As we head closer to Christmas, about 500 employees at the Coleman Mine in Levack are getting bad news. The miners are being temporarily laid off because work on a mine shaft ventilation system will take much longer than expected. At first it looked like Vale would have the work done this week but now the company says the repairs are going to run into December. Vale doesn’t say when the Coleman Mine can re-open but the Steelworkers union has told the Sudbury Star it could be mid-December. Laying off the workers makes them eligible for Employment Insurance.