5. MINING: Gold mine expansion plan irks Colo. town (Land Letter, 05/29/2008)

Eryn Gable, special to Land Letter

For more than 150 years, people have traveled to the town of Cripple Creek in central Colorado seeking their fortune. And if a gold mining company gets their way, any future visitor to the town will be promptly greeted with signs of the town's continuing gold mining legacy.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Western settlers headed to the hillside mines of Pikes Peak by way of horse, wagon and even foot, attracted by the lure of gold. These days, about 2 million fortune seekers a year pack into buses, sport-utility vehicles and other automobiles with their hopes set high that they will be lucky at the town's strip of casinos.

Times have changed since Cripple Creek's early days as the "World's Greatest Gold Camp," when more than 22 million ounces of gold were extracted from the town and neighboring areas in the span of just two decades, and now residents there are concerned that a proposed expansion of the town's only remaining gold mine could damage their tourism-based economy and degrade their quality of life.

The hydro seeding being performed in this picture is one step in the reclamation process. Photo courtesy of Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co.

The Cripple Creek and Victor Mining Co., a joint venture between Johannesburg, South Africa-based AngloGold Ashanti Corp. and Colorado Springs-based Golden Cycle Corp., has proposed expanding the gold mine to include portions of the wooded ridgeline east of town, placing the mining activities in full view of the town's residents for the first time in years.

"The area that they're going to expand into is plainly visible from the city, and prior to this expansion, all their work the last several years has been out of sight, out of mind," said Bill McPherson, city administrator for the city of Cripple Creek.

Jane Mannon, community affairs manager for CC&V, acknowledged that the mining operations will disturb about 170 acres on the property's west side and reach within 1,800 feet of the nearest residence in Cripple Creek. But the total "disturbance" area for the mine will remain unchanged at 4,184 acres, she said.

CC&V submitted applications to Teller County and the state of Colorado on April 15, requesting permits to extend the mine life an additional four years. The company's current permits provide for mining through 2012, and all the proposed mining activity is on land privately owned by CC&V, zoned for mining activities and within the current permit boundaries.

Written comments on the application must be submitted to the state of Colorado by June 17, and the Teller County Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the mine life extension application on July 22.

In search of clarification

Cripple Creek Mayor Dan Baader noted that the town's residents consider themselves pro-mining, but they are concerned about the expansion's effects on the town's tourism, viewshed, traffic, property values and water quality.

"We have 150 years of mining history here, and we have a good relationship with the mine," Baader said. "We're not against the expansion. We just want some aspects clarified."

Air quality monitoring. Photo courtesy of Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co.

In a March 13 presentation to the Teller County commissioners, Cripple Creek resident Carl Poch noted that the view of the town's hillside in brilliant gold due to the turning of the aspen leaves is a popular sight in the fall, often featured by local TV weatherman Mike Daniels.

"I wonder what Mike will do when the hill is only rock. He will likely show the Canon City camera and tell people to go there instead," Poch said.

But CC&V said vegetation analysis shows that the majority of the aspen stands on that hill will remain, 70 percent of those in the viewshed of Cripple Creek.

CC&V also says the mine has had a positive effect on the city's tourism, noting that more than 3,500 people have visited the American Eagles overlook to see the modern mining operation so far this year. The Bingham Canyon Mine, north of Salt Lake City, has hosted more than 2.6 million people since 1992, according to CC&V.

Although the mining company maintains that it will replant the mined area with mature aspens and seedlings once the mining is finished, town residents remain skeptical about the firm's reclamation plans.

"We're all very aware of their reclamation efforts, and so far, the reclamation hasn't been too successful, especially when it comes to planting trees," Baader said. "They basically just turn everything into gravel."

McPherson noted that the ridgeline where the mining will take place contains 100-year-old aspens that cannot easily be replaced. "They'll take the gold back to South Africa and leave us with rocks to look at," he said.

The town's hands are tied

The city plans to contest the mining permits before the regulatory bodies of Teller County and the state, but city officials acknowledge that their case for objecting to the mining operations is weak, especially given that CC&V owns the minerals and the land where it intends to mine.

"It's very doubtful anything will come to fruition," McPherson said. "They have a legal right to do it, and all we have is the fact that 2 million visitors come here every year and normally enjoy the aspens' turning leaves and the beauty of that vista."

Baader said the town's best grounds for objections under the permitting process lie in protection of the town's water quality. The town is currently investigating whether the expansion will harm the town's water supplies, he said.

The mining company hopes to have permits in place by the end of the year and could begin construction for the expansion as early as next summer. Construction is expected to cost $200 million and the company expects to recover 1.7 million ounces of gold in the entire project area, Mannon said.

The mine remains an important economic driver for the region, supplying 1,500 direct and indirect jobs that lead to $49 million in earnings and paying more than $4.6 million in taxes, according to Mannon.

Cripple Creek is one of several old, mountain mining towns in Colorado facing a new round of mining activity brought on by rising commodity prices. In Crested Butte, residents and local officials are continuing their 30-year fight against a proposed molybdenum mine on Mount Emmons that threatens to damage the town's skiing and tourism industries. In Leadville, however, where the town's economy has sagged because of mine closures and a 20-year Superfund cleanup, the proposed reopening of the Climax molybdenum mine has been met with cheers.

Gable is an independent energy and environmental writer in Woodland Park, Colo.

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