1 person dead in Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine accident in Teller County, 12 people still trapped

Updated on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, at 5:36 p.m.

One person has died in an accident at a Teller County tourist mine. Another four people were injured and 12 people are still trapped about 1,000 feet underground. There are children involved as well.  

Eleven people have already been rescued from the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine near Cripple Creek.

Officials are calling it an equipment malfunction with the mine’s elevator, which is about a two-minute ride down into the earth. From there, tourists can walk about a quarter mile of underground terrain, according to the tour company’s website.

The mine did not collapse.

The Teller County Sheriff’s Office is leading rescue operations. The Colorado Springs Fire Department is sending multiple rescue units.

Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said officials will first try to get the elevator to work. If necessary, “plan b” is to send a Colorado Springs Fire Department rescue crew down the shaft.

“They’re 1,000 feet down. That means it’s a long rope trip right? If we have to, we can bring people up on those ropes,” he said. “But it also subjects those first responders to the danger of doing so, because you’re dropping a long way in a tunnel right?”

“So, we wanna make sure the tunnel is safe. We want to make sure the shaft is in good order. We wanna make sure all those things are, are, are working well,” he said.

Mikesell said crews are trying to keep those still trapped calm. One person stuck at the bottom of the elevator shaft is from the tour company and is also a former mine rescue personnel. According to Mikesell, no one in the remaining trapped group knows that anyone is dead or injured

“They really don’t have an idea that we have more of an issue up top than, than what they’re being told is the elevator and, and really, that’s because I want to keep people calm because I can’t get them out until I can get something down there,” he said.

The state also has sent personnel and resources to help including a field manager from the Division of Homeland Security and a mine rescue team from the Department of Natural Resources. The State Emergency Operations Center has been activated.

“I have spoken to the Teller County Sheriff and County Commissioners and will stay in touch through the course of this rescue effort,” said Governor Jared Polis. “We will do everything possible and assist the county to ensure a speedy and safe resolution of the situation.”

The Mollie Kathleen Mine was discovered in 1891. 

The mine has been conducting tours since the 1930s. And while mining operations shut down in 1961, the tours continued. Most recently they were offered seasonally, from May to mid-October and involved a one-hour walk. It’s unclear if the ten people trapped Thursday were on a tour.

According to state documents, the mine tours have attracted visitors “worldwide” for daily tours between April and October. The operators told the state that the public can access the mine with traditional “cable lift mine shaft hoisting equipment.”

“As such, Mollie Kathleen’ s tour operation offers a rare glimpse into Colorado mining history, and, as a deep shaft tour operation is both rare, and, particularly vulnerable to ventilation and other issues. Our tour level is an underground museum of Colorado mining history, mechanics and tools,” the documents read.

While it’s unknown what the nature of the problem is right now, in 2016, the tour’s operators wrote to state regulators about “structural stability” concerns because of an expansion of a larger mine nearby. The tour operator, Dewey-Dwight & Associates LLP, wrote the state Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, to inform them “of existing issues regarding potential disruption to Mollie Kathleen mine safety and structural stability, which could be the unintended consequence of operations on neighboring or nearby grounds. These concerns focus on: ventilation, structural stability, control of airflow, and, above all, public safety.”

It’s unclear how those concerns were addressed, the state Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety has not returned requests for comment. CPR News reached out for comment from federal mining regulators, but we’ve yet to hear back.

Editor’s note: We have updated the dates tours began in the mine based on new information from state documents.