The once great Red Arrow mine has fallen into dire straights...

[UncleMatt]

The Red Arrow mine on the East Mancos River east of Laplata Canyon is in a world of trouble. Learn from their mistakes. My Grandma and Aunt & Uncle live BLOCKS from this contamination site! My Grandma is 96, she doesn't need to deal with mercury poisoning. I am just shaking my head. You can read all about it HERE

 

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[Dustedyou]

says it all " unpermitted gold mill " bothers me that they had no plans and the "MESS" is just strewen about.. the Scrubber isnt an actual scrubber looks like it was Rednekgeniered,, if your making $185,000 in profits per year, why wouldn't you do the right thing for all concerned and save money by putting in the right equipment..
I am a redneck engineer,, but just for my own safety i would be getting a proper scrubber.Along with planning out where and why on all of the mill parts. and the fact that they had the money to put up for the 375K fine on the plant says that they had the money to build it right.
As for that kind of Gold.. well I see there is a huge tailing pond.. that's not a pilot if you've pulled out 375K in profits..

Bothers me when people not only endanger their community but themselves... just sucks they didn't spend the $27,000 dollars on a scrubber (yes that's installed) , before they made approximately half a million dollars of PROFIT.

 

[Fullpan]

I totally agree with you, dusted - they should have been permitted and they most certainly should have had a scrubber! But I think you skimmed the article
a little too fast. What you saw as a "huge tailings pond", I see as material on the fence to block sight pollution which is typical on industrial property. And
I do not read anywhere that they were making 375,000 in profit, rather it was 337,000 in fines.

I also think Grandma is far more likely to be injured by falling in the bathtub, than suffering from mercury poisoning from a closed building two blocks away.

And finally, the clean-up bill for the mercury contamination will probably come to half a million, when three boys from the neighborhood could get it done with
rubber gloves, face masks, and a shop-vac for a few hundred dollars. imo.

 

[Mad Machinist]

Considering this is in Colorado, I'll try and be nice.

Setting something like this up without the proper controls and equipment was pretty stupid. Using mercury to recover the gold then letting it escape without recovery to use again is not only a waste of money, it's just mind boggling.

And on the other hand, to even insinuate that this may end up as a "superfund" site is just plain stupidity on Colorado's part. Nanny state kicking in again. If they want to do this in this way, then they had better plan on declaring The entire state a "superfund" site due to coloradoite. That is a mercury telluride.

Coloradoite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[tamrock]

I totally agree with you, dusted - they should have been permitted and they most certainly should have had a scrubber! But I think you skimmed the article
a little too fast. What you saw as a "huge tailings pond", I see as material on the fence to block sight pollution which is typical on industrial property. And
I do not read anywhere that they were making 375,000 in profit, rather it was 337,000 in fines.

I also think Grandma is far more likely to be injured by falling in the bathtub, than suffering from mercury poisoning from a closed building two blocks away.

And finally, the clean-up bill for the mercury contamination will probably come to half a million, when three boys from the neighborhood could get it done with
rubber gloves, face masks, and a shop-vac for a few hundred dollars. imo.

Know now why I aint herd from Greg, I've seen some of his miners working elsewhere and just thought he'd gone bellyup. I need to check first the credible details of this news article. What is fact what is not. I'll start with what mercury will do to ya. ATSDR - Public Health Statement: Mercury

 

[gold tramp]

I totally agree with you, dusted - they should have been permitted and they most certainly should have had a scrubber! But I think you skimmed the article
a little too fast. What you saw as a "huge tailings pond", I see as material on the fence to block sight pollution which is typical on industrial property. And
I do not read anywhere that they were making 375,000 in profit, rather it was 337,000 in fines.

I also think Grandma is far more likely to be injured by falling in the bathtub, than suffering from mercury poisoning from a closed building two blocks away.

And finally, the clean-up bill for the mercury contamination will probably come to half a million, when three boys from the neighborhood could get it done with
rubber gloves, face masks, and a shop-vac for a few hundred dollars. imo.

The correct procedure FP . Find source, sulfur wash, and ventilation, they would probably only use paper suits and bootys, and that's because the hygienist was looking over there shoulders and he's. the hard ass that makes more an hour!!!
You guys don't use a vac to clean up mercury, my dumb ass partners did that at my mill site, well the merc went into the vac turned into a billion small beadlets right out the filter covering the whole inside of my lab building with a fine mist of HG. The hazmat folks wanted 10.000 to clean. And your right FP they probably brought 3 guys they found at the 7/11 when they stopped for morning coffee. Herb.......

