CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. — The owners of the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine near Cripple Creek where a longtime employee died and 23 others were rescued last week has been served with a cease and desist letter ordering them to stop operations following an inspection by the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (DRMS), an official with the Colorado Department of Natural Resources said Thursday.
This inspection was conducted after last week's deadly malfunction that killed 46-year-old Patrick Weir and trapped more than 20 people underground for hours.
WATCH: One dead, 23 rescued after equipment malfunction
The letter prohibits the mine from reopening until DRMS' ongoing review of the mine's operation has been completed. You can read the letter for yourself below.
Officials with the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said that before last week's incident, the DRMS Mine and Safety Training Program — which regulates Colorado tourist mine safety — had found the Mollie Kathleen Mine satisfactory with no observed hazards or violations.
The mine was last inspected on August 29, 2024, the DNR official said. The mine is the only tourist mine in Colorado with a personnel elevator.
In addition to yearly inspections, operators of tourist mines are required to conduct daily inspections, which must be recorded, maintained and made available to inspectors upon request, the DNR official added.
Eleven people, including two children, were on the elevator at the time of the malfunction and were brought back up a short time later. The remaining 12 had already descended and were trapped 1,000 feet underground for about six hours.
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The Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine Tour website states that the Carlton Mill closed in the 1960s, so the mine had to stop gold production since it had no way to process the ore. Mine tours, however, were doing well at the time and so a decision was made to continue to welcome the public through guided tours.
Revenue from the tours is used to maintain the mine and ensure it is in “safe operable mining condition,” the website reads. One-hour walking tours are offered seasonally and take visitors on an elevator about 1,000 feet down, where a guide leads a group for about a quarter mile. The tours are open from May through the second weekend in October.
The mine is named after Mollie Kathleen Gortner, who spotted a rocky outcropping with gold-laced quartz in the area in September 1891, according to the tour website. She became the first woman in the area to discover gold and strike a claim in her own name. She died in 1917 and her husband died one year later. Their son was the managing operator of the mine until he died in 1949. Mining there continued into the early 1960s, when it closed, however the mine tours, which had done well for years, continued.
The DNR official said Thursday that Colorado tourist mines, overall, "have an excellent safety record."
Personnel with the DRMS's Mine Safety and Training Program will continue to evaluate the facility to make sure it follows the guidelines of the Mine Safety Training Program for Tourist Mines.
The Teller County Sheriff's Office as well as the U.S. Occupational and Safety Health Administration (OSHA) are continuing to investigate the incident.
Denver7's Óscar Contreras contributed to this report.
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