Climax, Colorado
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Climax is a mining area and U.S. Post Office located in Lake County, Colorado, United States. The Climax Post Office has the ZIP Code 80429.[1]
Climax is a ghost town at the Continental Divide at an elevation of 11,360 feet (3463 meters). Climax is the highest settlement in the United States – it holds the record for having the nation's highest post office and the highest railroad station. The residential houses were transported to the West Park subdivision of Leadville, Colorado before 1965, leaving only the industrial buildings.
Climax's primary claim to fame is its rich deposits of molybdenum. During the early 1900s, the Climax Molybdenum Company operated the largest molybdenum mine in the world here, supplying three-fourths of the world's total supply of the mineral. The mine has been shut since the 1995 awaiting better global market conditions for its ore. The mine's current owner, Phelps Dodge Corporation, continues to work on mitigation of the environmental effects of past operations while holding the mine ready in the event of market changes.
On 2006-04-05, Phelps Dodge announced that its board of directors had approved the mine's reopening, contingent upon completion of a final feasibility study and obtaining all required operating permits and regulatory approvals. The target date for resuming operations is in 2009.
[edit] Geography
Climax is located at (39.365890,-106.185780).
[edit] External links
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
[edit] References
- Voynick, Steve (July, 2004). Climax, Two Decades Later. Colorado Central Magazine 125. p. 16.
- PD Press Release (April 5, 2006) Phelps Dodge Board of Directors Conditionally Approves Restart of Climax Molybdenum Mine near Leadville, Colo. [1]
- ^ ZIP Code Lookup (JavaScript/HTML). United States Postal Service (December 15, 2006). Retrieved on December 15, 2006.
