The Midnight Mining Company

In 1913 a company was formed to create a mile and a half tunnel that would explore mineral possibilities along a fault in the mineral belt on the backside of Aspen Mountain at a lower depth so it could drain water that had idled the Midnight Mine. That small group of investors reformed the modern Midnight Mining Company in 1917. It took ten years to complete the tunnel and most shareholders invested during that period. Unfortunately they reached the lode just as the country went into the Depression and silver prices dropped to an all-time low.

The company stayed alive at low silver prices because the ore quality was high and employees took shares of stock for part of their pay. President Roosevelt raised the price of silver to stabilize commodity prices and the company became profitable.

The company prospered during WWII because the nation needed lead and zinc for the war effort. The Midnight produced a million pounds of lead and two and a half million pounds of zinc during the war.  After the war the price of silver slowly dropped until in 1950 nearly all American silver mines closed. The Midnight was the last one in Aspen to stop production in 1953 after producing at today’s silver price between sixty and eighty million dollars of silver.

The company stayed in existence hoping silver prices would rise. To stay afloat it sold its surface rights in the late 1960s. Potato king and mining investor J.R. Simplot leased the Midnight in the late 1960s and early 1970s and drove a 10,000 foot tunnel below the Midnight workings hoping the ore body extended to lower depths, but did not find any ore bodies.

The company continued hoping another mining company would take a lease to mine ore that was not minable at lower silver prices and to explore for new ore bodies, but silver never sustained a price to warrant such an investment and Aspen’s tourist economy made mining incompatible.

Several years ago the officers of the company began a process of revival.

The Midnight Mining Company is now in the process of reaching out to all of its shareholders and re-establishing contact with them.  If you are a shareholder of The Midnight Mining Company, or know someone who might be a shareholder, we would very much appreciate your contacting our office.

We currently anticipate sending a letter to our shareholders in September of 2018. Please check back soon for additional information on the Company.