February 8, 1996
PRESIDIO COUNTY — The new owners of the Shafter mine are continuing to collect data at the site but have no plans to mine the silver vein in south Presidio County, a company official said last week.
March silver futures were trading for $5.45 an ounce last week, and that’s too low to reopen the mine at this time, Rio Grande Mining Co. Secretary-Treasurer Terri Morris said. Rio Grande, with corporate headquarters in Plainsboro, New Jersey, acquired the assets of Gold Fields Inc. — the mine’s previous owner — in October 1994, after Gold Fields was purchased by a British concern.
“We’re a long way from an ongoing operation,” consulting mining engineer Jack Bailey said, “but if prices go up, we’ll be on stream. I’m an optimist,” the veteran miner said, “but prices have to go up.” Bailey and Morris said Gold Fields conducted a lot of good research at Shafter, but more exploration work needs to be done. Rio Grande assumed all the Shafter data that Gold Fields generated in the acquisition.
Estimates indicate a reserve of 30 million ounces of silver. Morris said Rio Grande has been in business a little more than one year. At present, its only play is Shafter. “Shafter is our focus,” she said. Willis and Virginia Williams of Shafter are the onsite caretakers, Morris and Bailey said.
Another Rio Grande mining consulting engineer is Jack Burgess, now of New Mexico, but who grew up in Alpine and attended school there. He’s worked mines in New Mexico, Arizona, Montana and in Chile.
The Shafter silver vein was discovered in the 1800s by a descendent of the Presidio Spencer family. It was mined extensively until the U.S. government shut down operations in 1942, turning the once-bustling community into a ghost town. The government said precious metals couldn’t be mined during World War II.