Tintic, North Lily After 1981

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This page was last updated on October 19, 2025.

(The focus of this page is the surface workings of the mines of the North Lily Mining company, as visible in photographs, as well as a general description of the mines, with minimal coverage of the geology and financial returns. Also to establish a timeline using sources not previously readily available.)

North Lily and Anaconda

The original North Lily Mining company was organized in October 1916, and in 1929 became a subsidiary of the International Smelting and Refining, which in-turn was a subsidiary of Anaconda Copper.

Anaconda Timeline Before 1981

(Although the North Lily mine itself closed in mid 1949, the company remained as the holding company for all the former Knight mines in the Tintic District. The North Lily Mining company was a subsidiary of the Anaconda Company. The North Lily company was the focus of several leases of other companies properties, with its own claims and properties at times being leased to other companies. The company remained as Anaconda's operating company in Utah, and later in other states and Canada.)

(Although incomplete, research suggests that none of the North Lily, former Knight Investment company properties were part of the renewed activity in the Tintic district under the Kennecott lease of 1955. None of the North Lily properties, except for the Dragon Consolidated mine, were active during the early 1970s when Anaconda, especially after closing its International smelter in 1972, began arrangements to merge and consolidate its holdings in the Tintic district. At that time, North Lily became an inactive company, until the name, and only the name, was used by other parties for later activity.)

(Read more about Anaconda in Utah)

1955 - Anaconda Copper became The Anaconda Company.
1972 - Anaconda closed the International smelter at Tooele, Utah, and the smelter was dismantled in 1972-1974.
1976, August - Anaconda began making arrangements for the consolidation and merger of its mining properties in the Tintic Mining District. Since Anaconda only held controlling ownership of each company's stock, and each company continued to be managed as a separate enterprise due to varying numbers of minority stockholders, special meetings of all stockholders of each company was required to vote on the consolidation and merger.
1976, November - Stockholders of 16 of the 17 companies controlled by Anaconda voted to approve the merger into the North Lily Mining company. The holdout were the minority stockholders (16 percent) of the Dragon Consolidated Mining company who voted against the merger.
- None of the controlled companies were actively engaged in mining, but some had properties under lease to other companies for exploration, development and mining.
- North Lily would be the surviving corporation following the merger. Shareholders in companies affected by the merger would receive North Lily stock in exchange for their shares. Those with fractional share interests would be paid in cash, according to the proposal.
1977, January - Anaconda Copper became a subsidiary of Atlantic Richfield Company (Arco).
1980, May - The merger took place in November 1976, but the consolidation of operations and financial activity was delayed until May 1980 due to a series of law suits contesting the merger. The law suits were settled and in May 1980 the minority stockholders of 15 companies (excluding the Dragon Consolidated company) were advised to exchange their stock for shares in the North Lily Mining company. There were legal notices in the newspapers for three months, with a deadline for the exchange to take place, after which their stock would have no value.
1981, April - North Lily, as a subsidiary of Anaconda, leased its properties to Anaconda for a period of 3 years, for Anaconda to develop the properties.
1981, December - Anaconda was merged into its parent corporation Atlantic Richfield Company at the end of 1981; The Anaconda Company name was changed to Anaconda Mineral Company.
1985, June - Anaconda sold the last of its copper and other non-ferrous metals property and operations and became solely a coal mining company. Beaver Creek Coal Co., was shown as its only operation in Utah.

North Lily After Anaconda (1981)

(Research suggests that in about 1983, Anaconda sold the mining claims in the East Tintic area to companies or persons other than those who did business using the North Lily Mining company name after 1983. Those companies or persons appear to have controlled only the North Lily Mining company name, holding none of the actual former Knight Investment property previously held by the North Lily Mining company prior to 1983. The companies or persons using the North Lily Mining company name appear to have been stock market speculators and promoters who simply cashed in on the well-known North Lily Mining company brand name, counting on potential investors not doing the needed research.)

