KELLOGG, Idaho — The Sunshine Mine, the nation's largest and most prolific silver producer and the site of one of the nation's worst mining disasters, has closed, throwing 130 miners out of work after years of low metal prices and foreign competition.
General Manager Harry F. Cougher shook hands with the mechanics and contract miners as they left the mine — perhaps for the last time — after a final fire drill Friday morning.
The mine's owners, who have come through two bankruptcies in the past decade, will keep a skeleton crew to run massive pumps and fans so the mine can be reopened if silver prices rise in the future.
"Personal opinion, it's very unlikely," said Ken Poulson, a Sunshine mechanic and official of the United Steelworkers of America.
"There's a lot of depression and uncertainty about where we're going next," he said. "Most people are wandering around. They knew it was coming, but it's still a shock."
Discovered on a hillside above Big Creek, east of Kellogg, in 1884 by brothers True and Dennis Blake, the Sunshine Mine became the nation's largest and most productive underground silver mine. In its heyday, it employed nearly 600 workers and had yielded more than 300 million ounces of silver by its 100th anniversary.
The mine, with shafts plunging 6,000 feet beneath the surface, was the scene of one of the nation's worst mining catastrophes when an underground fire killed 91 miners on May 2, 1972.
The closure weighs heavily on the Silver Valley — named for the success of the Sunshine and other nearby mines.
"It's like a member of the family disappearing," Cougher said. "There's a sadness, whether you work here or not."
Larry Brown, a mechanic who has worked at the mine for 26 years, criticized the company for its handling of the layoffs with only four days' notice.
"We all live here in the Silver Valley. There are no jobs," he said. "A lot of us are going to head out of town."
Pink slips were handed to 130 workers on Monday. Another 15 will be laid off in the next month, with a crew of about 50 hourly workers and staff remaining for about three months to mothball the mine, Cougher said.
Silver has sold for $5 or less an ounce for several years and recently dipped as low as $4.50 an ounce.
"We were losing a bit, but we were paying our bills," Cougher said. "Our surprise was that it has stayed down as long as it has. It would have to be consistently above $6 for us to reopen."
The company ceased exploration for new ore reserves 18 months ago to save money, Cougher said.
When a smelter in East Helena, Mont., recently announced it was closing, the mine had no place to ship its ores economically, he said.
Workers at the mine said they thought the closure would come in March or April.
"It's not something we haven't been expecting," miner Steve Croston said.
The closure dealt another blow to the economy of the Silver Valley, home of the once-rich Coeur d'Alene Mining District, where few mines are still operating.
Shoshone County already has some of the highest unemployment in the state: 10.8 percent in January, more than twice the statewide average of 4.5 percent.
Kellogg has adopted a Bavarian town theme and depends heavily on the tourist trade, which has failed to flourish because the area is within one of the largest Superfund sites in the nation.
As Sunshine miners packed their personal gear out of the mine in plastic bags, skiers getting a jump on the weekend rode a gondola from downtown Kellogg to the Silver Mountain ski resort nearby.
"We do like the touristy type of attraction," Kellogg Chamber of Commerce Director Doris Miller said, sounding a note of optimism amid the gloom.
"Silver Mountain has room for growth. We don't know if they're going to, but it's also a summer resort, with concerts, hiking and biking. If we can get that going, we'll be fine."
Brown and Croston said they would try to get other jobs, but likely will have to move from the area to stay in hard-rock mining.
"Anybody who wants to be a hard-rock miner these days is going to have to go elsewhere," said Croston, who will look at a new mine in Montana and a mine opening in northeastern Washington later this year before checking openings in Nevada or Arizona.
Employees with 30 or more years with the company will receive pension benefits. Others are eligible for supplemental unemployment insurance payments, Cougher said.
The state has promised money for job retraining, but many said they doubt their new occupations will pay as well.