Mesquite Mine has the golden touch By JONATHAN DALE, Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 11:47 PM PST
PHOTO COURTESY OF WESTERN GOLDFIELDS INC.
The Mesquite Mine north of Brawley is pictured from the air.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WESTERN GOLDFIELDS INC.
A 200-ton class truck is loaded with dirt containing ore by a hydraulic shovel.
BRAWLEY The Imperial Valley is just one of many places to profit greatly from an incredible increase in the price of gold over the past year.
The Mesquite Mine northeast of Brawley has seen a tremendous increase in employees and resources produced during the past year, a time period that saw the price of gold increase from $636 per ounce to $923.60 per ounce, as of Tuesday.
“We’ve been in the process of capitalizing on the increase in gold price for the past couple of years,” said Jerry Hepworth, the public relations official with Western Goldfields Inc., which has run the mine near Glamis since 2003.
Hepworth said the rise in gold prices correlates to a similar rise in the value of many metals, such as copper and iron.
“The reason for the latest spike is due to the worldwide market for all commodities,” he said. “The experts that I’ve read attribute that to demand more than anything else in the emerging economies in China and India.”
The nearly $300 increase in just a year’s time had Western Goldfields management surprised, to say the least.
“I’ve been in the business 33 years and I’ve never seen anything quite like it,” Hepworth said. “There was a spike in the early ’80s that was fairly short-lived, but all of the experts are predicting this one will last a while.”
One such expert is David Coffin, the co-owner of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based Hard Rock Analyst Advisories, a publication that deals in mining and metals worldwide.
“(The spike) is certainly very strong,” Coffin said, “but it’s not outside the range of expectations.
“If you view gold as metal, it’s playing catch-up right now to other metals,” he said.
As examples, Coffin said the price of zinc has tripled on its base price, while copper has quadrupled. Gold, meanwhile, has just recently begun to triple on its base price of $250.
Still, the fact that the price of gold has raised so much benefits both the Mesquite Mine and, in a roundabout way, the Imperial Valley economy.
“The benefit is that for one thing the company should be making more money, and it adds more comfort to their deposits, which sustains the operation into the future,” Coffin said. “It gives a longer term perspective mines need to make development decisions.
“From a municipal perspective, it would provide a higher tax base because people continue to work,” he said.
The increase in the price of gold from last year to this has indeed affected the mine and the Valley in positive ways, and is expected to continue to do so.
“Obviously it offers many good, high-paying jobs right here in the Imperial Valley,” Hepworth said. “We went from 30 employees in March last year to currently more than 180.
“Sales tax, property tax, state income tax, all of that comes from this operation and jobs that weren’t here a year ago,” he said.
" Guess its a good thing they couldn't get the railroad to their mine to fill their mine pit with LA trash...... "
ricocafe99 wrote on Jan 30, 2008 2:37 PM:
" abelito..you are correct, buy low sell high, its high now so sell sell sell!!! "
abelito wrote on Jan 30, 2008 1:49 PM:
" Oh,Oh! When you hear all the hype about what a good investment gold (or anytheng else) is, it's time to sell, and sell fast. Don't say you weren't warned. "
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kozzackkelt wrote on Jan 30, 2008 4:30 PM: