Teller County approves $200 million gold-mine expansion

Teller County commissioners got the ball rolling Thursday on a $200 million expansion of the Cripple Creek & Victor gold mine, but the mine will still have to face public scrutiny over the most contentious portion of the project.

The Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the expansion, which would allow the mine to continue operating four additional years, through 2016, but required the mine to go through the public approval process once more for the 178-acre section closest to the city of Cripple Creek. That section has aroused opposition from some residents of the town worried about the destruction of aspen trees and removal of historic structures in the area, noise from blasting and lowered property values.

Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co. spokeswoman Jane Mannon said the decision was fair.

"This is a good compromise that everyone can live with," she said.

Mannon said she expects the revised plan for the section, which includes lowering a 100-foot-tall "highwall" of mine debris and restoring much of the area's current contours by 2018, will be ready for public discussion by early next year.

"We understand that's been the focus of most of the comments and concerns," Mannon said of the highwall.

The mine changed the plan for the highwall before the proposal went to the Teller County Planning Commission in August, but it came too late to be included in the current proposal. Nevertheless, the Cripple Creek City Council, which had expressed misgivings about the expansion, now supports the plan, Mayor Dan Baader said.

"We hope this allows the project to proceed," Baader said. "The mine is very important to the community. We want them to stay here and thrive."

For the dozens of mine employees who attended the six-hour meeting, the decision was a relief. Many came wearing buttons reading, "Dig," and hats reading "We support the mine."

"It's important to our futures," said Jeff Roberts, a safety coordinator at the mine.
While a four-year extension might merely delay the inevitable, Roberts said it's an important step. When he started at the mine, Roberts said, they told him the mine would operate for only another five years. That was in 1995.

"The ore is definitely there," he said.

Cripple Creek resident Carl Poch has been one of the most vocal opponents of the expansion. He was also pleased by the decision, saying he thinks considering the section near the town separately will make the impact of the expansion clear.

"That's exactly what we wanted - we wanted approval minus the hillside," Poch said.

"Of course, I will do everything in my power to convince them that should they go ahead, we will mount an ever-increasing defense against them."

Although preparatory work will begin next year, the bulk of the work on the expansion won't begin until 2013, Mannon said. Eventually, the expansion will extract another 103 million tons of ore from the site, requiring relocating several county roads and, on the plus side, rerouting much of the truck traffic that currently travels through Cripple Creek.

The expansion plan still has to go before the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board. That will likely happen in November, Mannon said.

The mine has produced more than 3 million ounces of gold since 1994.

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