Nevada’s top copper mine to close, 400 to lose jobs

David Strow

Friday, June 25, 1999 | 11:32 a.m.

Bob Miller became mayor of Ely at 5 p.m. Thursday.

At 9 p.m., he received news any elected official would dread: Broken Hill Propriety Co. will close its copper mine 8 miles west of Ely this fall and eliminate 400 jobs.

"I'm not a negative thinker," Miller said. "The good Lord tells me there's a reason for what happened. I've been championing the cause of economic development for quite awhile. That's what's going to happen now ... people will pull together."

The BHP Robinson mine is the state's largest producer of copper, producing 136 million pounds last year -- almost all of Nevada's production of 148.6 million pounds.

And for the town of Ely, 250 miles north of Las Vegas with a population of 5,000, the closure will be devastating.

White Pine County had just 3,695 employees in 1998. Of that total, 715 were employed in mining. The closure of BHP's Robinson mine will result in the loss of 10 percent of the county's employment base.

"They did not have a very strong economy, even before this," said Mike Clark, an economist with the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.

Government is White Pine County's largest employer, with 1,211 jobs. Mining was the second-largest, followed by the retail business at 710. The most recent unemployment figure for the county was 3.5 percent. The BHP closure will almost certainly push that past 10 percent.

Mining jobs are particularly valuable because of the high pay such jobs command. In 1998, the state had 13,200 mining jobs, each earning an average of nearly $50,000 per year.

Even before BHP's announcement, mining employment in Nevada had fallen to 12,900 so far this year.

Employment has fallen because mineral prices have fallen through the floor. In the end, that fall sealed the fate of the Robinson mine -- with copper averaging 65 cents a pound, down from $1.22 in 1997, the Australian company could no longer afford to keep the mine open. The low price also scared off buyers.

The small town of San Manuel, Ariz. will take a hard hit as well. BHP is closing down its mine there as well, laying off 2,200.

A skeleton staff of 400 will be kept on between the San Manuel and Ely mines to maintain the facilities until copper prices recover.

With the closure of the BHP mine, copper production in Nevada will virtually disappear, Clark said.

But Ely's new mayor remains upbeat. Twenty years ago, Ely saw a huge mine close. The city was able to attract a maximum security prison, filling in some of the gap caused by the layoffs.

"(The BHP closure) could be part of the catalyst that pulls this community together to seek additional industry," Miller said. "My personal goal is to totally rejuvenate the marketing effort for this community.

"I've talked with a couple of people this morning concerning economic development ... and they're very enthusiastic. Now is as good a time to pursue this as any there can possibly be."