Lost City of Paititi....................The greatest treasure hunt of our lifetime.

[Phil]

Here is another question...............Father Lopez left the city of Cusco and traveled 10 days East.

How do we know it was Cusco Peru, and not Cuzco Ecuador?

 

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[lilorphanannie]

For anyone interested here is the web address for the Peruvian Mining Agency,through their website you can also download an interactive map that shows the mining claims. I spent my first 20 years mining for clients in Peru,Bolivia, Chile, Colombia ,Guyana and Venezuela. Mainly gold placers and diamonds. Later on I had clients also looking for hardrock opportunities. ........ Now retired, I still have a lot of data willing to share. A lot of lucrative opportunities exist , for some and impossible for others. ....... Crow,I see you mentioned the San Gaban, maybe you are familiar with the treasure story connected with it. https://www.gob.pe/ingemmet---------

 

[Crow]

For anyone interested here is the web address for the Peruvian Mining Agency,through their website you can also download an interactive map that shows the mining claims. I spent my first 20 years mining for clients in Peru,Bolivia, Chile, Colombia ,Guyana and Venezuela. Mainly gold placers and diamonds. Later on I had clients also looking for hardrock opportunities. ........ Now retired, I still have a lot of data willing to share. A lot of lucrative opportunities exist , for some and impossible for others. ....... Crow,I see you mentioned the San Gaban, maybe you are familiar with the treasure story connected with it. https://www.gob.pe/ingemmet---------

Gidday lilorphanannie

I was aware of San Gaban, and another place the name escapes my memory that was destroyed by Indians.

Juan del Oro? Some thing like that?

I recall there was about 30 mining leases? Several was progressively bought up by the same companies. There was a small mining company in Lima that has many of leases and they have been sampling and processing gold values through Centamin.

But I did not know the story of hidden gold from the destroyed settlement of San Gaban?



Crow

 

[lilorphanannie]

San Gaban had a mint. Its been a while, I will search for the information, give me some time. The final shipment never made it out due to the massacre. The info was intriguing,I was there as a young man dredging on the Huari,Huari,in the 70´s.

 

[lilorphanannie]

[FONT=&quot] the Spanish setteled in three places. Sandia, San Gavan and San Juan del Oro. San Gaban was located on the San Gaban river and was designated as the Royal treasury and mint and had a population of some 4000 inhabitants at the time of the massacare. The massacare took place on December 15th 1767 as they were attacked by the Caronga,Suchimanis and Chunco indians. The primary source of gold for the mint was from Aporuma mine. If you find the Aporuma mine ,it is possible to follow the trail out that could also lead to the San Gaban settlement,but it will take serious tracking skills. But San Gaban was the repository for all of the gold mined in the Caravaya drainage. San Gaban was 20 miles from the Aragon estate. The Aragon land grant could possibly be found by checking church and catastral records. Mainfest records show gold was shipped from San Gaban to Spain.--------- the richest area of all is a hill called Capacuru on the Tacuma drainage now known as Montebello and upriver from there is a waterfall with a forty foot drop which is a very rich gold trap below and behind. Legend has it that at the time of the massacre there was getting ready for a shipment to leave out and it never made it. Speculation is that it is still there at the mint. The problem has been that the exact location of San Gaban is unknown,at least to those who have searched for it. As you know there is a lot of vegetation. I would think that there are locals who know of ruins, but not the names or the story. I understand there are a lot settelers there now. Dont know is Lidar mapping is available for the area. I did have more info including records of the volume of the shipments. That was years ago ,so this is all I have for the moment.[/FONT]

 

[lilorphanannie]

[FONT=&quot]Here is some additional info from my Peruvian journal. Most was related to geological exploration but I found these references to treasure along with the San Gaban reference posted above. Now with the internet I suppose this kind of info is readily available ,so its possible you guys already have it.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The amount of gold Pizarro recieved was equivalent to 2,706,023 grams. The gold was 65.5% fine. It was divided into 480 parts. There was the Kings 5th, then 83kilos for Pizarro himself. The remainder was evenly divided among the troops. There was 29 kilos 440 grams of raw placer gold that was not melted down, the rest were gold ornaments ,mainly statues of women and sheep. Then there was one piece they described as spectacular ,was a gold slab,so large it couldnt be weighed. It was said to represent the moon and taken from the temple of the sun. Garsilaso wrote that the amount of gold the Spanish had taked amounted to a drop of water from a pitcher full.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Another treasure lead. In the snowpeak mountain called Pachatusan, Antis indian porters ,stored,buried,300 cargas of gold in flake and nugget form. They did this under the directions of Tupac Yupahqui. The document was difficult to read ,but it alluded that the site was somewhere near the top.[/FONT]

 

[KANACKI]

Hola amigo

I wonder if this is the waterfall you are referring too?



