(Press Staff Photo by Makayla Grijalva)
A truck fills up with water at the Chino Mine on Friday. Chino resumed operations at 50 percent capacity Monday, after operating with a skeleton crew since April. Out of 800 furloughed employees, 340 had returned to work by last week.
On Jan. 19, 600 employees reported to work at Freeport-McMoRan’s Chino Mine, representing a return to 50 percent production capacity. Many miners had been on furlough since April, as COVID-19 swept through the United States.
※We are excited to restart the Chino Mine, bringing many people in the community back to work,” said Laura Hayes, a spokesperson for Freeport-McMoRan. ※We look forward to a safe and productive 2021, and appreciate the support of the community as we worked to develop the plans that would help secure a long-term future for the operation.”
January 22, 2021
Existing homes selling out, land sales predicted to rise Written by Makayla Grijalva on January 22, 2021
Unlike other parts of the economy that struggled through 2020, the pandemic posed little problem for the real estate sector in Silver City.
Aside from a blip when the initial strict pandemic-related restrictions began, several Silver City Realtors said that 2020 was an overall good year for the real estate market and predicted good fortune would continue in 2021. Land sales, in particular, are expected to grow as the number of homes for sale shrinks due to high demand.
※Personally, I had about a six-month lull when the pandemic started where it got pretty slow, but it more than picked up from about September until the end of the year,” said Robin Thomas, the 2021 president of the Silver City Regional Association of Realtors. ※And we are definitely seeing the same activity goi
(Press Staff Photo by Geoffrey Plant)
Bradley Gutierrez, traffic control supervisor for James Hamilton Construction, said the road project that got underway in front of Silver City Walmart last week will take about 130 days to complete and see the Walmart traffic light moved several hundred yards to the east, drainage, curbs and sidewalks added to U.S. 180 from Rosedale Road to the 32nd Street Bypass, as well as a “redo” of the frontage road on the south side of the highway. “It backs up pretty bad at lunch hour and quitting time,” since traffic is now reduced to one lane in each direction, Gutierrez said, adding, “it’s my job to try and keep everybody safe.”
Santa Clara reorganizes code, boosts utility rates Written by Makayla Grijalva on January 20, 2021
During their regular meeting Thursday, Santa Clara’s village trustees approved amendments to municipal code chapters on public utilities that the village has been refining for the past few months. While the revisions do include a utility rate increase, touted as accounting for the increase in cost of living, last week’s move mainly took already existing ordinances and compiled them into a single resource.
※A great deal of work went into this a lot of research, a lot of background. I want to commend out legal counsel for doing such a tremendous job,” said Santa Clara Mayor Richard Bauch. ※It’s taken a great deal of time to put it all together, but I think we have a document that’s optimal for the village.”
January 15, 2021
(Press Staff Photos by Makayla Grijalva)
The Silver City Burger Time restaurant closed Thursday after 48 years. This closure was the last of the Burger Time locations across southwest New Mexico as the former chain’s owner prepares to retire.
After nearly 50 years of serving southwest New Mexico, the staff of the Silver City Burger Time the last location of the former chain in operation said their goodbyes to the community and locked the restaurant’s doors for the last time Thursday.
“We’ve had so many kind words said on Facebook, and it’s humbling,” owner Kevin McGrath said. “You don’t realize how many people you’ve touched in your life in the food industry, and I didn’t realize that, until we closed the Las Cruces stores how much impact it had locally.”