Railroads and Mining at Tintic
Recent events in mining in the Tintic Mining District
By Don Strack
This page was last updated on April 17, 2009.
Additional Information
- Tintic — An article about the history of railroads and mining in Tintic
Recent Tintic Mining Events
When opened in 1958, the Burgin mine was owned by the still-existing Chief Consolidated Mining Co., and leased by Chief to Kennecott. In 1969 Kennecott opened the nearby Trixie mine, leasing the location from South Standard Mining Co. Kennecott gave up the two leases in mid 1978 due to high costs, including pumping to fight the increasing water levels in the mines.
In November 1982, Chief Consolidated leased the Burgin mine to the Sunshine Mining Co. Operations began in November 1982 with Sunshine selling ores to Kennecott as smelter flux for its large smelter at Garfield on the south shore of Great Salt Lake. A heap leach gold mine was also opened at Burgin, but the entire mine was closed again in 1985.
Sunshine ended its lease of the Burgin mine in 1992, and in 1996 Chief Consolidated sold 25 percent interest in the Burgin mine to Tintic Utah Metals, a jointly held subsidiary of Chief Consolidated Mining Co., and Korea Zinc Company (Young Poong Corporation). As of 2008, the Burgin mine remained closed because it was still flooded.
As of late 2000, Tintic Utah Metals continued to process the dumps from the Trixie mine in its refurbished Burgin mill. The mill had been refurbished over a multi-year time period at a cost of $1.9 million to include the processing of gold and silver, in addition to its original lead and zinc capabilities.
In 1996, Chief Consolidated, through a new subsidiary called Chief Gold, purchased the Trixie mine and the 2200 acres it was located on, from South Standard Mining Co. In 2001, Chief Consolidated resumed mining operations in the Trixie mine, processing the ore at its nearby Burgin mill. During early 2002 operations in the Trixie mine were stopped due to unsafe conditions.
In 2005, after the original Chief Consolidated property within the Town of Eureka was added to the EPA's National Priorities List of polluted "Superfund" sites in 2001, the EPA and Chief Consolidated reached a $60 million cleanup agreement (details here).
In March 2008, Canadian investor Andover Ventures acquired 65 percent of Chief Consolidated from Genco Resources for about $5 million. The chief asset of Chief Consolidated Mining was 16,000 acres of land near Eureka, Utah, that the company hoped would yield valuable minerals. The company has been working to develop the Burgin Mine (silver, plus lead and zinc) and the Trixie Mine (gold, silver, and copper). Environmental cleanup obligations associated with earlier mining operations on the property have delayed the company's progress.
In September 2008, Chief Consolidated and the U.S. subsidiary of Anglo American formed a joint venture to develop the porphyry copper, gold, and molybdenum property in the immediate vicinity of the old Trixie, Burgin, Iron King and Eureka Standard properties. Included in the deal was the sale of Korea Zinc's 25 percent interest in the Burgin mine. (source) (click here for the Wikipedia page for Anglo American)
In late May 2009, Anglo American backed out of the deal.
***
