Ex-Bureau Of Mines Staff Form Company
Former employees of Spokane’s Bureau of Mines have formed a new company offering many of the same services the bureau provided.
Mineral Information and Research Associates, made up of a team of field experts from the former bureau, will provide mineral property evaluations and environmental studies.
The firm has four former BOM employees, and could add as many as four more, said David Boleneus, a senior partner.
With a combined 170 years of experience in the mining and natural resource industries, the firm hopes to attract clients such as government agencies and mining companies.
While at least half of the 90 BOM employees who lost their jobs this year have left the area to find other work, Boleneus said he and his group wanted to stay in Spokane.
As many as 25 more BOM employees will be out of work in April when the agency finishes moving equipment and files from the Spokane buildings, he said.
“My wife and kids were tired of moving,” he said. “I didn’t want to go through it again.”
The firm has special expertise in geographic information systems, which can process digital information such as satellite photos of the earth.
Other groups of former Bureau of Mines employees in Denver and in Salt Lake City have formed similar private firms to do consulting work, Boleneus said.
, DataTimes