Why not a tour mine?

[tamrock]

Yesterday I delivered more merchandise to a fella I've delt with for some time who now quit his mine engineering job because the families old claim has really gotten popular as a tourist location. You can take a little trip underground and the natural stream in the gulch still produces little color in about every pan for tourist to enjoy the experience of panning for gold. Also selling candy to the kids and little souvenirs is doing well in recent years. Recently I've been selling rock anchors, drill rod and rockdill parts so he can develop safer conditions further in the mine in order to expand the tour. He also ask if I could locate some 1970s style mine phones to install, which I did, as he wants to create the way the mine appeared when it was last in operation. The guys buying a fair amount of stuff now and I offered to give him a hand in driving a loopep drift to circle around and take the tour in a direction one way and out the other. I'll help him out for fun, so I can document the process, because most mines I visit anymore taking pictures is a big No No. and they require you sign site specific forms stating you know and understand that. Hell I've signed froms saying I know I can't pickup old artifacts, such as old bottles or what ever is just gonna be sitting the in the elements and rusting away. We looked at some of the veins that could still produce a profit, but reopening it as a producing mine operation opens up a can of worms in permits and environmental issues. Heck he turned an old sea container into the concession stand and said it didn't require a building permit by the county to do it that way. I thought this little pinched seem leaching blue copper oxide was really interesting.

 

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[Kray Gelder]

Thanks for the interesting glimpse underground. A different world.

 

[Goldwasher]

Yesterday I delivered more merchandise to a fella I've delt with for some time who now quit his mine engineering job because the families old claim has really gotten popular as a tourist location. You can take a little trip underground and the natural stream in the gulch still produces little color in about every pan for tourist to enjoy the experience of panning for gold. Also selling candy to the kids and little souvenirs is doing well in recent years. Recently I've been selling rock anchors, drill rod and rockdill parts so he can develop safer conditions further in the mine in order to expand the tour. He also ask if I could locate some 1970s style mine phones to install, which I did, as he wants to create the way the mine appeared when it was last in operation. The guys buying a fair amount of stuff now and I offered to give him a hand in driving a loopep drift to circle around and take the tour in a direction one way and out the other. I'll help him out for fun, so I can document the process, because most mines I visit anymore taking pictures is a big No No. and they require you sign site specific forms stating you know and understand that. Hell I've signed froms saying I know I can't pickup old artifacts, such as old bottles or what ever is just gonna be sitting the in the elements and rusting away. We looked at some of the veins that could still produce a profit, but reopening it as a producing mine operation opens up a can of worms in permits and environmental issues. Heck he turned an old sea container into the concession stand and said it didn't require a building permit by the county to do it that way. I thought this little pinched seem leaching blue copper oxide was really interesting.

 

[CGC Miner]

It would be interesting to compare the costs of permitting a small operation to a tourist mine.

 

[tamrock]

It would be interesting to compare the costs of permitting a small operation to a tourist mine.

From what the owner said a license to do business was about it. Not being a productive mining company he's not subject to the scrutiny of the various agencies that oversee the mining industry.

 

[cyzak]

One of the last mine tours I went on they actually allowed me to remove some ore from the rib probably one of the coolest tours I ever been on.Vein ran vertical it was a real interesting tour I actually learned a couple of things. Thanks for sharing the photo's.

 

[Terry Soloman]

I can tell you from my personal experience providing placer tours and mining, it is the legal costs, bonding, permitting, and cost of liability insurance that can be a huge nut to crack every month before you even THINK of payroll and equipment.

 

[tamrock]

One of the last mine tours I went on they actually allowed me to remove some ore from the rib probably one of the coolest tours I ever been on.Vein ran vertical it was a real interesting tour I actually learned a couple of things. Thanks for sharing the photo's.

I pulled a chunk out of that stope in the second to the last photo. That's still a valuable ore vein and it's a place not on the tour as it's a bit sketchy taking tourist back in there.

