Cresson Mine

Useful Information

Location:	Tours start at the Victor Lowell Thomas Museum, Victor. (38.709968, -105.140007)
Open:	Cresson Mine: Closed. Victor Lowell Thomas Museum: MAY to SEP daily 10-17. OCT Sat, Sun 10-17. NOV Sat 10-16. DEC Sat, Sun 10-16. [2024]
Fee:	Cresson Mine: Closed. Victor Lowell Thomas Museum: Adults USD 10. [2024]
Classification:	Gold Mine
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	D=2h
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Cresson Mine, 500 Victor Ave., Victor, Tel: +1-719-689-4211, Tel: +1-719-689-5509. E-mail: Victor Lowell Thomas Museum, Third & Victor Ave., POB 238, Victor, CO 80860, Tel: +1-719-689-5509. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1890	gold ore discovered.
1891	gold ore discovered, Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Rush.
JUN-1958	Victor Museum opened.
2015	mine sold to Newmont.
2024	mine sold to SSR Mining.

Geology

The rocks of the Cripple Creek volcanic complex are altered and brecciated volcanic and volcanoclastic rocks of Oligocene age. This young volcanic complex is surrounded by very old Precambrian gneiss, granite, and quartz monzonite. The rock is quartz latite, which has gangues containing the minerals pyrite, quartz, and fluorite. But the gold is not in the gangues, it is free gold, gold-silver tellurides or telluride minerals which are very small and more or less even distributed in the rock in grades well below one gram of gold per tonne of ore. In other words, the rock is mined in an open cast in great amounts, and then the gold is leached from the rocks, the process is called heap leaching.

Very rare but spectacular are vugs, which contain minerals and gold. One was discovered in 1914, it was 4.25 m wide, 7 m long and 11 m high. It took a month to mine the whole vug which yielded 60,000 troy ounces of gold. Another vug was discovered in 1953 in Ajax Mine, Battle Mountain.

Description

The Cresson Mine is an open cast mine operated by the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company (CC&V). During the summer months they offer guided tours starting at the Victor Lowell Thomas Museum. The tour shows a modern working gold mine. Highlights are the possibility to push a 1-ton ore cart and a ride on a Tram-Air-Locomotive. The normal operation includes giant trucks hauling ore which is then mashed into pebbles in the crusher.

The tours are not tourist tours through an abandoned mine, the mine is still operating, so there are several security regulations. The tours are restricted to 13 persons, which is the van capacity. It is advisable to pre-book the tickets on their website or by phone. Visitors must arrive at least 15 minutes before the tour to sign waivers and view a safety video. If visitors do not check in at this time, the places may be given to visitors on standby.

The Victor Lowell Thomas Museum is the start of the tour and also a mining museum dedicated to the mining history of Victor. It is operated by the non-profit Victor Improvement Association. Two floors of artifacts, books, exhibits and photographs include the collection of Lowell Thomas, a once famous journalist, author and world traveler who grew up in Victor.

The Cresson Mine, also known as Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine is the richest gold mine in Colorado history. Gold mining in the district began in the 1890s, the underground mines followed high grade veins. Mining continued over a century at various locations. The Cresson Mine open cast was opened in 1995, and the production reached its peak in 2004 and 2005. Declining production and increasing costs were more than compensated by the massive rise in gold price.

Update 2024: the mine tours were first closed until further notice, but now it seems they will not be offered in the future. The reason is unclear, the actual year of the closure also. It seems the tours were continued after the mine was sold to Newmont in 2015. Newmont conducted the tours, but the fees were donated to the museum as part of Newmont’s community support program. Why they were finally stopped is unclear, probably it’s a result of the Corona pandemic, or it is because mining was stopped in 2021. They stopped the surface mining and transitioned to leach-only production. The museum is still open though and well worth a visit. It’s also possible to have a look at the mining operation from the Grassy Valley Mining Overlook, which is located on Teller County Rd 82 between Teller County Rd 81 and Highway 67.