Miners having ups and downs

BALMAT — It's been a topsy-turvy world for former talc and zinc miners over the past few months.

In January, R.T. Vanderbilt, parent company of Gouverneur Talc, announced plans to shut down much of its operation. Some of its miners sought security at St. Lawrence Zinc, which then laid off most of its work force, about 200 people, in August.

Stillwater Mining — which extracts, refines and markets platinum and palladium — recruited nearly 20 of the terminated miners to its operations in Montana. Those jobs also have largely evaporated.

Stillwater expects to lay off 370 workers, about 21 percent of its work force, by Jan. 16 as part of a restructuring aimed at reducing costs as market conditions worsen, according to the Associated Press. Prices for palladium and platinum dropped more than 60 percent from levels earlier in the year.

"I'm still working but there's only four of us out of the 16 that came. The other guys are leaving Monday," former zinc miner Travis E. Cardinell said. "Two thousand miles to be shut down."

Mr. Cardinell said he thought he was kept on because he has more mining experience than some of the others. He said he hopes his job will last because his wife, Summer, and their two children are on their way to Montana.

"They're in North Dakota right now," he said Thursday. "I don't like to have my family come out and have something happen down the road."

Officials from Stillwater did not return calls seeking comment on whether they expected price declines when they were recruiting miners in Gouverneur.

"I would have thought so," said former zinc miner James W. Hadfield, who stayed in the north country. "The things we've been through lately, it's hard to say."

Mr. Hadfield is unemployed, but thinking of looking for work in Watertown or at Fort Drum.

Miners who branched out beyond Stillwater also are finding it tough to keep a job.

Lyle G. "Bud" Fuller, Gouverneur, who worked first for the zinc mines directly and later for Dumas Contracting, Timmins, Ontario, at Balmat, joined Thyssen Mining contractors to work at Henderson Mine near Denver, Colo., extracting molybdenum.

When the price of ore dropped, the mine laid off 100 people and kicked the contractor out, Mr. Fuller said. He went to a mine in Whitehall, Mont., but couldn't find work.

"I think there's four from Gouverneur that went to Whitehall," Mr. Fuller said. "They just put a hiring freeze on. They didn't lay anybody off."

Mr. Fuller already had heard about Stillwater's troubles so he headed home, arriving Thursday.

"I heard one guy got laid off at Stillwater and he's working in a salt mine," Mr. Fuller said. "Everything's up and down right now."

Mr. Fuller, who has a bead on another job with Thyssen, said he isn't too worried about his future and has enjoyed roaming the country, flying home often because of a schedule in which he worked 14 days straight, then had seven off. He's earned more than $50 an hour, plus per diem pay, although he has no benefits.

"This is my first time ever tramping. That's what they call it. It was kind of fun," he said. "I hope that West Virginia job floats. If not, I'll go to Montana or Colorado. I'll become a tramp miner."

Still, Mr. Fuller would return home if the zinc mines reopened.

"Definitely," he said. "It's six miles from my house."

But he has no illusions about long-term work in Balmat.

"They're just going to lay everybody off when the price drops," he said. "That's the way it's going to be."