COLORADO NEWS Mining in Colorado's San Juan Mountains on a comeback POSTED: 08/16/2012 12:01:00 AM MDT UPDATED: 08/16/2012 07:42:59 AM MDTBy Nancy Lofholm The Denver Post
High metal prices have stirred activity in the long-dormant San Juan Mountains mining and milling industries.
Permits are moving forward for the Pride of the West mill, near Silverton, and for the historic Revenue Mine, near Ouray.
The Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety has approved the plan for the Pride of the West mill's rehabbing, with conditions. Loretta Pineda, director of the division, said the mill still needs to address concerns about how tailings will be handled in a new method called dry stacking.
In dry stacking, tailings would be dried in the mill then placed in a repository and capped after gold, silver, zinc and copper are removed from the ore.
The mill plans are able to move forward after objectors last week withdrew their formal objections, allowing the division to avoid a hearing and move forward on approvals.
Colorado Goldfields Inc., the Lakewood-based company that is reopening the mill, is already doing some rehab work around the mill and expects to put about 25 people to work — a significant boost in Silverton, where unemployment is higher than average.