1983
Anton Hendriksz purchased 40 percent stock interest of the North Lily Mining company. (Salt Lake Tribune, April 21, 1988)

March 24, 1983
CMC Mining, a partnership comprised of investors in Chicago, San Francisco, and Denver, purchased 68 percent of stock of the North Lily Mining company, giving it control of the company. The reported value of the transaction was $1.6 million. Included in the sale was North Lily's control of three other mining companies: Dragon Consolidated Mining company; Defender Mining & Milling company; and Middle Swansea Mining corporation. David H. Clegg of Salt Lake City was president of CMC Mining. (Salt Lake Tribune, March 24, 1983)

1985
Anton Hendriksz and a Chicago group of investors bought North Lily and its subsidiary Dragon Mining Corp. from Arco (Atlantic Richfield), which in-turn had purchased the Anaconda company in 1976. After North Lily was acquired by Hendriksz and is associates, the stock was listed on the NASDAQ exchange and had gained stockholders in the United States and Europe. The headquarters office for North Lily was in San Bruno, California. (Salt Lake Tribune, July 3, 1988)

November 1, 1987
Anton Hendriksz sold 102,000 shares of North Lily Mining company, a portion of the 2 million shares he held as company president. (New York News Day, March 13, 1988)

North Lily Heap Leach (1988-1996)

February 12, 1988
The Utah Division of Oil Gas and Mining approved the application of the North Lily Mining company to begin a heap leach surface mining operation in Juab County, Utah, to be known as the Tintic Project. (Eureka Reporter, February 26, 1988; Legal Notices)

February 12, 1988
The North Lily Mining company received approval from the Utah Division of Oil Gas and Mining to begin moving waste rock from mine dumps, and mill tailings from mines and mills owned by the North Lily company, to a new leach heap location that occupies 15 acres. (Eureka Reporter, February 26, 1988)

(The existing mill tailings from the Tintic Milling company were to be moved using 50-ton off-road haul trucks from the former mill site, where they were known as the "red dumps," to the site of the leach heap. The Tintic Milling company had been shut down in 1926.)

April 29, 1988
From the Eureka Reporter, April 29, 1988.

North Lily Mining Co. and Magellan Resources Co., in 50-50 joint venture, are near completion of a 750-ton daily cyanidation heap leaching operation to recover gold from old mine dumps in the Silver City area of Juab County. North Lily president Anton R. Hendriksz said the final major permit for the $1.4 million facility has been granted by the state. The operation will employ 20. Direct operating costs averaging less than $100 per ounce of gold equivalent are expected, he said.

North Lily was one of the early Tintic Mining district companies. However, it had been inactive for many years. Shares traded on the old Salt Lake Stock Exchange for many years when it was principally held by the old Anaconda Co. It is now listed on the national over-the-counter market (NASDAQ) with about 7 million shares outstanding.

Mr. Hendriksz, a native of South Africa, acquired a 40 percent interest in North Lily in 1983. North Lily now has a dozen properties in the United States, principally in exploration and development stage, Mr. Hendriksz said. All but one, a calcite operation in Oregon, are involved in precious metals.

Western Mining Ltd., Australia, has 7,000 acres of North Lily land in the west Tintic mining district of Juab County under leases, he said. North Lily retains a 5 percent net smelter royalty on any production, he said. North Lilly also has a controlling interest in two Canadian companies: Goldsil Resources Ltd., and Mahogany Minerals Resources Inc. Mahogany is now in join venture with Royex of Toronto in a 60,000-ounce yearly gold operation.

June 14, 1988
North Lily Mining company produced the first gold and silver ingot from its leach heap and gold processing facility at Silver City. The ingot contained 150 ounces of gold, and 150 ounces of silver. (Eureka Reporter, July 1, 1988; Salt Lake Tribune, July 3, 1988)

June 29, 1988
"North Lily Mining Company announced the first gold pour from the 750-ton-per-day heap leach facility located near Silver City, Utah. Approximately 150 ounces of gold and 350 ounces of silver were produced from the facility in mid-June. The heap leach operation, being joint-ventured on a 50/50 basis by North Lily Mining Company and Magellan Resources Corp., commenced operation toward the end of May 1988. Production to date is in line with the companies' original projections. Several million tons of surface material have been identified on the property with ore grades in some cases exceeding 0.25 ounce of gold equivalent. Direct operating costs are estimated to average less than $100 per ounce of gold equivalent." (Newspaper clipping, no source)

(During this period, Anton Hendriksz was shown as president of Magellan Resources, which had its headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia. Both North Lily and Magellan were publicly traded companies, so the joint venture was needed, although Anton Hendriksz owned controlling interest in both companies. At the time, Hendriksz held 26 percent of North Lily, and he held proxies to vote in the interest of an additional 26 percent. As of July 1, 1988, North Lily was traded on the NASDAQ exchange in New York, instead of the Intermountain Stock Exchange in Salt Lake City.)

