What's at stake for Nederland if Cross Mine reopens?

Cross Mine could finally reopen. A final hearing on operator Grand Island Resource's application to resume mining activity is scheduled for May 20 after years of delays.

But where does the town of Nederland fit into all of this? On today's episode, reporter Shay Castle sits down with Nederland Town Manager Jonathan Cain to discuss what's at stake for the mountain town, and what they're doing to keep an eye on GIR's operations. 

Also

• Campaign launches to save The Merc in Jamestown (Donate here: Savethemerc.org)
• Black Hawk hires new city manager

Links

• Watch the May 20 hearing on GIRs application here
• The Mines Part I
• The Mines Part II
• The Mines Part III
• The Mines Part IV

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:35

When we engage in mining now, I think the it needs to just happen the right way. That's Netherlands town manager Jonathan Kane. I think if it happens the right way, that greatly increases the odds that it can be done appropriately and all that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Today, he joins the show in an interview with reporter Shay Castle to discuss what's at stake for the town ahead of a long-anticipated hearing to approve an application to reopen the mine. Welcome to the Mountaineer Podcast. I'm Tyler Hickman. A few weeks ago, Shay and I decided to collaborate on an episode to dig deeper into Crossmine and what exactly Netherlands' role with reopening the mine has been. We want to save plenty of time for the interview, so we're going to keep the top of the show short and sweet. We've also got a quick but very important announcement before we dive in. Starting in two weeks, our show will be moving to Fridays. With the addition of Shay's podcast, Boulder Valley Frequency, to the Mountaineer family, we want to create a bit more space for our shows to breathe. And hopefully for our staff too. So mark your calendars. Our first Friday episode is coming May. With that, here are this week's top headlines. A group of Jamestowners is trying to save$1.5 million to keep the Merc alive. The Jamestown mercantile, the building, not the restaurant inside it, is up for sale. The owner has given locals until the fall to raise money for a purchase before he seeks an alternative buyer. They've formed a nonprofit with the name the Jamestown Home for Wayward Artists, Pirates, and the Somewhat Feral. They've also set up a website, savemerc.org. As of this recording, they've raised over$7,000. The campaign's Instagram page hinted that fundraising events would be planned for the coming months. Learn more and donate at save the Merc.org. Blackhawk's financial director, Lance Hillis, is set to become its next city manager, the city announced at its April 22nd meeting. Hillis makes the transition after spending over 16 years managing the city's finances. He'll be replacing Stephen Cole, who stepped down after a two-decade career as Blackhawk's police chief and city manager. Hillis, who officially starts in the role on May 2nd, said the promotion is quote, an honor, and he's excited to take over. Those were this week's top headlines. As always, pick up a copy of this week's paper or head to the MDNEAR.com to read these stories and so much more. Now let's get to our main segment.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

It probably conjures images of white-bearded men in denim overalls, wielding pickaxes and wearing bandanas and floppy, wide-brim hats. Or, if you're from Appalachia like me, maybe the lantern-topped helmet and soot-blackened faces of coal miners spring to mind. Both are somewhat accurate representations of mining from decades or even centuries past. Some of Colorado's first white inhabitants were drawn here in the mid-1800s by the lure of gold and silver, and them there are foothills. But mining isn't just a historic endeavor. Even today, there are people searching for precious metals all throughout Colorado, including Boulder County.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

The Crossmine, located outside Netherland, has been intermittently mined for gold, silver, zinc, lead, and copper since the 1870s. Crossmine was shut down in 2021 after its current owners failed to file required pollutant reports. A subsequent investigation found excessive traces of copper and lead coming from the mine between December 2020 and August 2021. The state charged owners, Grand Island Resources, or GIR, with violating the Colorado Water Control Act and issued a cease and desist order.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

The order was lifted in January 2023. Two years later, GIR turned in a new application, asking the state for permission to expand its operation from 10 acres to more than 200. What followed was a series of adequacy reviews that found hundreds of issues with the application, many of which are still unresolved. Come January of this year, GIR yet again made significant changes to their proposal, enough to force a public hearing to officially amend the application.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

While some of the problems may be complex, they said, quote, we're also talking about straightforward technical issues. After an already lengthy application process, where GIR was given several extensions, the state denied their amendment request. Now, a final hearing for that original application is scheduled for Wednesday, May 20th.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Just a few miles downstream is the town of Netherland. Ned is an official stakeholder in GIR's application. The town sent a letter detailing its concerns to state regulators in early 2025, and they're still watching the process closely.

