I am looking for an old mine shut down for war, with a dump to work. Quartzsite?

[klondikesteve]

I placer mine in northern Canada in the summer and would like to have a winter project. My wife and I like to get our exercise outdoors and finding gold. The Yukon is a great place for finding gold, and the laws and rules are much better, but it is so far away and the winters are much to harsh for me........I am from Oregon.......... I had not seen below temperatures until 2011, while in Dawson City, filming "Gold Rush" for the Discovery channel. The summers are great though, and I urge anyone to come visit.

You can look at my website and blog if you wish klondikesteve.com

I am planning to be in Quartzsite in February and would love to swap stories with others that share to gold sickness!

Steve

 

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[lastleg]

Recommend the Octave mine near Stanton, AZ.

 

[Clay Diggins]

The Octave wasn't shut down because of the war. The Octave was played out long before that.

The Octave is for sale for 5.9 million dollars if you are inclined to throw your money down an empty hole.

I could probably talk them down to 5.4 mil if you want.

(The brothers paid $186,000 for the mine)

Heavy Pans

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

The Octave wasn't shut down because of the war. The Octave was played out long before that.

The Octave is for sale for 5.9 million dollars if you are inclined to throw your money down an empty hole.

I could probably talk them down to 5.4 mil if you want.

(The brothers paid $186,000 for the mine)

Heavy Pans

I wonder if any of these mines are ever "played out", or if they just have not had any development or investigations done to locate the next concentration or where it faulted to.

My dad knows of a mine that was shut down in war times...The last published data stated there was still stoping to be done between audits and that the the ore shoot paid 2 oz./ton..I think 12" to 18" wide vein.

It's all collapsed at the entrance and would take some permits and development $$ just to verify.

Lots of stories like that and 10's of thousands of collapsed/flooded holes. I think we are still an extremely rich nation.

 

[Clay Diggins]

The Octave was producing .05 opt when the shaft was closed. The only reason it was kept open was to take in ore to their milling and leaching operations from other nearby mines. The Octave deposit was faulted and truly lost and mined out.

The Joker shaft to the east was sunk in the early 1920's to find the upper part of the slip fault. That shaft missed the fault deposit by a few hundred feet but further exploration resulted in the discovery of the New York lode that was then mined out after about 4 years. The Joker produced as much gold as the Octave did but in only 4 short years and with less than 10% of the tons mined and processed. The area between the two mines is barren of ore as proven by many attempts to enter the Joker deposit from the Octave side.

Here's a plan drawing of the relationship between the two played out deposits:



It's a sucker bet to bank on past miners to have missed the ore they were mining. They were full time professionals with an extensive hands on knowledge of the ore deposit they were working.

There are gold mines that were not played out at the beginning of WWII but most of those were mined during and after the war. The presidential order did not close gold mines but it did restrict the amount of gold mining that could be done on any one gold mine in a year. A good paying gold mine was well worth continued mining during and after the war. Marginal mines were mostly abandoned due to the high cost of fuel and labor. Those fuel and labor costs are even higher today.

Yes we are an extremely rich nation. There are opportunities to discover new gold deposits. There are some abandoned mines that might be somewhat productive today. Considering the high cost of restoration and permitting of abandoned mines it's extremely rare to find a profitable operation in a formerly abandoned mine.

I know several independent prospectors with good incomes from their discoveries. All of them would tell you they succeeded because of a good formal education and years of serious research. Educate Yourself and Prosper!

Heavy Pans

 

[Gambrinus]

This is off topic but I thought I would share this regarding WW2.
There is a mine here in the Boise Basin that did stop producing because the owners and most of the workers went off to fight the war. While they were gone a dirty rat thief stole all the milling equipment to sell for scrap, which he did to several other mines as well.
Because of the theft and that the mine was in a difficult place to get to, but probably more than anything else the uncertainty of how much ore remained is why the mine has ever resumed operation.

 

[seafox]

Gambrinus. Wishing you a happy hollidays and hope you are doing well this winter

 

[hunterbill]

Hi Steve, I'm from Oregon too. I spend part of each winter prospecting in Jackson and Siskiyou countys (pocket country) Are you familiar with the "New 49er" club on the Klamath river? They also have a couple properties near Quartzsite AZ. I'm sure that's not exactly the sort of option you are looking for, but it may be a good way to get into the area and sniff around from there.

 

[hunterbill]

Also Steve, Can foreigners like me even own a claim in the Yukon or Klondike? I did not think so. Do you have dual citizenship or something? What I thought I had learned, was that we can only work for a Canadian mine owner and only for part of the year (summer only). What's the scoop on all that? I have a fairly serious case of the affliction, and am looking for the kind of spot that may only be posable to dredge during low/hard water. Any ideas?