SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Canadian company is delaying the startup of its oil sands mining operation in eastern Utah.

The Calgary-based US Oil Sands announced it has laid off both Canadian and U.S.-based employees until a new financing deal is struck with its largest shareholder.

Company CEO Cameron Todd says the layoffs and project delay at the PR Spring mine as a cost-cutting move until it closes a $7.5 million arrangement with ACMO.

KSL-TV reports (http://tinyurl.com/zsev5ng) the company did not specify how many employees are impacted.

Todd characterized the layoffs on Tuesday as temporary and the delay as "slight" until the funding package is in place to complete 35 deferred steps out of a 996-step commissioning plan at the mine.

The $100 million project would be the nation's first commercial-scale oil sands mining operation.