How To Dig Out An Old Mine

[Deleted member 122652]

That’s what BAW said.

He said tailings, not waste rock. There's a difference. No tailings are by the mine.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Mindy, you've been given good advice. The tailings/waste rock issue is
irrelevant, IMO, as you've got a spot you believe to be an old mine, and
you want to safely reopen it.

As someone else mentioned, what it comes down to is do you want to
make that massive investment of time, labor, money and materials in order
to find out what's in there?

We're I in your position, I would find me a camera of some type that could
enter the adit and show me what's there. You can get an endoscope with
16' of cable for under $50 on Amazon. If it looks like there is a blockage a
few feet in, get yourself a length of pipe and see if you can shove it through it,
and then you can run the camera cable inside the pipe to where the shaft opens
up.

You may find it's just a "coyote hole" that someone dug in and then determined
there was insufficient ore to make it worthwhile. If it opens up and you can see
timber sets and a workable space, that would be the time to begin the hard work
and investment, should you choose to proceed.

Anyway, that's what I would do.

 

[Gene Mean]

Good luck to you
Keep us updated, and don´t give away too much information on location, especially with all of your hard work going into it.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

He said tailings, not waste rock. There's a difference. No tailings are by the mine.

That distinction may be clear in your locale due to the nature of the deposit. I’m no mining engineer.

In my area, we have what is called pocket gold deposits. In many instances, only the richest specimens were carried home in a sack. No smelting required. Everything else, which at the time was not considered ore (because it wasn’t profitable for one man to process further), was dumped down the hillside below the audit/shaft along with barren waste rock.

It’s common here to call these “tailings piles” even though they were not milled or washed. They were considered “tailings” to the miners because in their mind, they extracted the gold prior to dumping it down the hillside.

Interestingly enough, many of these piles would now be considered ore piles due to the price of gold.

So the terminology gets thrown loosely in my area. Mill tailings, arrasta tailings, placer tailings, audit tailings, ect. There may be an important distinction in your quest for the Spanish mines, but here it’s irrelevant. People are known to find rich specimens in these tailing piles below the mine.

 

[Deleted member 122652]

That distinction may be clear in your locale due to the nature of the deposit. I’m no mining engineer.

In my area, we have what is called pocket gold deposits. In many instances, only the richest specimens were carried home in a sack. No smelting required. Everything else, which at the time was not considered ore (because it wasn’t profitable for one man to process further), was dumped down the hillside below the audit/shaft along with barren waste rock.

It’s common here to call these “tailings piles” even though they were not milled or washed. They were considered “tailings” to the miners because in their mind, they extracted the gold prior to dumping it down the hillside.

Interestingly enough, many of these piles would now be considered ore piles due to the price of gold.

So the terminology gets thrown loosely in my area. Mill tailings, arrasta tailings, placer tailings, audit tailings, ect. There may be an important distinction in your quest for the Spanish mines, but here it’s irrelevant. People are known to find rich specimens in these tailing piles below the mine.

Wow! Thank you! I learned something knew today. That's great information and a good reminder that not all areas and situations are the same.

In my area, they would throw the waste rock over the ridge or even right by the mouth. The ore would be mined and carried to the nearest spring where they processed it by the use of arrasatras. (Sp?) There's some canyons here that still have some left. Then from there, only the kings trusted and appointed men would smelt the gold into bars and store it until they were ready to leave for the year. If they were coming back to the mine, they would pile dirt in the mouth of it or put a boulder over the top to seal the mine from the elements. If they were done with it, they left it as it was and the Natives would end up filling it in so nobody else would find it.

 

[ecmjamsit]

Take the most promising looking ore and have it fire assayed. That way you don't waste too much time and money on it. Look at the ore with a microscope to determine the values that maybe locked in the gangue material.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Take the most promising looking ore and have it fire assayed. That way you don't waste too much time and money on it. Look at the ore with a microscope to determine the values that maybe locked in the gangue material.

Thus my suggestion to find an exposed portion of the vein on the surface, directly down via shaft in the audit, or from a parallel vein. Believe it or not, you can view the geological maps and visually connect the fault line features, saddle to draw to saddle. Many times here there is a vegetative change that follows the moisture coming from the fault line that carries the deposits.

 

[russau]

Is he for hire? Loan? Free? Hahaha!

Are you referring to "T.V. WOODY ?