Kanacki

 

[lilorphanannie]

It could very well be. Looks familiar although its been a long time.

 

[Crow]

If I was to have a hypothesis on what limited information I am aware of? The San Gaban was mostly rich alluvial deposits along the river. The company that did surface sampling along the present active 29 tenements found very low gold values in the hill around San Gaban. Exploration found 3 faults with some quartz veins but very low gold values.The only gold was found in slate and silica deposits but the value was averaged less than 1 gram per ton. ( samples tested by Centamin)

It appears the steeply descending river from altoplano has been a natural collection point in the deep pools along the river flushing finer gold down river eventually in the Rio Madres river. I am not familiar with the names you mention but I am not sure if there has been a name change?

I suspect further up river was the source of the gold? The hills around Ollachea I suspect was the source? It is riddled with hot thermal springs. I believe the site is geologically sitting on hydrothermal vents and through erosion over time feed gold down San Gaban and Beyond into the Amazon.





Here is diagram of Epithermal gold deposits below. Underground sources of hot water and pressure combined to melt gold and sulfur, which are often found together, and push them towards the surface. When the waters cooled, the gold filled the natural cracks in the rocks which formed veins of gold.



Just above Ollachea was an old abandoned village I am not sure Inca or Spanish? The river ruins like a fast flowing natural sluice.



We never had the liberty to take surface sames to see if there was gold above Ollachea? Nor search for the ruins down San Gaban below. Although now I wish I had?

Crow

 

[Crow]

And course gold flowed through San Gaban to all of the Caravaya drainage. Possibly the culture was involved in mining gold but their cities was made of time. When there was reports of Paitti it was never clear this lost city was built of wood or stone? Thus to day only traces of ditches can be found.





Crow

 

[lilorphanannie]

Prospecting for gold as it was originally done for centuries ,and the skills required to be successful at it are now a lost art. Students of mining schools, are now taught ,to focus on searching for a completely different set of criteria. Now are the days of massive open pit operations, operated by the major companies. They are trying for low grade -high volumen deposits. The general rule of thumb,is one million ounces gold and one hundred million ounces in silver. These values are what are needed to justify the investment. What has happened is that the exploration techniques used to discover the geological structures that host these values ,and they all have names,and working models, such as a Carlin deposit, or a massive sulfide deposit,etc.are entirely different from old school prospecting. A good book to begin with is De ReMetallica, translated into english by President Hoover, the only president who was an a mining engineer and miner. The old prospectors looked for oxidized vein outcrops. Almost all, one would think have been found. But they are still out there, these were the mines and vein structures we saw in the movies and read about as capable of being fantastically rich. As for me, as a lone prospector, I have spent a great deal of time looking for the both vein deposits and in gold traps in rivers. And formerly rich mines of that reputation, If you have heard of the 16 to 1 mine in California ,and read its history, it is an example. Trying to find the richest gold trap ,rather than conventional dredging. I can tell you that there are those places and some have possibly several hundred kilos within a small confined área. And the área and drainages in the upper reaches of the Huari Huari, are excellent. I can also tell you that there are or have been people ,working completely alone,pulling out 12 ounces a day on that river. Thats working alone with a 5 inch dredge. You just have to find the right place. With proper equipment, some of the deeper pools a guy can do really well. In those years I was able to document sites found by accident where 500 and 200 kilos respectively were recovered. The 500 in Bolivia and 200 in Mexico. I traveled all over during those years and my best personal success was in Colombia. So they are everywhere. You have to find feeder streams in the upper reaches of known lowland gold bearing rivers. Modern geologists may scoff at this idea saying that it is next to imposible to locate these places. I can tell you that it can be done,but would never recommend for anyone to try. I say so because I tried to guide a dear friend to one of these places I recommended and I think he didnt believe me. He was physically prepared but impatient and with no equipment. You must go in the summer time with no rain and clear pools. ……. There was extensive placer mining in that área and it has been documented in several tomes from the earliest explorers into the región. I cant recall the names of those books but will look for them . This was all before the internet. Yes ,I have been told that some of the names have changed. …….Although you are correct about the área being primarily worked for placer ,the documents state that the main source for the gold that San Gaban minted,came from the Aporuma mine. If I remember correctly it is a vein outcrop on Aporuma Hill , found on maps,right on the river. I think it was later worked until depleted by a French company ,hence the name Montebello. Which is also on maps. In truth ,very few people today have the desire,need or persistance to tackle this task let alone the skill set. But it gave really good results for me. I wish I was still doing it. It was a lot of fun

