Hammer Time!
Climax Molybdenum employees showed their rock-breaking skills during the recent Boom Days celebration in Leadville, Colo.
Boom Days celebrates the rich mining history of Leadville, which continues today at the nearby Climax mine. Aside from competitions involving old-style techniques such as pounding spikes with hand-held sledgehammers, the weekend festivities included old-West re-enactments, burro races, a parade and more than 100 food and craft booths. Climax Molybdenum was the premier sponsor of the event.
The Boom Days theme this year was Women in Mining, which happened to coincide with the theme of the company float that was built for the festivities. This is the seventh celebration of Boom Days, and the first after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
“It was extra special this year since Women in Mining was the theme of the parade,” said Vanessa DeViterbo, Mine Manager-Climax Molybdenum. “The company saw this as an opportunity to celebrate the women we have at Climax and share in this celebration with the community. The highlight for me is that we have a lot of passionate and empowered women professionals at Climax who are willing to go the next step in being part of both the company they work at and the community they live in.”
While Henderson operations traditionally celebrates its own mining heritage through the Tommyknocker Mining Days in Idaho Springs, Colo., that event was canceled this year due to vandalism and theft of the mining equipment needed to put it on. Instead, Henderson employees traveled to Leadville to support the Climax mine and its sponsorship of Boom Days while showcasing their own historical mining skills.
In the photos above (clockwise from top left): Climax volunteers and their kids stop for a photo at the event; Dominick Patti, Health and Safety Lead-Henderson, took second place in the Single-Man Jack Leg competition, and his team finished third in the three-person competition; Sam Saunders, Chief Geotechnical Engineer, Tailings and Water-Climax, prepares to drill through the rock; Ethan Welshon, Mine Production Operator I-Henderson, participates in the competition in which contestants must drill two, four-foot deep holes into rock; DeViterbo and her son Hugo walk along the company’s float; Climax workers (from left) Amy Ferryman, Senior Chemist, Ashley McCarthy, Sampler Technician, and Jackie Littlepage, Health and Safety Lead, walk the parade route.