BLAST FROM THE PAST: Coeur Mine closes
EDITOR’S NOTE: BLAST FROM THE PAST is a weekly article where we turn back the clock and see what was on the front page of our local newspapers years ago.
This unchanged article ran on the front page of the April. 4, 1991, edition of The Shoshone News-Press. If you remember this story, or other BLAST FROM THE PAST articles, let us know by writing us or commenting online.
By ED McDONALD and DON SAUER
Staff writers
OSBURN – Employers of the Coeur silver mine worked their last shifts Wednesday.
ASARCO Inc. announced Feb. 1 that the mine would be closed “temporarily” and placed on a care-and-maintenance basis because of depressed silver prices. Mine officials at that time said the closure was necessary to help conserve precious ore reserves.
About 130 employees are affected by the closure, joining hundreds of Silver Valley miners who have already lost their jobs due to depressed metals prices. Handy & Harman silver Wednesday was listed at $4.085.
Other area mines affected by the depressed silver market include:
- the Bunker Hill Mine in Kellogg filed for chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court and laid off 220 workers on Jan. 25.
- the Star Phoenix Mining Company in Spokane laid off 125 employees on NOv. 28, 1990 after it was announced that Hecla Mining Compnay in Coeur d’Alene had canceled the lease at the Star Mine in Burke.
- the Sunshine Mining Company, based in Dallas, announced two weeks ago that it was laying off nearly 300 people from the Sunshine Mine by June 1.
Although it was expected, Wednesday’s closure of the Coeur silver mine left some still wondering what to do next.
Buster Loper, a Coeur miner, said he was not sure what he and his family would be doing next. With unemployment hovering near the 17 percent mark in Shoshone County, Loper said at the present he has “nothing definite” when it comes to job prospects.
Even though the Coeur mine produced 2.1 million troy ounces of silver in 1990, the output of Idaho’s mines fell about 6 percent in value last year. According to the U.S. Bureau of Mines, higher prices for some precious metals were offset by a stagnant gold market and silver prices which plummeted to a 13-yea low.
When it was announced two months ago that the Coeur mine would be closed, officials said the closure would allow Asarco time to undertake a program to locate and develop additional ore reserves at the mine.
ASARCO Inc. is headquartered in New York City and is one of the world’s leading producers of nonferrous metals, principally copper, silver, lead, zinc and gold.