BALMAT — A global investment bank predicts HudBay Minerals, Winnipeg, Manitoba, will close the zinc mine it reopened in the town of Fowler in 2006.

A Reuters news item says an RBC Capital Markets analyst predicts the chance of closing St. Lawrence Zinc at better than 50 percent.

The forecast is based on lower zinc prices — which fell as supply has outpaced demand — but no decision has been made, said St. Lawrence Zinc General Manager Michael J. "Mick" Lawler.

"We really don't have a current plan to close it. I'm not aware of any," he said. "There's no set review period. The economics, they change with all kinds of variables."

The Balmat mine is more expensive than some to operate because it's underground.

"There's all kinds of mines and they have different issues," Mr. Lawler said.

Zinc sold at $2 per pound when HudBay reopened the mine two years ago. It was at 81 cents per pound Friday.

Two hundred people lost their jobs in 2001 when then-owner Zinc Corporation of America closed the mine as the zinc price plummeted to 32 cents per pound. St. Lawrence Zinc's operation employs more than 200.

"They're important jobs," said Patrick J. Kelly, deputy director of the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency. "They're a key employer in the county."

Mr. Kelly said the market analysis by investor advisers is speculative. "We're not in any position to add to that," he said.

The London Metal Market forecast zinc's price would rise slightly over the next 27 months.