 

[Deleted member 122652]

Take the most promising looking ore and have it fire assayed. That way you don't waste too much time and money on it. Look at the ore with a microscope to determine the values that maybe locked in the gangue material.

I can't get to the ore. I have to dig it out and apparently I need a professional.

 

[Deleted member 122652]

I'm so confused. You all say don't touch it, but then I see pictures of other people digging them out. So you all have never found a Spanish mine before? When you did you just left it there? Or hired a professional? That just doesn't sound right. Some people say dig, the other half says don't. Then someone said something about me asking this question on a treasure forum. Ummm, I guess nobody has ever found a mine before. Where the heck else would I go? Is there a "you found a lost Spanish mine, now what" forum filled with expert mining engineers I'm unaware of? It's one thing to find a lost mine, it's another to know what to do with it when you find it. You could locate the lost dutchman but without a professional thats with you there's nothing you can do. I don't get it. Are those people just for hire all over the place? Is there a find a mining expert search for Utah? Lol sheesh

 

[Deleted member 122652]

Are you referring to "T.V. WOODY ?

Whoever was helping dig

 

[Tesorodeoro]

I'm so confused. You all say don't touch it, but then I see pictures of other people digging them out. So you all have never found a Spanish mine before? When you did you just left it there? Or hired a professional? That just doesn't sound right. Some people say dig, the other half says don't. Then someone said something about me asking this question on a treasure forum. Ummm, I guess nobody has ever found a mine before. Where the heck else would I go? Is there a "you found a lost Spanish mine, now what" forum filled with expert mining engineers I'm unaware of? It's one thing to find a lost mine, it's another to know what to do with it when you find it. You could locate the lost dutchman but without a professional thats with you there's nothing you can do. I don't get it. Are those people just for hire all over the place? Is there a find a mining expert search for Utah? Lol sheesh

This is entirely up to you. Folks have given some good advice. Sampling, shoring, air monitoring.

It’s a lot of work and expense opening up a 200 year old mine.

Could be dewatering work to do. The water could be contaminated.

It’s common for miners to use barren waste rock as a method of shoring up audits. They would stack it in side tunnels and shim the gap at the ceiling, would I think it would be worth removing all that shoring? Probably not. Are you prepared to spend a couple summers on this project? Or at least a couple months with no return?

 

[Tesorodeoro]

The other consideration is if you are going to go full permits and be legal about underground mining? I certainly wouldn’t without a tested exposed vein to prove the risk.

Now you c o u l d make a reality tv show out of it. It’s a fascinating potential story.

 

[IDAu]

I'm so confused. You all say don't touch it, but then I see pictures of other people digging them out. So you all have never found a Spanish mine before? When you did you just left it there? Or hired a professional? That just doesn't sound right. Some people say dig, the other half says don't. Then someone said something about me asking this question on a treasure forum. Ummm, I guess nobody has ever found a mine before. Where the heck else would I go? Is there a "you found a lost Spanish mine, now what" forum filled with expert mining engineers I'm unaware of? It's one thing to find a lost mine, it's another to know what to do with it when you find it. You could locate the lost dutchman but without a professional thats with you there's nothing you can do. I don't get it. Are those people just for hire all over the place? Is there a find a mining expert search for Utah? Lol sheesh

I don’t know what you don’t get. Underground mining is an entire career. See my previous post for the equivalent of what you’re asking.


You can start digging and possibly die by all the things previously listed. I told you I found a mine and was in the same situation for the last year.

Step one is safety. Get a gas detector. Learn how to put in timber sets. If you’re ground isn’t stable (and it sounds like you don’t know that it is) you’re not going to get in far without support. Be prepared to spend thousands of dollars to not get far. There is no underground mining forum. It’s a dying art, and a lot of people are happy just breaking even on the.


I don’t think you’ve mentioned it this is your claim or private property. If it’s not private you have an enormous amount of time and money to get permitted, if it’s even legal to do so. You open it, you’re responsible for it. Surety bond is probably $5-10,000. Waste rock you pull out? You’re responsible as well.

For reference, my high grade vein is enough to change my life forever. And I’m still not digging. Hopefully that puts it into perspective how complicated and expensive this can be. A friend and his partner have put 20-$30k into theirs this season and haven’t made a cent back yet.

Price out one timber set using 6x6s and 2x12 lagging. Mine are 600-$1000 per set. Every 5 feet I want to go. Now price out the pipes for your ventilation system. And a blower that will move air that far. And rail track if you want to actually mine.