SPEAKER_03 6:34

My name is Jonathan Kane. I'm the town manager here in Netherland, Colorado. I've been here since 2024, the summer of 2024. And before that, I was the assistant city administrator over in Idaho Springs.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

I sat down with Jonathan to talk about the cross mine, the history of mining along the peak to peak, and what outcomes the town is hoping for. Probably a giant question to start with, but like what is Netherlands' interest in this issue?

SPEAKER_03 7:00

You know, we're a regional hub here on the Peak to Peak region, which is kind of the highway that runs through the mountains here between generally Ido Springs and Estes Park. There's a community up here. And right above the town of the Netherlands, it's the cross mine and the caribou mining district, it's what is historically called. And it has a watershed that runs down through it into town. And I think when you look back at Netherlands history, it's always it started essentially as a mining town back in the 1800s when gold was first discovered here in like 1859. And so that's been an important part of our history and culture and economy for a long time. Mining has gone through several booms and busts. And I think that right now it's kind of looking like folks are starting to become more interested in it again. And some of the older mines, like the cross mine, are reopening. And so one of the things that we're looking at is some of the impacts that it has on our community in terms of water and just in terms of traffic that comes through town and the different kinds of things that'll happen as they start scaling up operations there.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Netherland is an official party to the application working its way through a state process to reopen this mine. Can you say a little bit more about what that means? What like rights and responsibilities does it give you? Just basically, what does it mean to be an official party? What can you actually do? What say do you have in the process?

SPEAKER_03 8:15

This is a quasi-judicial process that's happening at the state level. And it's happening with an entity in the state government that looks at the impacts of mining and what needs to happen to permit it. And so what they're trying to do right now is get a new kind of permit that takes into account some of the different impacts, environmental impacts that they have at the mine up there. And so recently they applied for a new permit to start operations and to expand those operations. And when that happened, if you're a party that is affected by those operations, you can submit comments to the state, and then you're considered a person who is, you know, a stakeholder in the process, essentially. And that's what we are here. Um that gives us the right to comments when they do go to their final hearing, which is happening here in about a month, I think, is when it's scheduled. It allows us to just stay abreast of the project, which is also all public information. There's a portal online with all the documents and things like that. But it just gives us the ability to talk through some of the things that we're concerned about that might impact us as we move forward. And all quasi-judicial processes are decided on criteria. So it's not like we can say, we just don't like this thing. We we try to say these are the things that we're concerned about and how are they going to be addressed? And that's kind of what we did with our comments in the in the case.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Can you give a high-level overview of what those concerns are currently?

SPEAKER_03 9:28

Yeah, I think for us, our letter says really explicitly we're not against the operation happening there. You know, there's been historic mining there for 150 years almost. What we said is that we thought the application was incomplete. And there was a lot of things that we expect to see from an application like that, like mapping and water quality control plans and different kinds of things like that, different documents that show what the plan is for the operations. And we didn't weren't able to find them in the application. Part of that is it's just a very complicated process, and they have to, you know, get all the things together and do that. And so when we put our comments together, we have a sustainability advisory board here. And our board of trustees, our sustainability advisory board, myself and our sustainability coordinator really worked to think through what the impacts would be on the water that comes into town, you know, on the traffic and noise that comes through town, potential impacts on Barker Reservoir, which is the big reservoir here in Netherland, that is a big source of water both for the city of Boulder and for the town of Netterland. And just thinking through things like emergency procedures and how we might be notified if there was something that happened up there and all those kinds of things that towns generally care about in such applications.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

To your point of how complicated this is, definitely as a journalist, it's been tricky to parse out exactly what's been going on. What is your knowledge of mining operations? Do you have any like outside expertise that you're tapping? Is town staff handling this? Do you have like a staff member assigned to it? How are you following along with these really like niche topics?

SPEAKER_03 10:59

It's one of the assets of the Netherland community that we have a lot of people who are really skilled in earth sciences. Our sustainability coordinator just recently graduated with a geology degree from Mines. And then we have several people on our sustainability advisory board who work in this space. I've worked in this space for a while. My family has been in Colorado since 1860 and has a mining background. And I am not an expert, I'm an admin for sure. But I think we were able to come up with a group of folks that could really think through the different impacts we have. And then I think like part of it also is Netherland deals with land use issues every day. And I think most towns do. And when we think through them and we think about criteria, I think it really those processes are designed so people can wrap their heads around them and engage in process. And I know sometimes it doesn't work like that for government, but that's what we're trained to do. And so we used our staff and our boards to really think through what is reasonable. You know, I think it comes back to the idea that we're not trying to be nimbies and not saying that nothing can happen. Just, hey, let's let's think through how this could be done in a sustainable and resilient way that's safe for the residents of Netherland and safe for the folks up in Caribou that live up there as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Is there a particular outcome that Netherland is hoping for?

