The proposed reopening of the Pend Oreille zinc and lead mine located about two miles north of Metaline Falls would generate the equivalent of nearly 240 full-time jobs in Pend Oreille County, according to a report prepared for Cominco American Inc., the Spokane company that wants to reopen the mine.


Cominco expects to hire about 170 employees, mostly from Pend Oreille County, to work at the mine, and nearly 70 more jobs are expected to be created at other businesses there that would serve the mine and its workers. The secondary employment might include store clerks and service industry workers, the report says.


Another 160 jobs would be generated elsewhere around the state in a ripple effect from the mining activity, the report says. Employment gains elsewhere in the state could include new jobs in transport services and consulting or specialty contracting not found now in Northeast Washington, as well as jobs at companies that would supply equipment for the mine, says Dave Godlewski, an environmental manager at Cominco.


Overall, the project would generate a projected about $24 million in wages statewide during an average operating year, with about half of that income going to workers in Pend Oreille County. The mine has known reserves for an eight-year life span, but Godlewski says when mining begins, additional reserves probably would be found.


During the life of the mine, Cominco expects to spend nearly $18 million annually on goods and services to operate the mine, with about $10 million of those purchases being made in Pend Oreille County, the report says.


The report, prepared by The Perimedes Group LLC, of Bothell, Wash., also analyzed the possible changes in revenues and costs that Pend Oreille County, the cities of Ione, Metaline, and Metaline Falls, and the school, hospital, fire, and library districts there might face because of the mines reopening. With the exception of the school district, revenues for all these agencies are expected to increase through taxes and fees related to the mine, and the costs of additional public services required because of the mine are expected to fall short of those projected revenues. Selkirk School District 70 currently operates with a deficit, and that would be expected to continue, the report says.


The report was presented to the Pend Oreille County Commissioners and to area citizens at a meeting in Metaline Falls late last month, and received a positive response, Godlewski says.


Its an economically depressed area, and they are looking desperately for something to move forward, he says.


Godlewski says the project is moving ahead on schedule. The draft environmental impact statement is expected to be completed in August, and the final version of that document should be done by the end of the year. That statement will include the state Department of Ecologys decision on whether the mine project can proceed as planned, can go ahead with modifications, or would be blocked, he says.


If the mines reopening is approved, construction would start next year, and the mine could be in operation by the first quarter of 2002, Godlewski says.


We are internally committed to this project, he says. Cominco acquired the mine, which had operated off and on from the early 1900s to 1977, in 1996, when it bought Resource Finance Inc., a Toronto-based company that had owned the mine since 1991. Cominco hopes to use the mine as a source of ore for its big lead and zinc smelter in Trail, British Columbia, after its mine near Kimberley, British Columbia, closes. That closure is expected in 2001.


Cominco already is working on an economic plan for the closure of the Pend Oreille Mine. In that effort, the company trying to find out what it can do now that will provide benefits when the mine closes.


Ways to attract new industry that might use the buildings there and opportunities for adding nature trails or a golf course during site rehabilitation have been discussed, he says.