CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. — The owners of the Mollie Kathleen gold mine near Cripple Creek, where a longtime employee died and 23 other people were rescued last week, have received a cease-and-desist letter ordering them to cease operations following an inspection by the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (DRMS), a Colorado Department of Natural Resources official said Thursday.
The inspection was carried out after last week’s fatal crash that killed 46-year-old Patrick Weir and left more than 20 people trapped underground for hours.
SEE: One person dead, 23 rescued after equipment failure
The letter prohibits the mine from reopening until DRMS completes its ongoing review of the mine’s operations. You can read the letter itself below.
Officials with the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said that prior to last week’s incident, the DRMS Mines and Safety Training Program – which regulates the safety of tourist mines in Colorado – had found the Mollie Kathleen mine to be satisfactory and there were no observations no threats or violations.
According to a DNR official, the mine was last inspected on Aug. 29, 2024. The mine is the only tourist mine in Colorado with a staff elevator.
In addition to annual inspections, tourist mine operators are required to conduct daily inspections, which must be recorded, maintained and made available to inspectors upon request, the DNR official added.
There were eleven people in the elevator when it broke down, including two children who were brought back a short time later. The remaining 12 had already gone down and were trapped 300 meters underground for about six hours.
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The Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine Tour website states that Carlton Mill closed in the 1960s and the mine had to stop producing gold because it had no capacity to process the ore. However, mine tours were doing well at the time, so the decision was made to continue welcoming visitors on guided tours.
Income from tours is used to maintain the mine and ensure its “safe operating condition,” we read on the website. Seasonally, one-hour walking tours are offered that take guests on an elevator to a depth of about 1,000 feet, where a guide leads the group for about a quarter of a mile. Tours are open from May to the second weekend in October.
According to the tour’s website, the mine is named after Mollie Kathleen Gortner, who in September 1891 noticed rocky outcrops in the area with quartz laced with gold. She became the first woman in the area to discover gold and make a claim in her own name. She died in 1917, her husband died a year later. Their son was director of the mine until his death in 1949. Mining continued there until the early 1960s when the mine closed, but tours of the mine continued and did well over the years.
A DNR official said Thursday that Colorado’s tourist mines “overall have an excellent safety record.”
Staff participating in the DRMS Mine Safety Training and Safety Program will continue to evaluate the facility to ensure it meets Mine Safety Training Program Guidelines for Tourist Mines.
The Teller County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continue to investigate the incident.
Denver7’s Óscar Contreras contributed to this report.
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