Heilongjiang Governor Lu Hao has reversed his position that workers at state-owned Longmay Mining Holding Group Co — the province’s largest publicly owned mining company — had been paid all of their wages despite claims to the contrary.

On March 6, Lu had told the National Legislature that 80,000 Longmay workers had been paid all of their wages, and had never had a pay cut. In response, the workers staged demonstrations in the city of Shuangyashan before marching on the company’s local offices, claiming they hadn’t been paid for several months’ work.

“I made a mistake about the earlier claim because I received the wrong report,” Lu said. “No matter who made the mistake, wrong is wrong, we have to correct it,” he said.

A statement later released by the provincial government acknowledged that many of the employees were owed wages and benefits, but it failed to mention Lu’s previous comments asserting the workers had been paid. Notably, Caijing had reported that Longmay workers’ wages had been continually cut, and had not been paid for three or four months.

Longmay’s annual payroll had reached 10 billion yuan ($1.54 billion), or about a third of the provincial government’s fiscal budget.

The controversy appears at a time when the Chinese government has announced layoffs to the mining and steel sectors, citing overproduction and a sluggish economy. Originally set at 1.8 million jobs, later estimates have ballooned up to five or six million layoffs.

According to state media reports, Longmay had recently reduced its workforce by 22,500, despite already owing 800 million yuan in back pay for 2014.