to build an industrial waste treatment plant as well as a 50-megawatt solar farm, where it has also been vying to obtain official permits to build an industrial waste treatment plant as well as a 50-megawatt solar farm.

The company has also entered a joint-venture agreement with Carbon Reduction Technology AS, a Scandinavian recycling company, to pursue a project to recover zinc from industrial-waste streams at PDI’s current site in Rayong.

“You may ask if I failed. No, we didn’t fail,” Vanbellen said. “Ten years ago the management believed we could find new mines. We did find some but we can’t get permits [to start mining].

“I’m happy to tell the media I have to close the zinc operations. We [were able to] manage the company during the past years without cash losses. At the end of last year, we had more than Bt1 billion cash, which we can use to invest and pay people who leave.

“So we close in a positive way. That’s not failure. It’s success,” he said.