Operator error blamed for elevator incident that led to death of guide at former Colorado gold mine

DENVER — An incident involving an elevator at a former Colorado gold mine that led to the death of a tour guide and trapped a group of tourists for hours last year was caused by “operator error,” authorities said Wednesday.

The Teller County Sheriff’s Office did not provide details about what went wrong in a news release announcing the results of its investigation in the Oct. 10 death of Patrick Weier, 46, at the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine. However, investigators found there were no equipment malfunctions and that the mine met state regulations, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

The incident happened as the elevator was descending into the mine in the mountains near Colorado Springs. At around 500 feet (152 meters) down, the person operating the elevator from the surface “felt something strange ” and stopped it, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said at the time.

The elevator was still operable, and those on board when the incident happened were brought back up within 20 minutes, he said. A door on the elevator was broken when it was raised.

“We don’t know if the door malfunctioned or not or if something else occurred. There’s a lot that goes on in these little elevators,” he said then. “We just know that the door was broken somehow.”

Twelve adults from a second group were trapped at the bottom of the mine, 1,000 feet (305 meters) below ground, while engineers made sure the elevator could be used.

Soon after the incident, Mikesell said Weier had died because of a problem with the elevator, not a medical problem.

The case has been ruled an accident and has been closed, the sheriff’s office said in its update. It did not explain what happened to Weier or how he died. He had a young child and was from the nearby town of Victor, Colorado.

A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, Lt. Renee Bunting, declined to provide more details and told a reporter to file a records request to get more information.

The mine, which was about to close for the season when the accident happened, will be able to reopen again for this year’s tourist season, the sheriff’s office said. State mining regulators had ordered the mine to remain closed and not conduct any tours until it could be determined whether the mine was in compliance with regulations.

It is not known when the mine will reopen. The mine’s website, which prominently features a photo of Weier and a link to a fundraiser for his son, still said it was closed indefinitely on Thursday and no one answered the telephone there.