GOUVERNEUR — Ryan A. Leonard and Jacob Irish have difficult decisions to make in the next two weeks.

The two former St. Lawrence Zinc miners were offered jobs Thursday with the Stillwater Mining Co. The decision to work in the Stillwater mines means moving about 2,000 miles from St. Lawrence County to Montana.

"It sounds like they have a good operation going," Mr. Leonard, Madrid, said after being interviewed. "I have a family with a wife and two kids. It's going to be a difficult decision because we have a lot of family here."

Stillwater hosted a recruiting session Thursday at Mullin's Family Restaurant, 1230 Route 11, for former St. Lawrence Zinc miners, electricians and fixed maintenance personnel. Stillwater officials said about 50 interviews had been scheduled, which conclude today.

HudBay Minerals, the parent company of St. Lawrence Zinc, closed its zinc mine Aug. 22 because of increasing operating costs and low prices for the metal, eliminating about 200 jobs.

The Winnipeg, Manitoba, company reopened the mine in late 2005 because of record zinc prices. A small group of workers will stay on to maintain St. Lawrence Zinc's operation.

Stillwater extracts, refines and markets platinum and palladium, a metal used in catalytic converters. When the zinc mines laid off more than 140 people seven years ago, Stillwater started interviewing in Gouverneur within days of the news. The Stillwater mines use methods similar to those used at Balmat.

"We're finding that the work force needed to do mining work is difficult to find," said Ed Johnson of Stillwater. "This gives us another opportunity to recruit miners that already have the experience to work in our mines."

The company offers a starting salary of $23 an hour, which is more than the St. Lawrence Zinc miners were earning. Workers also can earn bonuses and overtime. Stillwater also would pay relocation expenses.

Mr. Leonard said he worked in the St. Lawrence Zinc mine for about two years. He previously was a farmer.

"I have two weeks to make a decision," he said outside the restaurant.

Mr. Irish, Black Lake, said it would be almost impossible to find another job with similar pay anywhere in the north country. Having worked previously at Hoosier Magnetics in Ogdensburg, he said the idea of passing up a high-paying job is tough.

"The decision to relocate to Montana is a big decision," Mr. Irish said.