Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
The salaries that high school grads can pull in from mining has at least one Idaho teacher considering a mid-life career change.
NPR reports that Don Kotschevar, who teaches shop at a small town in Idaho’s Silver Valley, is questioning his own career path as he watches his students learn skills in industrial mechanics that can be parlayed into lucrative mining jobs:
“Some of them, in the first six, eight months, their salaries absolutely crush mine,” Kotschevar says. Entry-level mine jobs can pay $50,000 a year. Kotschevar has been thinking he could get a similar offer from local mine bosses.
The rising price of silver, along with a shortage of workers, has mining companies in Idaho searching for young recruits. The average miner in the Silver Valley makes $70,000 a year and some make six figures, says NPR.
6 Comments
ENorth
Remember the teacher works 9 months per school year with Holidays off and probably gets a better retirement. Oh and has little risk of being crushed!
SharonWestAustralian
Remember the teacher holds a degree, does school work on the weekends and during holidays and often comes home feeling particularly crushed!
Jay
Teaching is a noble profesion..there is nothing more satisfying than to see li’l kids grow up into smart adults and maybe remember you sometime later in life….
Unfortunately , it is salary which everyone is hankering after so what if it entails a risk of disease and being crushed like someone said
Patrick Hudson
For now it might look very lucrative. What if, after some years in the mining industry, the person is not able to do the mining work? What is his future after that? Pension plans aren’t good enough until you are above 50.
Bnorwell
Yes working in the mining industry is inherently more dangerous for those without a degree (sometimes even with). These are the guy and girls on the fornt lines. Howevever, many mining jobs while more dangerous than standing in a classroom, are very rewarding and the large companies have excellent pension plans.
Sailor Mac
I knew a teacher tht was working in a mining town. To augment his income, he went to work in the summer as a blaster’s helper. One day he decided to sneak off and sleep for an hour or so. The mine manager caught him, and fired him on the spot. The union wasn’t interested in paying the arbitrator so..; This guy never got over this!