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Show AIT UTA'n v." .1F. u :.y i SUITE CENTENNIAL 1 896-- 1 99fj SAIT LAI E 5 iI' , "T Celebrating more than 90 years of service to the citizens of Eureka. Volume EUREKA, UTAH Ninety-On- e September 27, 19 I Vice $.40 Number 39 Looking for a new lode Prospect of new gold rush draws new breed of miners By Dennis Komboy Deseret News Staff Write- KUKKKA..A new breed of miners art soiling ihc stage for either an gold rush or jusi anotner letdown in me Tintic Mining District. The prospectors this time around arent bearded men armed with nicks who icad pack muies urouiid with a rope. They are two competing ntullimillion-dolla- r m headquartered corporations New Yorn and Salt Itkc Ciiy Mountain Man Scott Sorensen of Orem, Utah, was introduced to They .ire staffed with geologists students, teachers and stalT by council president, Travis Myers. and engineers armed with maps Scott certainly entertained everyone Tor one hour with many Moun- and charts revealing potentially tain Mens tall tales. Scott told students that from the time he was lucrative underground ore deposin the fourth grade, he knew lie would he a Mountain Man. lie its. Still, there has to he a little demonstrated many different animal calls, and showed many picluck in hitting the mother lode tures of the animals he loves to shoot-h- ut only with his camera. "Its (he mining business. If An old gun was shown to the audience, followed hv some music on a dulcimer (made from mahogany wood and guitar strings). Scott we knew, wc wouldnt have o and his family live in Canada during the summers and work as spend ah these millions drilling. said Adren Underwood, general tour, hunting and fishing guides. Winters are spent in Orem. manager of Chief Consolidated Mining Co. New York-base- d Chief Consolidated ano Centurion Mines Corp.. of Salt L.ake City, are in a race to sec il they can return Tintic to its glory days as one of lie ton producers of precious metals in (he nation. More than Golden Mangcison of Levan, set, and was miormcd iliai it $4 niilion in goiu. silver, copper, Chairman of the Juan Rural would be about SltKMX) and up lead and zinc have been mined Development Agency, attended o MX. feet. Mangcison also from the district ihc past century. the September meeting of Eureka stated tnai Mountain does 1 mink or the firs. time City Council to present a nropos-a- i not plumb to your system.. that it wc re going io see tfiai district to bring natural gas to Eureka is up to the citizens. from Saniaqutn The distance is Larry Ezell asked why Eureka start again. Its going to happen." couldnt lap into the Kcarn River said Spcnst Hansen. Centurion approximately 20 miles. Mangcison stated that if ihc pipeline in Elhcrta. and was told chief executive officer. But others who have observed City docs chtxtsc o go ahead that the matter had been checked with hts project, the first thing into. It was found that the lap the district for years dont share that needed to nc done is to alone would cost more han hat rosy oullonk. decide on the size of pipe that running (he line from Suniaguin. on the Tin a iittic pessimistic would be needed. He said that Jay Evans prospects down there,- said Scott Mayor Pro-telines deliver a tremendous thanked Mr. Mangcison and .Smith, president of Gold Stanvolume of gas, and he would stated that the Council would dard inc.. a Salt iaike-hase- d line. A recommend a review the proposal. exploration firm. He gives the district little, if any, chance to line could distribute (he gas boom again. "Its a long. long, within the City. for members went Flu Council long ways from anything like that." through the proposal with ManOct. 1 Smith offers several reasons gcison. as to all costs involved The end cost would be around for iiis dun view. The mines have Elu shots will he available on been worked for so long without $731.(XXi. at the profit, there are no smelters to The Citys main concern Tuesday. October 1. would he getting the majority of Memorial Building. The shots buy the ore and the metals marthe citizens to commit to com- will he administered from 1:30 til ket is depressed. teas! 83 3:30 pm. at a cost of $X.(X). All the talk about bringing (he plete changeovcrs..at need will Seniors their to back is designed to sell district percent. present Karl Jolts inquired as to wiiat Medicare Cards in order to have slock, he said. the cost would he for the meter their shots paid by Medicare. Some of the industry giants 0 Eureka City fathers hear proposal for gas line shots available seniors 19. such as Anaconda and Kcnnccotl pumped millions of dollars into the oncc-ric- h earth the past decade only to come up empty-handeAnd the companies the area now have had working more than their share of false starts. owns Chief Consolidated I4.S(X) acres of patented mining ground in the Tintic Mining d. District. Centurion owns lO.(XX) acres of patented mining ground. They share common boundaries anu can t help running into each other occasionally. Both publicly traded companies are sinking exploratory holes deep into the earth. By Centurions calculations, early miners removed only 23 percent of the ore throughout the district Smith doesn't buy it. 'There's no nunahic ore uown there." he said. "The Tintic is more of a historical situation than a mining situation." Centurion is a relatively new player in Utah mining. It began buying available mining claims and property in 1979. Its nioiu: is. "If you dont own the land, you're just a tourist." The company nas made 162 acquisitions. Its holdings include some of the more famous and once valuable mines in the district including (he Bullion Beck, Centennial Eureka and Mammoth. Most of them were closed 70 years ago. although oilier companies operated them on and off. "Weve been patient. It has akcii us since 1979 to get here Wc always had a checkbook al ihc ready," Hansen said, estimating Centurion has pumped about $10 million into its projects. in addition to refurbishing decrepit mine shafts. C cmurion is remodeling a nos; of buildings lor corporate and mining offices in Mammoth, three miles south of Eureka It hired a former MGV. and Disney movie set builder it turr, hc ' McIntyre Mansion, built by the Mammoin mines early owners, into plush offices and living also The company quarters. drilled a well and installed a water system. All (his might seem overly optimistic for a company that hasn't struck gold yet. But Hansen. whose father and grandfather worked the Tintic mines, doesn't doubt Centurion wili shout "Eureka!" al Mammoth. "Its a fantastically rich piece of property." he said. Hansen wouldn't predict when production will start because sometimes its viewed as a failure if the goal isn't met. He figures Centurion will be removing about 4(X) to 5(X) tons of ore a day in (he next year or so. "We're moving as fast as we can." he said. The company has about 30 employees and reccntly hired two mine managers, a significant step toward actual production. Hansen's counterpart at Chief Consolidated Mining Co.. Iaron-ar- d Wcitz, also is excited about (he prospects of a comeback in Tintic. admitting that "of course !m prejudiced." "Theres son of been a metaTheres quite a m, morphosis going on." the chief executive officer said. Eormed m 1909. Chief Consolidated was prosperous until its primary mine dosed for good :r 1937. But the company now s putting itself in position for another boom, although il initially faltered somewhat. The company announced 'wo years age a join venture with Canada's Akiko Gold Resources for a $4 million drilling program m the Burgin Mine several nines north of Eureka. U'onard Weil.. Chief Consolidated cnicf executive officer, said the company planned io be in full production with at least 4(X) employees this year. Although that hasn't happened. the company is drilling in (wo mines.. Burgin and Chief No. 2.. and has nlans to open iic Trixie ihis year Two other mining projects are on the drawing board. The company also recently shored itself u p by forming a .me partnership with Korean L.ld. Like Centurion. Chief Consolidated expects o m: ; nch v'eiii somewhere Miners (cont. on page 2) |