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March 3, 2009

Hundreds turn out for new mining jobs

By Arthur E. Foulkes

SULLIVAN — Justin Davidson recently was laid off from his job for the second time in a year. This time, the layoff is likely permanent, he said.

“I need a good-paying job and I don’t want to work fast food,” said Davidson, 21, the father of a 5-month-old baby. “I’m a hard worker. When you’ve got kids, you’ve got to work.”

Davidson was among an estimated 600 people applying Tuesday for around 200 coal industry jobs that should be filled by the end of this year in Oaktown in northern Knox County. The companies doing the hiring, Black Panther Mining and Five Star Mining, anticipate opening two underground coal mines around Oaktown employing at least 400 new people (including this year’s 200) by the end of 2010, a mine official said.

“We have had an amazing response,” said Brad Rigsby, project engineer for Black Panther Mining, LLC, speaking of the turnout for Tuesday’s job fair and a similar event last week in Vincennes. The Vincennes job fair drew more than 1,100 applicants, he said.

“We had no idea we were going to have the kind of response we did,” he said. “We’ve seen applicants from as far north as Indianapolis.”

With four hours left to go Tuesday, about 400 people already had completed job applications in the Sullivan Learning Center on the square in Sullivan. Many applicants said they recently had lost their jobs while others said they were looking for a better job.

The Oaktown mining jobs will pay around $21 per hour and include full family medical, dental and vision insurance benefits, Rigsby said. The jobs also include a 401(k) plan, two weeks of vacation after the first year of employment as well as production and safety bonuses, he said.

“We’re after that solid work ethic,” Rigsby said.

Black Panther and Five Star Mining, both with headquarters in Petersburg, will be operating the mines in Oaktown. However, the coal inside the mines is leased by Vectren Energy Delivery, Rigsby said.

The power company will use much of the coal from the mines at its own power plants, but also will sell some on the open market, he said. The two mines should be active for around 20 years and are expected to yield around 5 million tons of coal annually when fully operational, Rigsby said.

Job applicant Davidson said he had considered mining as a career in the past, but has no experience in the industry. He plans to take a training course at Vincennes University required by federal rules to work in an underground mine, he said. The training “will help somewhere down the road” even if he doesn’t get hired at the mines, he said.

Less than 20 percent of the job applicants have at least five years of mining experience, Rigsby estimated. While most of the mining jobs will be underground, there will be around 40 surface jobs as well, he said.

The two coal mines being opened in Oaktown – named Oaktown Fuels Mine No. 1 and Mine No. 2 – represent a $170 million investment by Vectren, Rigsby said. The operations are in the development stages now, he said.

Despite all the talk of “green” fuels, coal remains a relatively inexpensive source of around 95 percent of Indiana’s electricity, Rigsby said. “Coal is still by and large the most competitive fuel we’ve got.”



Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.

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