On a bulletin board at northern Idaho's 69-year-old Morning Mine, one of the biggest U.S. lead and zinc producers, appeared a mournful notice: "Due to increased costs of labor and supplies, diminishing ore reserves and low metal prices, the Morning Mine will be closed permanently . . ."
The closing, which threw some 250 miners out of work, was the latest casualty in the industry. In the lead and zinc areas of Utah, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, mining communities are turning into ghost towns. Such companies as American Zinc, Lead and Smelting Co. were laying off refinery employees by the...
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