[Our_Man_In_Gough_Island]

Note the labor statistics at the end of the article. Here is a job requiring no education, no skills, and paying $ 87,000 a year - and few want it. It seems to me that mining in the USA has traditionally been a job for immigrants. Why can't we recruit legal immigrants to do it?

[anniegetyourgun]

Obviously, it's a job anyone can do....race/origins aside. However, I suspect most people weigh the job dangers against that salary. It's also strenuous work and the body can only hold up so long given the physical requirements. Beyond that, mines around the U.S. are often in places where housing is scarce (see coal in WV for example) and they aren't necessarily desirable places. So many factors weigh against that salary.

BTW, welcome to FR.

[mugs99]

Why can't we recruit legal immigrants to do it?

It's hard and dangerous work far from city conveniences. Not many citizens or immigrants want to live in the wilderness.
...

[Eric in the Ozarks]

$87 K doesn't sound like a bad wage.

[Publius6961]

To save on gas, the 24-year-old car-pools with a fellow miner as they drive 60 miles on a one-lane, bumpy trail partly carved out of a sheer canyon wall to reach the Cripple Creek & Victor gold mine.

That has got to be a 90 minute commute, minimum.
One way.

Throw in travel costs and per diem and I might have considered a job like this once upon a time...

[redhead]

Noted. My youngest son has recently taken a job on the North Slope at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, as a "Well-Services Technician." For a beginning salary (yes, salary...with overtime) of roughly $66,000/year, he tends the oil wells, repairs valves and maintains the wellheads. He will be advanced as quickly as he qualifies for the next step up. His income has more than doubled his last year's income.

[Vince Ferrer]

The nearest town to this mine is Cripple Creek. Cripple Creek and Victor used to be mining towns that go back to the gold rush days, but now Cripple Creek is the second largest gambling town in Colorado. Most citizens would probably prefer a good job indoors in a casino to a mining job outdoors at 9000ft. This is why they have to get people from Colorado Springs, but if you have a good job in Colorado Springs, why take the commute to this mine? I can see why they have trouble finding people.

[Sonny M]

They never say the words......but they leave it to the reader to infer that immigration is the answer.

Nice way to write an article, lead, lead, but never actually point to an answer but don't be surprised if in some time you see a more deliberate column calling for some kind of pro-illegal immigration solution.

[bayourod]

"Why can't we recruit legal immigrants to do it? "

We can and we will because we have no choice. There are numerous economic sectors that are facing severe shortages of workers.

The very small percentage of Americans who oppose immigrants for social reasons are standing in the way of a freight train of Americans whose financial survival depends upon the businesses of America being able to continue operating.

The whining of people who claim that they can't find a job because illegal aliens have all of them is beginning to fall on deaf ears as more and more people realize that we are facing a shortage of workers.

[tet68]

Earth First, We'll mine the other planets later!

[Clemenza]

My great-grandfather was recruited from Galicia (southern Poland, then part of Austria-Hungary) to work in the mines of Dickson City, PA at the turn of the last century.

[porkchops 4 mahound]

"Here is a job requiring no education, no skills, and paying $ 87,000 a year - and few want it."

No EDUCATION? No SKILLS? Overpaid?

I dare you to say that, face to face to any miner, let alone a hard rock miner.

Besides being WRONG, it's insulting, and "fighting words".

News to you citizen, "education" doesn't ALL come from a frikkin classroom. Disregarding the traditional OJT in the mines, a miner has alot of knowledge that the world of academia has no frikkin clue of, ie., when do you bar the back?

Ever heard of MSHA? How about OSHA? Do you think certifications are just gratis?

Given that there is ALOT of education required to become an experienced miner, mostly traditional mining knowledge passed on in traditional ways, the job is;

1.) DIFFICULT, talking about it don't get it, you have to DO it. Underground, in the dirt and mud, in the dark, etc. etc., the job is HARD, as few jobs are.

1A.) DANGEROUS, people DIE and are crippled, even though we try our best to be safe, accidents always happen, it's PART of THE JOB of being a MINER. MINES are DANGEROUS PLACES.

2.) The job is always REMOTE. They don't usually put mines downtown.

3.) The job is always undependable, the market goes south miners lose jobs, this is nothing new, it's like fishing or timber. BOOM or BUST is the NORM. You better be an independent sort of person.

Re; immigrants, these folks usually want to work, and they can move up in pay if they become experienced miners or support folks. It is honest work for honest wages and you can work your way up and out if you want to.

(It seems that too many Americans today think "work" means going to some office, and punching a clock, while pushing PAPER all day).

(Well I have news for y'all, that isn't "WORK" in the same sense as mining is).

Try to remember that, "If it isn't FARMED, or FISHED, it's MINED!".