SPEAKER_03 12:09

I think for us, we know there's other processes that happens after this as well. So there's things that happen with the EPA, there's things that happen with Boulder County. Um, there may potentially be things with town, just depending on how traffic routes and things like that. And so I think for us, what we're we're advocating for is safety, first of all. We want to make sure, you know, for instance, if, you know, the mineral belt that this mine exists in is famous for being acidic. Gilpin County and Idaho Springs, I think, have thousands and thousands of mines that took advantage of it over the last hundred plus years, thinking, you know, like all the mining that's happened there. And this is the same mineral belt. And it's acidic and it has some challenges with like rock fracturing and things like that. So the way that water moves through that rock is really critical for us. And so I think for us, what we're really focused on is this idea of safety, making sure that we're mitigating potential problems as much as humanly possible and going through that process. So I think that that's what we're looking for. We want to participate in the process and voice our concerns in that way. And I think that that's really something you hear across all of the 400 plus stakeholders that are part of this case, is we're just looking for safety. There have been some times in the past where there have been some concerning incidents at this mine and related to the water and things like that. And I think we're just trying to say, hey, we understand what you're trying to do, but let's make sure that we follow best practices and keep people safe. We know we have a legacy in history of mining, and it's something that you can see anytime you go for a ski trip or a just a hike in the mountains. It's very easy to see it. And it's important to us, like that culture and history is important to us. Netherland wasn't always where it is right now. It used to be up the hill, very close to where this mine was. It was a town called Caribou, and then it moved down here. One of the things that we are really aware of in Netherland is sometimes folks don't know where we are, but we are kind of a critical juncture between where the wilderness meets, you know, urban areas. The watershed for Boulder County is up here. We have Barker Reservoir, which is a hugely important piece of water, and a lot of water just moves through this place. And so I think when we think about how water moves through rock and the different challenges that can happen, I think it really becomes clear and evident that our practices here for in terms of how we treat water and how we think about water need to be really a part of our conversation every day, just for resiliency for people who are past us as well. And so I think, you know, while Netherlands a super small town, it's kind of the tip of the pyramid of where urban kind of process starts in this area.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

It kind of sounds like what you're saying is like, hey, your water quality is in our hands. So do you want to tell listeners like, hey, we we got this?

SPEAKER_03 14:39

You can try. Our town, we've spent a lot of time and effort, and we have a really good water, wastewater team here. We treat water, we go above and beyond our permit levels of what we need to remove from the water, and we work really extensively with City of Boulder on that. When you're here, it's just so obvious about all the wilderness that's around Netherland. And we take it very seriously. That's why we have a sustainability advisory board. Our comprehensive plan, which is a really important planning document for the town, is built around this idea of resiliency and thinking about water and fire and the different impacts they have on places that are external to us. But I think that that's really the whole ethos of this place, and it's kind of cool. Water in Clear Creek used to be brown, even you know, when I was a kid. And it's not anymore, it's clear. And it's because these impacts of what these heavy minerals do and the you know, how to remove them and how to treat them, we know how to do it. There's a whole host of technologies and procedures and things like that that can do it. And I think that's the important thing here is when we engage in mining now, I think the it needs to just happen the right way. I think if it happens the right way, there's always things that can happen, but that greatly increases the odds that it can be done appropriately and all that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Public comment will be taken immediately following a decision by the Colorado Mind Land Reclamation Board. The hearing is set for 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 20th. Find a link for the live stream in our show notes.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

If you want to learn more about the history of Crossmine, the Mountaineers Chris Kelly reported a four-part series last year detailing the mines past, present, and future. We'll link it to each article in the show notes. As Shay mentioned, you can attend the May 20th meeting virtually, where we'll find out what the mine's future could look like. If you like today's show and you want to get the word out to your fellow concerned citizens, please share it around. It's the best thing that you can do to support the journalism we do here. As always, please like and subscribe to the show to get our episodes the moment they come out. Next week, we have an exclusive from our arts and culture publication, Caribou Current. Elephant Revival's Bonnie Payne joins the show to talk about her debut solo record, Unseen. It's a great show with a little bit of insight into what's possibly the biggest band to come out of Ned's music scene. So stay tuned. Once again, this is the Mountaineer Podcast. I'm Tyler Hickman. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

When first down to this country, a stranger I came. No money to my name, no money to my name. Landed in old June, Seattle. A boat across the channel. Well, there was hard times in the open eighteen hundred times.