Ruby Hill Pours One Million, E&P Railroad News

Morning Miners!

It is 5:43 AM, let me heat up your cup. Some Mondays are rough starters, but everything is running smoothly in my shop. Eric Pastorino passed on two bits of great news: the Barrick Ruby Hill Mine has poured its one millionth ounce of gold and the Eureka & Palisades #4 locomotive is back in the news. The Barrick employees celebrated their benchmark yesterday which is terrific since the 2008 reserve estimate was only 831,000 ounces. If the new pit gets any bigger buckaroos, I'll have a place to chuck my pistachio shells from my favorite sittin' chair.

The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad will feature the Eureka & Palisades #4 locomotive at their 11th-Annual Railfest event August 13 - 16, 2009. The E&P Railroad connected Eureka to Palisades until it was discontinued in 1938 (see below). Eric and other dedicated Eurekans laid track at the County fairgrounds for the E&P's return several years ago. The E&P is till going strong and you can check on the upcoming event by clicking on this link:

The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and Museum

The headline photo today shows the E&P chugging along the Animas River to Durango, Colorado. I found a fun video of the E&P on YouTube if you want to enjoy the sights and sounds of old time rail travel:

Eureka & Palisades Runby

Dan & Ditty Markoff from Las Vegas lovingly restored the historic locomotive. Here is an overview of their efforts:

Eureka & Palisades Locomotive #4

Finally, the following taken from the R. L. Polk & Co.'s Nevada State Gazetteer and Business Directory (First Edition, 1907-1908), is an interesting account of Eureka's little locomotive that could:

"The town of Eureka is situated 84 miles from Palisade in a canyon at the south end of Diamond Valley. It is connected with the Southern Pacific RR by the Eureka & Palisade Railroad, and is the trading center for the outlying districts and ranches within a radius of from 25 to 75 miles.

The Eureka & Palisade Railroad is depended upon to carry the entire product of the mines to Palisade, where the ore is transferred to the Southern Pacific and taken to Salt Lake. The equipment of the E & P Railroad is being increased rapidly, two new locomotives and several cars having been added this spring. Ore and coal bunkers and other necessary accommodations have been constructed. The Western Pacific Railroad will also cross the county from east to west. With this increase in shipping facilities, and the material decrease in freight rates due to recent legislation, transportation of ore no longer presents a serious problem." (USGenWeb Project)

By the by, I just looked at the markets; the S&P broke 1,000 at 7:32 AM (PDT), that's a "beer, Colonel" in the Colonel's Beer Derby (see below, right). On top of all that, precious metals are on a tear. Yee-ha!



Can life get much better than this? Let's walk the walk:

Oil is up $2.24 to $71.69 in early trading (September contract); Gold is up $4.7 to $960.5 (December contract, most active); Silver is up $0.415 to $14.355(September contract); Copper is up $0.1085 to $2.7320 (September contract); Molybdenum holds at $15.

The DOW is up 113.82 points to 9285.43; the S&P 500, up 13.46 points to 1000.94. The miners are cart-wheeling today:

Barrick (ABX) $36.53 up 4.67%
Newmont (NEM) $42.72 up 3.31%
General Moly (Eureka Moly, LLC) (GMO) $2.92 up 3.18%
Freeport McMoran (FCX) $64.83 up 7.51% (a bellwether mining stock spanning gold, copper & molybdenum)

Steel stocks are kicking butt today, (a "tell" for General Moly):

Nucor (NUE) $46.46 up 4.47% - domestic steel manufacturing
ArcelorMittal (MT) $38.28 up 6.22% - global steel producer
POSCO (PKX) $103.65 up 2.55%- South Korean integrated steel producer

The Eureka Miner's Grubstake Portfolio is up 3.86% to $1,138,052.57. We've made $42,267.59 so far today!!!

Cheers,

Colonel Possum