Golden opportunities: Denver still a mining town.

• Author: Stokes, Jeanie
• Position: Denver, Colorado

IN 1858, SMALL GOLD DEPOSITS were discovered near the confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek, turning all eyes toward Colorado and setting off a gold rush stirred by the slogan, "Pikes Peak or Bust!"

While actual gold mining in the state has slowed to just one major mine, today's global mining industry still looks to Denver when it needs expertise in exploration and development, processing technology, engineering, consulting, equipment and services.

Just ask Stanley Dempsey, chairman of Denver-based Royal Gold Inc.

Thanks to Colorado's vibrant mining community, if you're talking about a mine prospect in a place as far flung as Kazalthstan, "in about 15 minutes, I can talk to a mining engineer who's done the sampling. I can talk to a metallurgist who probably did the metallurgical work. I can talk to a lawyer who did the last contract there," Dempsey says.

The threat of war, which lifts gold prices because the metal is considered an investor's safe haven, and mining companies' improving stock prices, even as other stock values drop in a slowing economy, has only served to throw a brighter light on Colorado's long-lasting community of miners.

Newmont Mining Corp., now the world's largest gold mining company, relocated here in the 1980s, drawn by the ready supply of mining expertise.

The Colorado School of Mines in Golden and major offices of the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver/Boulder also serve as important industry magnets. And Denver is home to several smaller gold companies, whose executives find the Rockies an attractive place to live, with good access by air to mines in the western U.S., Australia, Latin America, Canada, Indonesia and Africa.

"When you hire people, they determine where the office will be," says Cheryl Martin, vice president for U.S. investor relations for Gold Fields Ltd., the fourth-largest gold producer. The South African-based company recruited Craig Nelson, a former Metallica Resources Inc. executive, as senior vice president.

Now he, Martin and Chairman Chris Thompson, who moved back to the U.S. after 15 years in South Africa, head a staff of 10 at Gold Fields' office in Englewood.

Hard times in the mining world brought about by low metals prices have pared the ranks of the industry's workforce.

Colorado has only about 15,000 mining-related jobs, but mining remains the only private-sector division with employment higher than a year ago, with 4.9 percent more jobs, according to the state's Department...