Gold, Uranium, Natural Gas Mining: Communities in Crisis? (Denver, Fort Collins: 2013, homes)

[Westernwayfarer]

Afternoon all,

What towns & cities around Colorado are known for mining Gold, Uranium or Natural Gas? As a person who who enjoys traveling all over the western U.S., I am interested how mining in Colorado (other western states) has affected the towns & communities positively or negatively. Are there communities in Colorado that have benefited overall from what mining has brought to them or is it all negative?

[Mike from back east]

Large active gold mine in Victor, CO, just west of COLO SPGS. That area is littered with old mining structures too.

[Idunn]

While one could write a treatise on this, I'll merely suggest that mining in Colorado has certainly not been all negative.

It did largely settle the state for one thing, for good or ill. If more than a few ghost towns, there remain any number of towns which were founded upon hard rock mining, often gold. Ouray in example has a rich mining legacy, now largely past, but continues happily as county seat, but all the more perhaps due its beautiful location and tourism. Further south, all the higher and remote in the San Juan mountains, Silverton is another old mining town that has adapted with time.

There are any number of examples throughout Colorado of former mining operations and towns which can be interesting and quaint. Some are not only historical but ongoing. Leadville has a storied mining past, with a continuance of that in part with the Climax molybdenum mine operation north of town at the top of Fremont Pass (11,318, feet). There are a vast amount of tailings from this mine which reside as a large reservoir bordering CO 91 near the top of this pass, just north of the summit. They serve as living, and negative environmental legacy as to what is involved.

On another, and topical, front one could look into what is transpiring with uranium mining. One company bearing a close and suspicious look would be EnviroTech, with such schemes as their proposal to do in-situ uranium mining about 15 miles northwest of Fort Collins. That one operation, if allowed, could potentially severely pollute the vital aquifer running from there all the way south south to Denver.

Another area worth considering, and involving uranium as well, would be at Naturita, CO. That region has previously experienced uranium mining, with mixed results. Aside from the enticement of employment in a region with few options, there is also the question of such developments negatively impacting the San Miguel River flowing past Naturita, and also downstream the popular Dolores River and its canyon. Could be an interesting place if looking for a variety of forces coming together in real time.

Otherwise, some of the high and lost ghost towns slowly fading back into the land can be serene, and also a reminder.

[jazzlover]

Mining has a storied, but mixed history in Colorado. Most of the towns in the mountains of Colorado would not exist were it not for the early silver mining boom from around 1875-1893. Today, mining is a much smaller, but still important part of the Colorado economy--especially coal mining. Oil is a much smaller part of the picture in Colorado, but the state has a long history of oil production. Some of the earliest oil production in the United States--only newer than the oil production in Pennsylvania--started around Florence in the 1860's.

So, Colorado's history is inexorably tied to mining. But, it also had costs--some quite severe. Early mining was a dangerous and unhealthy occupation. Colorado also still deals with the environmental legacy of those early mining operations, too--water from abandoned mines containing heavy metals leaching into Colorado streams and rivers being one. Some more recent mining "adventures" have been environmental disasters, as well. The failed "heap leaching" gold mining operation up at Summitville, south of Del Norte, was/is one of the most expensive Superfund cleanup sites in the United States.

It should be noted that mining is dormant in many areas of Colorado now, but might not be if minerals demand and prices continue to increase. Colorado's public lands are rife with patented private mining claims that could be re-opened to production under the right economic conditions. There are still a lot of base metals and precious metals located in Colorado that could be produced if economic conditions warranted it.

Colorado is also a hotbed of a lot of the remaining US reserves of uranium that could come back into production someday. The prior legacy of Colorado's uranium boom that started with the Manhattan Project and continued into the 1970's (the uranium for the A-bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 came from near Nucla and were processed in the now tourist town of Durango) were lots of radioactive mill tailings that had to be disposed of in projects that cost the taxpayers of the US hundreds of millions of dollars.

One of the most extensive reads one can find on the mining history of the San Juan region in Colorado is Allen Nossaman's excellent multi-volume treatise, "Many More Mountains." It really helps one understand the mining legacy of Colorado. Unfortunately, he passed away before he was able to complete all the volumes, and they are all out of print now, but it's a great read if you can find it on the secondary market. Allen Nossaman was a very interesting fellow who I had the pleasure to meet and talk with on numerous occasions. His obituary tells about his life--he probably forgot more about Colorado history than most people will ever know.

Allen Nossaman, Silverton journalist and judge : TheRocky.com: Denver News, Business, Homes, Jobs, Cars, & Information

[Westernwayfarer]

Mike, Idunn & Jazzlover, thanks for your insight! Colorado, being the beautiful state that it is, has a fasinating history.

Managing corporate mining and balancing the enviornment in Colorado, as well as in other mining states, is not an easy issue to solve. Nevertheless, I hope citizens who are directly affected by mining, for example, Rifle- Colorado & Pavillon-Wyoming, can continue to alert others to the hazards of corporate greed (Fracking).

I certainly do not want to demonize all companies that mine and provide employment, however, it is important not to forget the hazards associated with it.

Lastly, I can only hope that in Colorado the remaining rivers & aquifers' stay healthy..

[JohnHAdams]

Mining made Colorado.

The great Colorado mineral belt stretches from Boulder to Durango. A small airplane would view hundreds of old mines if they looked hard enough. Leadville was the epicenter of Colorado mining though there was a lot of gold and silver mining in the majestic San Juan mountains.

Cripple Creek had one of the nations largest gold mines. The gold was pushed up by a volcano so that area is an aberation to the great mineral belt. Mining continues to this day.

Uranium mining was huge when we sought to destroy the world 17 times over vs the measly 15 times that the envious Soviets could likely muster. Figures are wild approxiamations of course. Truth be told, eastern Utah out produced western Colorado in uranium. Read up on the late Charles Steen for some interesting uranium history.

We need mining if we don't want to camp for a living. Like oil companies, they are both needed and potentially lethal. I am of the opinion that it is impossible to economically mine without creating negative ecological by-products.

With gold and silver at their current prices, combined with this economy, I suspect that legislators would, and should, look at new mining adventures with great interest.

Environmentalists are the neo claim jumpers. I love health and the outdoors but some get carried away.

[Mike from back east]

The Gold Mine in the area of Cripple Creek and Victor is expanding and may remain in business longer than originally anticipated. Story here.

They may even return to deep underground mining.

[DurangoJoe]

Front page of today's Durango Herald regarding the mess that mining has made of the Animas River. Toxic metal pollution, a real mess.

The Durango Herald 08/03/2013 | A legacy that won't die

[beezle1]

Uranium mining may be starting up in the near future in Fremont County:

Hansen/Taylor Ranch Uranium Project |

[proveick]

There's a bit of an ongoing dealio going on in Canon City.
Issues at Cañon City uranium mill (Colorado)