 

[lilorphanannie]

I have yet to find the account Iam looking for on the gold placers and mines, I remember it was a priest who wrote it. For those interested I will try to post a paragraph from Garcilaso de la Vega, who wrote several chronicles on Peru and from which nearly all current info is derived. I see most all of his works is available online. ahttps://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Vega%2c%20Garcilaso%20de%20la%2c%201539-1616t also good reading is a history of Peru by Markam Clements R.

 

[lilorphanannie]

This is an account of the famour chain. It was ordered to be made by Huyana Capac. What is written is that it took 200 indians to lift it. What I dont see mentioned was how they tried to do so . It was attached to the earing in their ear. Still a pretty hefty chain. In these chronicles more details are given. And there is even an earlier account in a book Riches of Peru.

 

[lilorphanannie]

A brief comment from Clements on the Carabaya region.

 

[lilorphanannie]

the lake believed to be where the chain and other gold was thrown into

 

[lilorphanannie]

[FONT=&quot]Food for thought, there are still potentially very profitable mining opportunities in the Altiplano of Peru that are free to claim I know of several,but very difficult on many levels and very expensive to startup, and there are dozens of placers that will pay high rewards ,also difficult and can be dangerous,and there are stories of treasures, but how many have been found? but for my money the easiest return and most profitable for those who have the money to try anyone of the aformentioned activities ,I would explore investing in anyone of the dozens of mining co -ops. With the agreement that they inturn sell you all the gold at an agreed discounted price. You are supporting artsenal mining community,improving peoples lives and earning an excellent return. There are dozens of these co ops. and at worst case ,it will finance your other activities. I speak from experience on this. There are also other opportunities to buy gold that are profitable and legal. I no nothing about you guys ,what your plans and capabilities are ,but I ,in the interest of sharing information thought to pass it along. I apologize if it is out of line. You may have much more experience than I and a different agenda.[/FONT]

 

[Crow]

Gidday lilorphanannie

On the contrary amigo no need to apologize and I and I know others have enjoyed your posts immensely finding them interesting and informative. Your time down that way was very different as you have much more freedom than Trios time there. We was restricted by the nature of our employment. And that was contract drilling exploration or what we say in the industry drilling "Truth Holes " Directed by project geologists. And that form of mining is exactly what you said. Those multinational companies are looking for huge deposits of mine able ore bodies. Our time there was dictated by the whims of our employer at the time.

Please do continue

Crow

 

[BillA]

loa, please do continue

would observe that buying gold from miners has always been profitable,
no longer any gringo buyers here in CR as is far to dangerous, and incidentally illegal
for a while they bought in Golfito, sold on Ebay, and mailed direct
backing a cooperative is the way to go

 

[Phil]

You are providing information that is very interesting and helpful to my research. Please continue!

 

[Crow]

Gidday amigo.

Sadly it not abandoned old Spanish mines or virgin ground anymore. thousands of illegal miners have pitched into those gold bearing rivers and valleys all chasing a dream to strike it rich.


Here is one of of the mining settlements of people dredging the river. One of several.



Down in these steep valleys falling east flat land is rare. So make shift mining camps are cut into hill sides. Making them prone to landslides below.



These camps have high mortality rates no electricity or sanitation and sickness spreads like wildfire.



To compound these gold rush miners. Government has been actively trying to push miners out. By burning out their camp.



Just like the 49ers, Diggers in Australia life is hard. Many will fail and some no doubt will get rich.



The ever threat of flash flooding is also constant danger.



That is harsh reality of such places it is not for the faint heart.

Crow