Newmont Officials: No Layoffs Expected With Official Changing of the Guard
The ownership baton is about ready to be passed officially to a new Colorado-based owner and operator for the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine, one of the largest employers in Teller County.
But residents, community leaders and current CC&V employees should not expect any big changes. More importantly, there are no projected employee and managerial shakeups, and local nonprofits should still reap the same hefty financial benefits that existed during Newmont’s 10-year reign of the property. Newmont was quite generous in supporting local groups and various causes.
This was the theme of probably the last official presentation conducted by Newmont Mining before Cripple Creek elected leaders. The $275 million acquisition deal between Newmont and the Denver-based SSR Mining is nearing the closure stage, with the gates opening soon for the new operators to take over, according to company officials from both Newmont and SSR Mining. An open house was held at the Aspen Mine Center on Feb. 27 to discuss an update on operations and future plans for the CC&V Gold Mine.
“It is with a sore heart that I am leaving,” said Johan Van Huyssteen of Newmont, the general manager of CC&V, when addressing the Cripple Creek City Council at a recent meeting for the last time. “It has been a great relationship.” He described CC&V as a very prosperous operation and expressed optimism about the future of gold mining in the district.
“We believe there is still a lot of gold left up here,” he said in a presentation before the city council last summer. He was optimistic about the efforts to extend the operation’s lifeline by at least 10 more years.
Huyssteen has been a familiar face at local Cripple Creek meetings in announcing the details of Newmont’s exit from the Cripple Creek/Victor district during the last year. The CC&V operation is one of a slew of properties that Newmont sought to sell, as part of an overall corporate plan. In essence, Newmont, now ranked as the world’s largest gold mining company, currently has too many gold mining operations and needs to sell certain properties valued as lesser-producing mines, such as CC&V.
Huyssteen often commanded center stage when announcing details of Newmont’s plans. The CC&V general manager described SSR as a great fit for the area and noted that Newmont invested a considerable amount of time in vetting prospective buyers of their property. Previously, he outlined a detailed three-phase process, when Newmont announced plans to divest of their CC&V holdings.
“There will be no layoffs,” said Huyssteen. “They (SSR Mining) treat their communities very well.” Moreover, he said SSR Mining has the same high principles as Newmont.
Time to Hand Over the Ownership Keys
He indicated that the day was approaching when Newmont would be “handing over the keys,” but he couldn’t pinpoint the exact time this would occur. Initially, when the $275 million transaction was announced, the closure date was slated in the first quarter of 2025. From a permitting stage, it is business as usual, as amendments that Newmont sought, including the new Amendment 14, would be transferred to SSR Mining. According to Newmont officials, these permit obligations are proceeding on schedule. They are mostly aimed at extending CCV’s mine life and expanding two leach pad facilities. Part of the acquisition deal required that Newmont work with SSR in assuring that these permits are approved by the regulatory bodies, including the Teller County Commissioners. The proposed sales deal also cited regulatory action in relation to the old Carlton Tunnel.
The new operators will become the third largest gold miner in the United States with the CC/V acquisition. They have cited this as a great opportunity for their company. “The acquisition of the Cripple Creek & Victor gold mine represents a rare opportunity to add a high-quality producing asset,” SSR executive chairman Rod Antal said in a previous news release, when outlining the transaction. SSR officials contend that the sale will allow their company to increase its annual gold production level by 170,000 ounces. It has other properties in a variety of locales, including Nevada, Turkey and Argentina.
City officials are hoping that SSR could even become a better fit than Newmont due to the fact that their company may work better with smaller mining operations, such as CC&V. In an earlier email shortly after the deal was announced, Cripple Creek Mayor Annie Durham, said, “I am very optimistic that SSR Mining’s presence in the community will have a positive impact.” Moreover, she was encouraged by the fact that SSR mining executives and upper management officials were in Cripple Creek, shortly after the news of the proposed sale in late 2024, to meet with the CC&V staff and the local leadership. “My takeaway from our meeting is that, as a business operation, they are very community-minded.”.
For years, CC&V has experienced a slew of management and ownership changes, a process that has often triggered much community angst.
With the reality of new owners assuming the reins of the operators, some elected leaders are posing questions about the possibility of an underground mining operation. This possibility was once heavily discussed by Newmont about five or so years ago but was never really pursued. Newmont, in fact, appeared interested in a possible underground venture and announced active exploration efforts with state-of-the art technology at public meetings. But in the last year or so, these plans appeared to get de-railed.
Still, the idea of an underground operation has stirred much local interest. And at the Feb. 19 council meeting, this question again got raised by Mayor Pro Tem Bruce Brown. Newmont officials stated that this venture just wasn’t pursued for financial reasons but maintained that the new operators could further explore this possibility.
