TROY – With metals prices improving, management at Troy Mine has allowed warnings of a possible shutdown to expire.
“As a company, we’re slowly getting out ducks into a row,” said John Shanahan, president and CEO of Spokane, Wash.-based Revett Minerals, which owns Troy Mine. “Things are very much improved.”
Last winter, company officials informed 185 workers at the silver and copper mine in northwestern Montana that it could close by mid-February due to low metals prices, rising costs and debt.
But miners took a 10 percent pay cut and management took a 20 percent cut, Revett cut spending at Troy, restructured debt and increased ore production.
In early March, Shanahan said the mine would remain open on a month-to-month basis. By April, he announced “it’s really more like quarter-by-quarter.”
The original 60-day notice of possible closure — required by federal law — was allowed to expire on May 14.
“We’re planning operations out to the end of the year now,” Shanahan said. “Frankly, we’re planning out into next year.”
Copper prices have rebounded from $1.25 a pound to $2.10 while silver is up to $14.50 from $9 per ounce.
The company could continue operating if copper fell below $2 and silver fell to $12.
“It’d be a struggle,” he said, “but we’re in shape now to deal with those kinds of prices.”
Shanahan praised workers at the mine for taking pay cuts and enabling the operation to continue at a time when many similar mines closed.
“They’re a tremendous crew,” he said, “and the credit is all theirs.”
Shanahan said he’s cautiously optimistic that the cancellation of the closure warning could be “a sign that global recovery is starting to show through. Let’s hope so.”