75 workers laid off during plant repairs at N.W.T.'s Ekati diamond mine

Seventy-five workers have been laid offfrom the Ekatidiamond mineas itsowner, Dominion Diamond Corporation, prepares to repair themine's process plant following a fire.

Dominion Diamondsaid the repairs are expected to take three months.The fire happened June 23 during a planned outage at the plant. No one was injured and the fire was extinguished the same day.

"At this time Dominion Diamond is not able to confirm the total number of expected impacted workers, as workforce planning is still underway," said Brendan Bell, the company'sCEO, in an email to CBC News.

"The 75 individuals who have been impacted thus far are temporary contractors."

Operations at some of the openpits are expected to be temporarilyshut down to cut costs while the processing plant is being repaired.

Bell saidworkers repairing the processing plant are required to wear respiratory gear and hazmat suits until it is determined the area is safe.