Rochester Mine adds 200 jobs

Couer d'Alene Mines Corp. began hiring miners last week and gave Cashman Equipment Co. the go-ahead on major equipment orders as it prepares to resume active mining at its Rochester Mine north of Lovelock.

The Idaho company plans to move quickly after the Bureau of Land Management gave its OK for the company to restart the mining operations that it had wound down in recent years.

Cindy Jones, general manager of the Pershing County mine, said the company expects that some miners who had previously worked at the Rochester will return to Pershing County as active mining resumes at the property.

The company estimates that 200 jobs will be created by the resumption of mine. With average pay of $86,000 a year, the mine's annual payroll is estimated at $13.6 million a big number in a county with a total population of less than 7,000.

Couer d'Alene Mines estimates the resumption of mining also will create another 140 support jobs in the Lovelock area.

The company has projected that six years of new mining will result in production of 16.6 million ounces of silver and 232,000 ounces of gold from the property. In its 25 years of operation, the mine has produced more than 127.6 million ounces of silver and more than 1.4 million ounces of gold.

Couer d'Alene Mines said it expects to invest $29 million in the next year on the resumption of mining. Along with equipment purchases, that will include construction of a new leach pad and related infrastructure.