Two drilling crews have begun new exploratory work at Ross Basin, part of Colorado Goldfields Inc.’s efforts to bring mining back to the San Juans.
Colorado Goldfields President Todd Hennis said Tuesday drilling is getting restarted at the Gold King, Mogul, and Mayflower mines.
The company reported a brief delay to the planned start of operations due to record accumulations of snow in the area.
Colorado Goldfields conducted a limited exploratory drilling program last fall before the snow started to fly.
“Company management assessed the situation and quickly moved to contract Maisel Excavating, LLC, a Silverton company specializing in snow removal, that were able to respond quickly and efficiently,” the company said in a press release issued Monday.
The next step involved preparing the drill pads at their respective locations, company officials said. The drilling plan identifies the primary target as the Gold King and parallel veins. Management plans to drill several holes from each pad, initially targeting the upper portion of Gold King vein.
The company has acquired its own drill rig, a Longyear 34 drill, which has been delivered and is in the process of being installed on its pad. Drill operations will be conducted by two teams, one of which will be directly operated by Colorado Goldfields using experienced drill operators from the local area as well as a second team operated by Godbe Drilling, LLC, of Montrose, Hennis said.
Both teams will be under the expert project management and engineering guidance of Colorado Goldfields staff, company officials said.
Hennis said Tuesday that Godbe plans to start out with one drilling shift, then add another.
The second drill rig, operated by Colorado Goldfields, is also about to start work.
“Once we get our rig going, we’ll be starting at least one shift per day,” Hennis said, “with a small possibility we’ll go up higher.
Hennis said the Howardsville mill now has a small staff and “we are completing engineering work for a new tailings pond.”
Asked if work on the tailings pond could begin this year, Hennis said his company is “examining the availability of contractors at this point.”
Hennis remains optimistic that mining can be brought  back to the San Juans.
“My personal opinion — I think we’re going to see 1,300-an-ounce gold and silver at 30 an ounce,” Hennis said.