The Haile Gold Mine in rural South Carolina dates from 1827, a generation before the California Gold Rush, and contains the largest gold deposit in the Eastern United States. The mine has been an important gold producer under several owners in different economic periods, and for most of the past 190 years has been the largest gold producer in the South. In 2017, it reopened after a $700 million investment by Canadian and Australian companies. The History and Rebirth of the Remarkable Haile Gold Mine tells the story of changing interpretations in the geology of the area, of the evolution in mining and gold-extraction technology, and of the transition from individual to corporate ownership and from slave labor to a highly-skilled workforce. It highlights the aspirations, struggles, successes, and failures of those who sought to exploit the mine’s wealth and of the workers employed to do so while providing a case study of the 10-year effort to explore, develop, finance, and permit a modern gold mine. Far more than nostalgia, this book is a business-focused look at the economics of gold mining over the years with an emphasis on how changes in the metal price and investor sentiment as well as the involvement of environmental regulations and organizations impact mining decisions as much as refinements in geophysics and processing technology.
Jack H. Morris, former bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, is the retired vice president of investor relations for Newmont Mining Corporation, the nation’s largest gold mining company. In the past, he served as chairman of the Denver Gold Group, sponsor of leading forums linking the investment community with the world’s producers of precious metals.
Morris is also the author of Going for Gold: The History of Newmont Mining Corporation.