Yeah. This isn’t a “let the internet quickly explain it to me” kind of question.

 

[Deleted member 122652]

This is entirely up to you. Folks have given some good advice. Sampling, shoring, air monitoring.

It’s a lot of work and expense opening up a 200 year old mine.

Could be dewatering work to do. The water could be contaminated.

It’s common for miners to use barren waste rock as a method of shoring up audits. They would stack it in side tunnels and shim the gap at the ceiling, would I think it would be worth removing all that shoring? Probably not. Are you prepared to spend a couple summers on this project? Or at least a couple months with no return?

Why do you say it's not worth it?

 

[gold tramp]

That distinction may be clear in your locale due to the nature of the deposit. I’m no mining engineer.

In my area, we have what is called pocket gold deposits. In many instances, only the richest specimens were carried home in a sack. No smelting required. Everything else, which at the time was not considered ore (because it wasn’t profitable for one man to process further), was dumped down the hillside below the audit/shaft along with barren waste rock.

It’s common here to call these “tailings piles” even though they were not milled or washed. They were considered “tailings” to the miners because in their mind, they extracted the gold prior to dumping it down the hillside.

Interestingly enough, many of these piles would now be considered ore piles due to the price of gold.

So the terminology gets thrown loosely in my area. Mill tailings, arrasta tailings, placer tailings, audit tailings, ect. There may be an important distinction in your quest for the Spanish mines, but here it’s irrelevant. People are known to find rich specimens in these tailing piles below the mine.

What are arrasta tailings and how does one go about working these tailings.
Just wondering...
Gt...

 

[DizzyDigger]

Why do you say it's not worth it?

Until you can verify that there is sufficiently rich ore to make it worth the investment
it's going to take to bring the mine to operational status, no, in my opinion it's not worth
that investment. Prove to yourself that there is something worth mining, then make the
investment.

With timber sets costing $600 ea. (low end), you're looking at $6000 just to get you 50'
into the adit. Add in other necessary items and it'll end up around $10k.

The ball is in your court...it's your call whether or not you proceed.

 

[DizzyDigger]

What are arrasta tailings and how does one go about working these tailings.
Just wondering...
Gt...

Never seen arrastra tailings, but I would guess it would look like a
pile of powder?

 

[gold tramp]

Never seen arrastra tailings, but I would guess it would look like a
pile of powder?

I don’t know what you don’t get. Underground mining is an entire career. See my previous post for the equivalent of what you’re asking.


You can start digging and possibly die by all the things previously listed. I told you I found a mine and was in the same situation for the last year.

View attachment 2224266

View attachment 2224267

View attachment 2224268
Step one is safety. Get a gas detector. Learn how to put in timber sets. If you’re ground isn’t stable (and it sounds like you don’t know that it is) you’re not going to get in far without support. Be prepared to spend thousands of dollars to not get far. There is no underground mining forum. It’s a dying art, and a lot of people are happy just breaking even on the.


I don’t think you’ve mentioned it this is your claim or private property. If it’s not private you have an enormous amount of time and money to get permitted, if it’s even legal to do so. You open it, you’re responsible for it. Surety bond is probably $5-10,000. Waste rock you pull out? You’re responsible as well.

For reference, my high grade vein is enough to change my life forever. And I’m still not digging. Hopefully that puts it into perspective how complicated and expensive this can be. A friend and his partner have put 20-$30k into theirs this season and haven’t made a cent back yet.

Price out one timber set using 6x6s and 2x12 lagging. Mine are 600-$1000 per set. Every 5 feet I want to go. Now price out the pipes for your ventilation system. And a blower that will move air that far. And rail track if you want to actually mine.

Yeah. This isn’t a “let the internet quickly explain it to me” kind of question.

Sounds like you trying talk yourself out of mining.
Forget all the above bull and grab shovel pick n wheel barrow..
Get to minin there might be an 80 ft 10 oz a ton ore shoot that the old timer left for later ..
Winter comin fast geter done .
Gt....

 

[Tesorodeoro]

What are arrasta tailings and how does one go about working these tailings.
Just wondering...
Gt...

You know very well the end product is sand and slurry. (Mostly slurry) Never heard of anybody working them. I have heard of folks tearing the mill stones out and trying to find gold there. Why don’t you just come out and say what you mean?