THAISARCO, Phuket's smelting and refining company, has made 80 staff redundant as part of a restructuring designed to make it more competitive.

Thaisarco, short for Thailand Smelting and Refining Co, Ltd, operates from a site on Cape Panwa, to the east of Phuket, and is the only business of its kind on the island.

Managing Director Michael Spratt confirmed today to Phuketwan that the 80 redundancies had taken place.

''We have been careful to communicate with our staff and to let the governor and the Labor Office know what we have been obliged to do. The people involved have taken it as well as staff in that situation could be expected to do.''

Mr Spratt, who is overseas on a sales and marketing trip, said that the business was sound with markets in Thailand and in Japan ''extremely strong.''

''We had no choice except to reduce costs and remain competitive,'' he said.

Thaisarco, one of the world's top five tin smelting and refining companies, has been operatying on Phuket for more than 40 years. The company is now adding value to tin, which has changed the nature of the traditional heavy metal industry to far more sophisticated processes that deliver almost totally lead-free products of different kinds.

Between 150 and 160 staff remain at the plant, with another 10 based in central Thailand.

Some of the staff at Thaisarco boast a family history of parents or even grandparents who came from China to be a part of Phuket's early tin mining industry.