Empire Zinc Company

Last updated

The Empire Zinc Company was a subsidiary of the New Jersey Zinc Company. It originally held claims in the Gilman Mining district in Colorado. From 1912 to 1915, the New Jersey Zinc Company acquired and consolidated the mines as the Eagle Mines and operated Empire Zinc Company as a subsidiary. It also bought the town of Gilman, Colorado and ran it as a company town. The Eagle Mine site at Gilman is an EPA Superfund site.

History

The company was founded in the 1940s and was engaged in the exploration, development, and production of zinc and other minerals. Empire Zinc Company was known for its operations at the Hanover-Potosi mine in New Mexico, which was one of the largest zinc mines in the world. The company was also involved in the mining of lead, silver, and other minerals.[ citation needed ]

In the 1950s, Empire Zinc Company was involved in a labor dispute known as the Empire Zinc strike, which was a major event in the history of the American labor movement. [1] The strike, which was led by the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers, was sparked by a dispute over wages and working conditions at the Hanover-Potosi mine. The strike was ultimately resolved through negotiations, and Empire Zinc Company continued to operate until it was acquired by the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company in the 1970s. [2]

The 1954 movie "Salt of the Earth" was based on the 1951 Empire Zinc Strike against New Jersey Zinc Company's Empire Zinc mine in Bayard, New Mexico. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Salt of the Earth</i> (1954 film) 1954 film by Herbert Biberman

Salt of the Earth is a 1954 American drama film written by Michael Wilson, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico. All had been blacklisted by the Hollywood establishment due to their alleged involvement in communist politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Federation of Miners</span> Labor union of miners and metalworkers in western USA and Canada (1893-1967)

The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was a labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and smelter workers brought it into sharp conflicts – and often pitched battles – with both employers and governmental authorities. One of the most dramatic of these struggles occurred in the Cripple Creek district of Colorado in 1903–1904; the conflicts were thus dubbed the Colorado Labor Wars. The WFM also played a key role in the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World in 1905 but left that organization several years later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kennecott Utah Copper</span> Major copper mining and refining company

Kennecott Utah Copper LLC (KUC), a division of Rio Tinto Group, is a mining, smelting, and refining company. Its corporate headquarters are located in South Jordan, Utah. Kennecott operates the Bingham Canyon Mine, one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world in Bingham Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah. The company was first formed in 1898 as the Boston Consolidated Mining Company. The current corporation was formed in 1989. The mine and associated smelter produce 1% of the world's copper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilman, Colorado</span> Town in Colorado, United States

Gilman is an abandoned mining town in southeastern Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The U.S. Post Office at Minturn now serves Gilman postal addresses.

The Horsehead Holding Corporation, formerly The New Jersey Zinc Company, was an American producer of zinc and related materials based in Pittsburgh. The operations of the historic company are currently conducted as American Zinc Recycling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clinton Jencks</span> American activist

Clinton Jencks was an American lifelong activist in labor and social justice causes, most famous for union organizing among New Mexico's miners, acting in the 1954 film Salt of the Earth, and enduring years of government prosecution for allegedly falsifying a Taft-Hartley non-communist affidavit.

Grupo México is a Mexican conglomerate that operates through the following divisions: Mining, Transportation, Infrastructure and Fundacion Grupo Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calumet and Hecla Mining Company</span>

The Calumet and Hecla Mining Company was a major copper-mining company based within Michigan's Copper Country. In the 19th century, the company paid out more than $72 million in shareholder dividends, more than any other mining company in the United States during that period.

Silver mining in Colorado has taken place since the 1860s. In the past, Colorado called itself the Silver State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cerro de San Pedro</span>

Cerro de San Pedro is a village and seat of the Municipality of Cerro de San Pedro, located in the state of San Luis Potosí in central Mexico. It is located in hills, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) northeast of the city of San Luis Potosí.

Lundin Mining Corporation is a Canadian company that owns and operates mines in Sweden, United States, Chile, Portugal and Brazil that produce base metals such as copper, zinc, and nickel. Headquartered in Toronto, the company was founded by Adolf Lundin and operated by Lukas Lundin. While it was incorporated to pursue an interest in a diamond mine in Brazil, the company re-structured and raised funds to develop the Storliden mine in Sweden. It purchased the Swedish Zinkgruvan Mine from Rio Tinto and then merged with Arcon International Resources for its Galmoy Mine in Ireland and Eurozinc for its Neves-Corvo mine in Portugal. The company subsequently purchased and operated the Eagle mine, Candelaria mine, and Chapada mine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mining in Namibia</span> Overview of Namibias mining sector

Mining is the biggest contributor to Namibia's economy in terms of revenue. It accounts for 25% of the country's income. Its contribution to the gross domestic product is also very important and makes it one of the largest economic sectors of the country. Namibia produces diamonds, uranium, copper, magnesium, zinc, silver, gold, lead, semi-precious stones and industrial minerals. The majority of revenue comes from diamond mining. In 2014, Namibia was the fourth-largest exporter of non-fuel minerals in Africa.

The Detroit Copper Mining Company was an American copper mining and smelting operation based in Morenci, Arizona. Incorporated in July 1872, it existed as an independent company until 1897, when a controlling interest in the company was purchased by the predecessor of the Phelps Dodge Corporation. It continued to exist as a subsidiary of Phelps Dodge & Co until 1917, when all Phelps Dodge operations in the area were consolidated into the new Phelps Dodge Corporation, Morenci Branch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Minerals</span>

Golden Minerals, was founded by Thomas Kaplan, from Denver, Colorado. It is a US-American transnational mining corporation with a tax haven address in the Cayman Islands. Following its reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009, it re-emerged as Golden Minerals Corporation. It is a publicly traded company on AMEX under symbol AUMN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mining in Bolivia</span>

Mining in Bolivia has been a dominant feature of the Bolivian economy as well as Bolivian politics since 1557. Colonial era silver mining in Bolivia, particularly in Potosí, played a critical role in the Spanish Empire and the global economy. Tin mining supplanted silver by the twentieth century and the central element of Bolivian mining, and wealthy tin barons played an important role in national politics until they were marginalized by the industry's nationalization into the Bolivian Mining Corporation that followed the 1952 revolution. Bolivian miners played a critical part to the country's organized labor movement from the 1940s to the 1980s.

The Eagle Mine is an abandoned mine near the abandoned town of Gilman and about one mile south east of Minturn in the U.S. state of Colorado.

Potosi or Potosi Camp, was called Crystal City in the 1870s, a mining ghost town in Clark County, Nevada. It lies at an elevation of 5705 feet.

The International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Local 890 building is located at 302 Tom Foy Blvd. in Bayard, New Mexico. Bayard locals refer to the Local 890 building as the "Union Hall", where it is used as a community meeting place.

The Empire Zinc strike, also known as the Salt of the Earth strike, was a 15-month-long miners' strike in Grant County, New Mexico against the Empire Zinc Company for its discriminatory pay. The strike drew national attention, and after it was settled in 1952, a movie entitled Salt of the Earth (1954) was released that offered a fictionalized version of events.

References

  1. "New plaque commemorates Empire Zinc strike". www.scdailypress.com. 2022-05-16. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  2. Villoro, Elías (2022-09-19). "1954's Salt of the Earth told a powerful story of American labor". Boing Boing. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  3. Ruíz, Vicki L. (2006). Latinas in the United States, Volume 1. Indiana University Press. p. 656. ISBN   0253346800.