Matt Blattman

"I wish I could be able to say that I've always been interested in mining, but the reality is that I never paid any attention to it until the last six weeks of my senior year at Lowry High School in Winnemucca, Nevada. I had already registered at UNR as a mechanical engineer and was in the process of trying to find a summer job. I happened upon a flyer advertising summer employment making a minimum of $12 per hour, the only catch was that I had to declare my major as a mining engineer. Easily bought, I changed my major that day."

"I worked two summers for Gold Fields Operating Company's Chimney Creek mine (now part of the Twin Creeks Complex) near Winnemucca. Thankfully, my supervisor's at the mine let me try my hand at a lot of different tasks. Working on the powder crew, survey crew, driller's helper, and working on the leach pads allowed to get my hands dirty and get a good feel for some of the tasks that go into mining gold."

"After spending two years in Brazil on a church mission, I came back to renew my studies. I started working for Mine Development Associates as a project engineer and Surpac Tech support engineer while in school. The three years I spent working for Neil Prenn and the other engineers and geologists at MDA cemented my interest in the field. I had always known that I liked the sound of working as an engineer, this experience helped me to decide on a focus."

"In November of 1997, I went to work at Hecla Mining Company's Rosebud Mine in Winnemucca, Nevada. I wanted the experience of working at a small underground mine and Hecla provided the perfect opportunity. The size of the mine has allowed me to try my hand at reserve calculations, mine design, ventilation, pumping, electrical layout, cement calculations, economic analysis, and underground surveying. I wouldn't change it for the world."

"The Rosebud Mine is now shut down and in a reclamation phase. Learning the in's and out's of regulatory paperwork and closure scheduling is keeping this job challenging."

"I can't think of any job that allows for such a wide variety of tasks and jump in at so many different levels of involvement (and pays you to play with big tonka toys and blow things up!)"