Mine garnering attention of job-seekers

By GWEN ALBERS Western News Reporter

Jessie Conrad feels lucky.

She is among the first from Libby to get a job with the company that plans to reopen the Montanore silver and copper mine along Libby Creek.

"I would like to stay here for the long haul," said Conrad, who on Aug. 8 began working as an administrative assistant for Mines Management in Libby.

The Spokane company by 2008 expects to need 500 construction workers to develop the $400 million mine in the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness. Some 250 to 300 permanent employees will operate the mine for an expected 15 to 20 years.

Jobs will pay $40,000 to $50,000 a year and include benefit packages equal to 30 percent of the salary. Positions will include mine maintenance, underground miners, heavy equipment operators, diesel mechanics, laborers, electricians and other general mine support positions.

Although applications are not yet available for construction and mining positions, a "significant" number of people have contacted the Kootenai Job Service Work Center in Libby, said Johnette Watkins.

"Anytime there's going to be a hiring for more than one position, it generates interest," said Watkins, a business advocate with the job service office. "When they're supposed to be good paying jobs with benefits, that really gets people's attention."

In addition, Mines Management offices in Libby and Spokane are getting eight to 10 inquiries daily, said Eric Klepfer, vice president of operations for the company.

"We've had really good interest," Klepfer said. "There's a lot of people living temporarily in Alaska or some place else who still have family in the area and are very eager to get back."

The Web site advertising Conrad's administrative assistant job got 200 hits. About 25 to 30 applied.

Anyone interested in a job, should register with the job service office at 417 Mineral Ave., Watkins said.

"The best way to be sure you have a foot in the door for jobs when they become available is to register," she said. "When Mines Management contacts us for a heavy equipment operator, we will search our data base. As long as their registration is current, their names will come up and if they have those skills."

Registered names become inactive after 60 days.

The job service office also would appreciate those interested in working for Mines Management to complete a survey.

"Mines Management is surveying the local workforce to see what type of skills (people have) and what type of training is needed," Watkins said. "They're trying to build a labor pool."

Assuming the state approves a drilling permit by September, rehabilitation on the mine will begin.

"We would hire some local contractors and look at three to four people. We're hoping around the end of October," Klepfer said. "By the first of November, we would add another crew of three to four."

Those jobs will be for miners and possibly a mine clerk.

"After November we will add the rest, up to 25 and 30 people total," he said.

Mines Management in August 2002 began the process of re-permitting the Montanore Mine. It's located near Forest Service Road 278 off Bear Creek Road.

The company in May 2006 acquired Noranda Finance Inc., including Noranda Minerals Corp., and Normin Resources Corp. That gave Mines Management the ability to explore and evaluate the underground deposit in hopes of making a production decision by 2007.

Mines Management in July obtained the permits from the state to reopen the tunnel.

Noranda, the mine's former owner, was fully permitted and ready to start when it pulled the plug and shut down the project because of low metal prices in late 1994.

At the time, silver sold for $4 an ounce and copper, 60 cents a pound. As of Monday, silver sold for $11.95 per ounce and copper, $3.45 a pound.

Noranda in the early 1990s had completed 14,000 feet of tunneling beneath the Cabinet Mountains toward the silver and copper deposit. That tunnel begins where Libby Creek exits the Cabinets. It is estimated to be 2,000 feet short of the deposit.

Once construction of the mine begins, two parallel tunnels will be dug beginning at the mouth of nearby Ramsey Creek. The tailings will be piled between Cherry Creek and Bear Creek to the north.

The job service office can be reached at 293-6282.