 

[cyzak]

I pulled a chunk out of that stope in the second to the last photo. That's still a valuable ore vein and it's a place not on the tour as it's a bit sketchy taking tourist back in there.

Still a lot of good ore out there to be mined the damn regs have shut em down though, makes me get a mad on.

 

[tamrock]

Still a lot of good ore out there to be mined the damn regs have shut em down though, makes me get a mad on.

That's because we live in the post Toxic Bob Friedland era. Before his Galactic Resources debacle at Summitville there were several smaller mining operations in Colorado. That guy destroyed the smaller mining operations by his reckless practices and all the heat that came down on everyone who were mining responsibly in the Rockies. Because of him and all the negative press that came down on the miners after that, it's never been the same again or so it seems to me. https://www.mining.com/robert-toxic-bob-friedland-49502/

 

[StreamlineGold]

Looks like a pretty neat mine there

 

[augoldminer]

He also ask if I could locate some 1970s style mine phones

All the miners i knew then and even today use surpass military field telephones.

https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Field_telephone

Any field phone from any nato country will work with any phone from any other nato country.

 

[tamrock]

All the miners i knew then and even today use surpass military field telephones.

https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Field_telephone

Any field phone from any nato country will work with any phone from any other nato country.

I found some 70s era Gai-tronics. Every mine I've been in, uses a pager phone, so you can holler at anybody down below that might be nearby to pick up the F'n phone. The ones I got are used and dang if one of the speakers doesn't work on one. GAI-Tronics says I'm SOL, as they don't have parts for a 40 year old models anymore. Found an old fella up in the Idaho silver valley who's been fixing mine phone up that way for decades and he told me to try a few things first before I ship it back to the guy who said he'd provide me with good working old mine phones. These phones are the late 1970s model's, just like the customer requested and he's kind of bummed the one doesn't work as he's really shooting for authenticity of the last day the mine was in operation.

 

[Boarteats]

Great thread!

Want to take the family on such a mine tour in North Carolina or thereabouts in the summer. Looking for a place that allows panning and/or other prospecting activities. Would really appreciate recommendations.

 

[tamrock]

Great thread!

Want to take the family on such a mine tour in North Carolina or thereabouts in the summer. Looking for a place that allows panning and/or other prospecting activities. Would really appreciate recommendations.

Back in the early 90s I was commuting back and forth to Atlanta for Sandvik mining and I'd be out there every other weekend, so I'd do a little sightseeing on the weekends I was there. It took a trip up to Dahlonega and paid to go on a tour in an old gold mine. It was pretty interesting and the fella doing the tour would walk around town looking like an old miner hustling folks to take the tour. I remember him showing some of the old quartz veins that had rusty looking iron intrusions in it. He said they called them bacon veins, as they looked like raw bacon. The cool old period architecture in that town was also interesting. That era was America's first Gold Rush before the gold was found in California. There's a mine museum in Colorado Springs and I believe this old 1850s Newcomen style steam pump was hauled out of a old gold mine in North Carolina. The thing almost looked all Hand Forged and crafted. It was a cool old mining relic for sure. If your ever around Colorado Springs it's a really interesting mining museum to see.

 

[diggingthe1]

That is a great museum for sure. I can't believe they got that huge piece in there!!

 

[Boarteats]

Back in the early 90s I was commuting back and forth to Atlanta for Sandvik mining and I'd be out there every other weekend, so I'd do a little sightseeing on the weekends I was there. It took a trip up to Dahlonega and paid to go on a tour in an old gold mine.

I have family in Ga. Visited a couple mines in Dahlonega several years ago. One was tourist trap where you buy buckets of dirt for panning. After the fact learned that the sand wasn't even from area. Was inexpensive and fine/fun for young kids. The other was great. Toured mine with knowledgeable guide who pointed out various veins, minerals, etc. Don't recall the details now.