October 28, 1988
"North Lily Mining Co. and Magellan Resources Co. are nearing completion of a 750-ton-a- day cyanidation heap leaching operation to recover gold from old mine dumps in the Silver City area of the county. The $1.4 million facility will employ 20 people." (Eureka Reporter, October 28, 1988)

September 23, 1989
McFarland & Hullinger was hauling over 400,000 tons of ore reserves from the Mammoth mine dump in Mammoth, to the North Lily Mining company's heap leach operation in Silver City. A public open house was held on September 23rd at the Silver City operation. The hauling of ore reserves from Mammoth to Silver City was to end in May 1990. (Eureka Reporter, September 29, 1989; April 6, 1990)

North Lily Mining was recovering gold and silver from old mine dumps in Utah's historic Tintic mining district since 1988. Mine dumps and mill tailings from at least eight old mines had been moved to company heap leach pads for processing.

According to North Lily's 1992 Annual Report, North Lily Mining company's joint venture with Magellan Resources Corp., produced 5,157 ounces of gold from heap-leaching operations at Silver City, Juab County.

As of the end of 1992, it was uncertain as to whether the tailings recovery would continue in 1993. Continued low gold prices and low gold grades in the tailings made continued operation of the leach heap uneconomic.

February 1993
The North Lily Mining company ceased moving ore from mine waste dumps and mill tailings to the leach heap in February 1993. Residual gold leaching continued during 1993 and the reclamation process was implemented in 1994. The North Lily Mining company's heap leach mine in Silver City produced gold and silver ingots that were sold to Handy & Harman refineries.

September 26, 1997
The Silver City heap leach pile consisted of 15 acres of "spent ore" stacked an average depth of 100 feet. Recovery of precious metals was terminated in October 1995. (Eureka Reporter, September 26, 1997)

North Lily Mining Company's North Lily mine-dump leach operation closed in 1996.

The site was reclaimed and fully mitigated to eliminate environmental issues, with final approval of completion dated

North Lily After 1987

North Lily Mining company was was a subsidiary of Anaconda Company from 1925 until 1949. During this period, the North Lily Mining company produced gold, silver, lead, zinc and copper from the North Lily mine and other mines controlled by Anaconda in the Tintic Mining District, Utah. From 1949 to 1987, the North Lily Mining company was primarily engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mining properties, mostly in Utah's Tintic district.

February 19, 1988
North Lily Mining company of San Bruno, California, would merge with Cumberland Gold Groups of Atalanta, Georgia. As part of the Cumberland Group, North Lily would acquire subsidiaries Goldsil Resources Corp. and Mahogany Minerals Resources, Inc.. The merger of Cumberland with North Lily was expected to take place on February 19, 1988. (San Francisco Chronicle, February 5, 1988)

February 29, 1988
Anton Hendriksz held 30 percent stock ownership in the North Lily Mining company, as registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Syracuse, New York, Herald-Journal, February 29, 1988)

December 15, 1988
"Shareholders of North Lily Mining Co. of San Bruno will vote on a proposed merger with Cumberland Gold Group Inc. If approved, two common shares of Cumberland will be exchanged for one common share of North Lily. North Lily has been labeled a development stage company because it has not engaged in any mining activities since 1949. Cumberland acquired and explores mining properties to lease to other companies. Because there has been no production from its mines, Cumberland is also called a development stage company. North Lily reported a net loss of $821,721 on revenues of $192,467 for the nine months ended Sept. 30. Cumberland reported a net loss of $152,563 on revenues of $135,792 for the three months ended Aug. 31." (San Francisco Examiner, December 15, 1988)

From 1988 to 1991, North Lily Mining company was part of a joint venture with International Mahogany Corp. (a Canadian publicly-traded mining company), and International Corona (Mahogany had a 70 percent interest), when International Mahogany placed the Jolu Mine in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada, into production and produced approximately 204,000 ounces of gold. The Jolu Mine closed in August 1991.

May 5, 1990
North Lily Mining company had a net loss of $1.5 million during 1989, on revenue of $25.2 million from the sale of gold and silver, compared to a net loss of $2 million during 1988 on revenue of $182,394. Most of the 1989 sales were from the Jolu project in Canada. The heap leach project in Silver City, Utah, was budgeted at $1.1 million, and was scheduled to completion in June 1990. (Salt lake Tribune, May 5, 1990)

On December 1, 1990, Magellan Resources Corp., merged with International Mahogany Corp., and Goldsil Resources, Ltd., with the surviving company being International Mahogany Corp. North Lily Mining company remained as the controlling parent company, with 59.3 percent stock and voting interest. Anton Hendriksz was majority stockholder in all three companies, and was chairman, president and a director of North Lily Mining company. The merger was first proposed in August 1990, and was approved by stockholders in early November. The British Columbia Supreme Court was expected to approve the merger on December 1st. (Toronto, August 15, 1990; Alberni, British Columbia, Valley Times, November 6, 1990)

In 1991, the North Lily Mining company and International Mahogany acquired and began jointly developing the Tuina copper property in Chile, South America. The Tuina operation was suspended in 1993 due to "negative cash flows."

