Leaving: For some, mining's downturn means a career change
By Don Cox
Mike Cripps thought about leaving northern Nevada's mining industry to become a lawyer, but he was never motivated enough to make such a drastic career change.
After all, Cripps, 40, had a good job running the railroad that carried copper ore out of the Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd., Robinson Mine in Ruth.
But the mine shut down in June.
Cripps, who grew up in nearby Ely and lives in Ruth, was out of work. So were a lot of other BHP employees. Suddenly, there were futures to plan.
It's going to be tough, but Cripps, who's got a wife and two children, figures he'll manage.
Cripps is leaving for Sacramento to find a job and establish California residency. Next fall, he hopes to enroll in law school at the University of California-Davis. He'll keep working and go to class.
"It's going to be pretty arduous,'' Cripps said.
If the plan is successful, Cripps, who already has a college degree, will be a lawyer in Ely in three or four years.
"I've been thinking about it for quite a few years, but I had a good job and I didn't want to upset the family," Cripps said. "Then, the mine closed."
Cripps' wife Tammy also worked for BHP. She wants to become a nurse. Tammy and the kids, Ethan, 7, and Alexander, 5, will join Mike in Sacramento, where he has relatives.
"Hopefully, it will be situated and she can come out,'' Mike Cripps said.
But they all plan on coming home.
"I want my kids to go to school (in Ely)," Tammy Cripps said.
Mike and Tammy have been away from home before, but they always return.
"When we got married, we weren't to crazy about coming back,'' Mike said.
"You have kids. After we got back, it grew on us again.''
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In Battle Mountain, a mining town hard hit by plunging gold prices, Bill and Shellie Cooney used their savings to start a money-lending business after Bill lost the mining job he'd had for 20 years.
"We took our 401(k) money and opened this," Shellie Cooney said.
They live in Winnemucca and own E-Z Cash in Battle Mountain, advancing customers money against their paychecks.
"I was really expecting to see a drop-off (in business), and we haven't," Shellie Cooney said. "The majority of our customers are miners."
They are the ones who still have jobs.
"This is pretty bad," she said. "People are nervous. It's almost a cloud of fear."
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Robert Salois still has his mining job.
Salois works for Boart Longyear, a Carson City exploration-drilling company that does a lot of digging in northern Nevada.
"Right now it's really busy for us," said Salois, who stays in a motel in Golconda, an old mining town between Winnemucca and Battle Mountain, when he's working.
"Last year was one of our slowest. Mines aren't going to spend money exploring."
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A lot of unemployed miners are leaving the Ely-Ruth-McGill area in eastern Nevada. Some are headed for mines in Utah. Others are going to mines in Wyoming and Montana.
But others want out of mining for good.
"I won't ever do this again," said Dan Clark, who was scheduled to collect the last of his severance pay from BHP early this month.
Clark was also looking for a job. Despite the uncertain future, he and wife, Kristin, who lost her job at BHP, are continuing to remodel their Ely home.
Clark's problem is finding work where he can make has much as the $20 an hour he earned in the mining industry.
"That's the hard part, finding something that will give us the same standard (of living)," said the former equipment operator.
"I wish a company would come in here so we wouldn't have to depend on mining. If we could get a factory in, that would be something."
The Clarks would like to start a computer-based home business. Until they do, Dan's got to find something.
"I've done everything; I built boats in Arizona," he said. "That's the main thing, what you're willing to do."
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Jody Bintar is going hunting.
Bintar, an Ely resident who worked at BHP in Ruth, drew a bighorn sheep permit, prized by Nevada hunters. He's going to use it, then figure out what to do next.
"I might go back to school," Bintar said. "I'm not going anywhere until the first of the year."
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL