Mexican gold mines look to Arizona for workers

Displaced mine and construction workers who left Mexico to work in United States might consider going home.

Two gold mines in Mexico are looking to recruit from the pool of Arizona's unemployed to work and help train Mexican miners.

"This is the sector of the economy that's been hardest hit, . . . and that's exactly who we're looking for," said Steve Hill, managing director of Gammon Lake de Mexico, a gold mine in Chihuahua state.

"We feel there is a great wealth of skills and existing or potential leadership resource within the Mexican communities north of the border."

Gammon Gold Inc., based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is considering running advertisements in Spanish-language newspapers in American states that border Mexico to fill open positions and build a database of qualified applicants for future expansion, Hill said.

He said the idea for the recruitment approach came after management began to notice the high level of skills of migrant workers returning to the Chihuahua area after the crash of the U.S. economy.

"I believe there is a skilled resource in this trend," Hill said, "young men and women who have acquired disciplines, communication, leadership, safety, industrial and commercial experience."

The open-pit and underground mine has about 1,100 employees who live at a company-owned camp in the Sierra Madres, about five hours southwest of the city of Chihuahua. The city is about 220 miles south of El Paso. The company also has a mill and leaching operation.

The company seeks individuals with underground mining experience as electricians, welders, millwrights, diesel mechanics and light-vehicle mechanics. For the open-pit operation, the company seeks loader and shovel operators, truck drivers, drillers and geology support personnel.

The company's Web site is www.gammongold.com.

Mayo Gold Explorations Ltd., based in Tucson, Ariz., is preparing to break ground on a gold mine in Sonora, near Magdalena de Kino.

President and CEO Pedro Villagran Garcia said the company expects to start production by the end of January and will need workers to reconstruct roads to El Papago mine site and begin construction.

The company's Web site is www.mayogold.com.

Interested workers who are not citizens of Mexico must obtain a work visa to get a job in the country. The wait for a work visa depends on applicants' backgrounds and the sort of job they seek.

E-mail Gabriela Rico at grico(at)azstarnet.com.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

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