MINES IN THE REPUBLIC OF PERILO

SMITH COPPER AND GOLD MINES

Modern commercial copper mining in the Cripple Creek District started with the start of mining operations at the Cripple Creek Mine in 1851, although there is evidence of a number of small mines dug by the Smoke Valley People.  The Cripple Creek Mine was purchased by the notorious gambler and gunfighter Soapy Smith in 1888, and marked the turning point in his career from public nuisance into successful entrepreneur and politician.  Today the Cripple Creek Mine produces approximately 60,000 tons of copper a year and approximately 10,000 ounces of gold and smaller amounts of silver and molybdenum as byproducts.  The mine and its associated facilities employ 1080 workers.

The Cripple Creek Mine has five shafts: No. 1 an adit, Nos. 2 and 3 shafts at a 45 degree angle following copper veins, and Nos. 4 and 5 vertical shafts into the copper porphyry orebody.  Maximum shaft depth in the vertical shafts is 2400 feet, and active and abandoned tunnels total some 18 kilometers of workings.  The hoist house houses the original Nordberg steam hoist, which is still operational.  Associated facilities include a concentrator, leach, and smelter.   The smelter was refurbished and modernized in 1997, resulting in improved air quality through lowered sulfide emissions.

VICTORIA COAL COMPANY

INTERNATIONAL BORAX MINING COMPANY

The International Borax Mining Corporation operates an open pit mine 7 kilometers south of Carson Wells.  The mine started operations in 1891, initially using tunnels driven into the side of the Straight Drift, an exposed fault line in the Great Waste.  Borax ore was transported by Mule Team across the Great Waste to the railroad at Astoria.  In 1902 the company finished construction of a company owned track from the mine site to Carson Wells and thence to Astoria to transport ore to the mainline of the National Railway. 

The mine is one of the largest borate mines in the world.  The original tunnel mining operation was converted into an open pit mine, and the pit now extends for 1.3 miles in length, 0.5 miles in width, and is excavated to a depth of 450 feet.  A refinery complex was constructed at the mine in the 1920s, and includes 230 acres of evaporation ponds, fed by artesian wells accessing the Chan aquifer.  Currently the site employs a work force of approximately 780.

The mine suffered minor damage from an earthquake subsequently measured at a Modified Mercalli Index value of VI in 1932.