GOUVERNEUR — A Montana company that recruited laid-off zinc miners in 2001 is back for more.

Stillwater Mining Co., Billings, extracts, refines and markets platinum and palladium, a metal used in catalytic converters. When the zinc mines laid off more than 140 people seven years ago, Stillwater started interviewing in Gouverneur within days of the news.

HudBay Minerals, Winnipeg, Manitoba, the parent company of St. Lawrence Zinc, announced Aug. 21 that it would close its zinc mine in Balmat the following day, eventually laying off about 200 people.

Stillwater will host a recruiting session Thursday and Friday at Clearview Motel, 1162 Route 11, for miners, electricians and fixed maintenance personnel. The session times are being finalized. The Stillwater mines use methods similar to those at Balmat.

"We're looking for people that can bring that skill set right of out the box, because it's important to us," said Ed Johnson of Stillwater. "We have a definite need for miners here."

A number of workers already are talking about moving out West, said miner Alan J. Robbins, but he isn't among them.

"We've got too many ties around here," Mr. Robbins said. "I have no idea what I'm going to do."

Many employees will hang on, hoping that the company will find more high-grade ore close to the surface, that the price of zinc of will rebound and that they will have a job again, Mr. Robbins said.

St. Lawrence Zinc is paying its laid-off employees a regular salary for 60 days.

"That gives them some time to land on their feet," said Raymond H. Fountain, executive director of the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency.

Mr. Fountain said he wasn't surprised that mining companies from out of the area were interested in picking up workers with established skills. The 60-day cushion gives miners some leeway in picking their next direction.

"It's a little early to make those kind of decisions," Mr. Fountain said.

The county's One Stop Career Center conducted much of the employment screening for St. Lawrence Zinc, which ended up hiring a combination of experienced and new miners.

The closure may be the toughest on former employees of Gouverneur Talc — which will lose 70 jobs later this year — who had switched to St. Lawrence Zinc only to be laid off there.

"It was really hard on them," Mr. Fountain said.

Times staff writer David Winters contributed to this report.