From 1988 until 1993, the North Lily Mining company and International Mahogany (formerly Magellan Resources) also operated a small heap leach tailing recovery operation in Utah which has produced approximately 33,000 ounces of gold and gold equivalent, and as of the end of 1994, was in the reclamation stage.

In April 1993, Anton Hendriksz, after suffering a stroke in December 1992, resigned as president and CEO of International Mahogany, as well as president and CEO of parent company North Lilly Mining, remaining as chairman and director of North Lilly Mining. (San Francisco Chronicle, April 1, 1993; San Francisco Examiner, April 1, 1993; Toronto Globe and Mail, April 1, 1993)

On August 6, 1993, North Lily sold its 60 percent interest in the International Mahogany Corp., to Baja Gold, Inc., a Canadian publicly-traded precious metals exploration and development company. As of December 1994, the North Lily Mining company was in debt to International Mahogany in the amount $500,000, and in debt to Baja Gold in the amount of $201,337.

In September 1993, as a result of a change in corporate management, the North Lily Mining company's corporate head office moved from San Bruno, California, to Scottsdale, Arizona. In May 1994, as a result of a further change in corporate management, the corporate head office moved to Denver, Colorado.

On April 22, 1994, the entirely new management team (officers and board of directors) took control of North Lily Mining company, including a new consulting geologist. This action was in response to a law suit filed in U. S. District Court South Carolina by a dissident stockholder. Although the allegations of the law suit were strongly denied, the management changes were made and the head offices moved to Denver. (Eureka Reporter, June 3, 1994)

At December 31, 1994, North Lily had 10 subsidiaries and affiliates. Seven were inactive properties located in the United States, including the inactive Middle Swansea Mining company in Utah, of which North Lily owned 86 percent. The other three subsidiaries and affiliates were located in Chile; one active 50 percent owned property, one inactive 100 percent owned and one inactive 50 percent owned.

June 5, 1998
The assets and property of the North Lily Mining company were sold at a Sheriff's sale on the steps of the Juab County courthouse in Nephi, Utah, on June 5, 1998. The sale was the result of a law suit, George Holcomb, plaintiff vs. North Lily Mining company, a Utah corporation, defendant. Included were 31 patented mining claims. (Eureka Reporter, May 15, 1998)

(None of the mining claims mentioned were familiar names from the company's earlier history. The real property was located within Sections 26 and 35, T10S, R3W, and Sections 1 and 12, T11S, R2W. These sections correspond with the property west of Mammoth and Silver City, and east of U. S. 6, where the heap leach operation was located.)

North Lily Bankruptcy

In 2000, the State of Utah and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, following complaints of illness from some Eureka residents began investigating impacts of historic mining activities on the environment and residential areas of Eureka.

In 2001, EPA designated Eureka as a Time Critical soil removal candidate, after high concentrations of lead and arsenic in soil combined with elevated blood lead levels in children living in Eureka. The activity continued into 2002.

In response to the EPA investigations, the North Lily Mining company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 6, 2001. The company's reorganization plan was approved by the court on February 28, 2003, based on a settlement agreement on January 3, 2003 between the mining company and the EPA. The settlement allowed the mining company's debt to the EPA to be satisfied by the mining company furnished over 10.5 million cubic feet (1.4 million gallons) of well water per year, and "borrow" material from the North Lily mining company's mine sites, with the material being used by EPA and its contractors for top soil, and for fill and base material in the remediation of the other EPA sites in Eureka, not associated with the North Lily company.

On February 27, 2003, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the North Lily Mining Company announced a settlement that allowed the reorganization of North Lily Mining Company, Inc. In this action the United States, through the EPA, sought compensation for costs from the North Lily Mining Company, Inc. incurred and to be incurred by EPA in connection with the remediation of hazardous substances at the Eureka Mills NPL Site located in central Utah. Under federal law CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, a U.S. federal law that created the "Superfund" to clean up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites), EPA alleged that the North Lily Mining Company, Inc., as a past owner and operator of a portion of the site at the time of disposal, is liable for those costs incurred by EPA. The bankruptcy court in Denver allowed North Lily Mining company to satisfy the United States' claim of $2,274,780.50 by providing water and borrow materials for EPA's use during the conduct of remediation at the entire Eureka site.

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