 

[UncleMatt]

I also think Grandma is far more likely to be injured by falling in the bathtub, than suffering from mercury poisoning from a closed building two blocks away.

Unfortunately, the building is not closed off to the outside. There was this near the end of the article :

"The highest mercury concentrations were found on a piece of equipment that was vented to the roof without scrubbers."

Now I am not trying to vilify anyone here, and if this newspaper story turns out to be incorrect about things, I will be glad to eat crow. But it breaks my heart to see this go down in my home stomping grounds, with a mine like the Red Arrow. I was just on the East Mancos River right below the mine a few weeks ago. And when it comes to nearby family members, I tend to come down on the side of caution.

 

[tamrock]

Amen to that, You should only be thinking that way. As for I, respecting the rights and saftey of others first is the only way to operate a mine. I just don't like to see folks make false testimony and organize a witch hunt on those who do what is legal to do, just because they don't like it, as often can be the case in these issue. My prayers are that no harm has been done and all involved are well and no laws were broken and new lessons can be learned and when the smoke clears, the truth is known to all.

 

[Fullpan]

The correct procedure FP . Find source, sulfur wash, and ventilation, they would probably only use paper suits and bootys, and that's because the hygienist was looking over there shoulders and he's. the hard ass that makes more an hour!!!
You guys don't use a vac to clean up mercury, my dumb ass partners did that at my mill site, well the merc went into the vac turned into a billion small beadlets right out the filter covering the whole inside of my lab building with a fine mist of HG. The hazmat folks wanted 10.000 to clean. And your right FP they probably brought 3 guys they found at the 7/11 when they stopped for morning coffee. Herb.......

Side note question - Herb, have you ever seen a Knelson Bowl used for Hg removal and capture? - seems to me the spinning would do the same to mercury as the above vac did.

 

[gold tramp]

Side note question - Herb, have you ever see. n a Knelson Bowl used for Hg removal and capture? - seems to me the spinning would do the same to mercury as the above vac did.

You got me on that one FP I know what one is but have ever seen one in action, I think it works like the wheel, most of the spiral type concentrators will do a fair job at picking up the HG .they move rather slow. Which is what Is needed when handling, you need to be as gently as possible as not to flour the HG, the vac is just to violent of a way to pick it up it really almost turns the hg to vapor once you start that ball rolling i think the way pros rid an area of the stuff would be heat n ventaltion. so they just return it to the environment ? I beleive that is how the hazmat folks do it? It is probably a well kept trade secret.
Im no expert i just worked with a lot of the stuff when I had my mill, i
have forgotten more than I know maybe its the HG Herb.......

 

[UncleMatt]

From what I hear from relatives in Cortez, the Red Arrow Mine has been shut down by the State of Colorado and is now for sale. I also found this in the paper there:

"According to a Standard & Poors report, the Red Arrow mine held claims to approximately 790 acres, and when mining started last spring, the mine's potential recoverable reserves were projected at more than 400,000 ounces of gold in one of four known veins."

$520 million in obtainable ore, and they still couldn't pull it off? Wow. And almost 800 acres of patented mining claim to enjoy up there! I would have found a way!

 

[tamrock]

From what I hear from relatives in Cortez, the Red Arrow Mine has been shut down by the State of Colorado and is now for sale. I also found this in the paper there:

"According to a Standard & Poors report, the Red Arrow mine held claims to approximately 790 acres, and when mining started last spring, the mine's potential recoverable reserves were projected at more than 400,000 ounces of gold in one of four known veins."

$520 million in obtainable ore, and they still couldn't pull it off? Wow. And almost 800 acres of patented mining claim to enjoy up there! I would have found a way!

Not sure anyone will ever have a good run at mining that area, plus you'd need a bunch of cash to do it. I've passed by the signage of such warm welcomes to the miners in LaPlata Canyon. Be better to prospect the Gobi Desert then in your neck of the woods. Folks down your way will fight tooth and nail to keep the likes of miners out of their back yard. They just don't want to hear it.

 

[Dustedyou]

From what I hear from relatives in Cortez, the Red Arrow Mine has been shut down by the State of Colorado and is now for sale. I also found this in the paper there:

"According to a Standard & Poors report, the Red Arrow mine held claims to approximately 790 acres, and when mining started last spring, the mine's potential recoverable reserves were projected at more than 400,000 ounces of gold in one of four known veins."

$520 million in obtainable ore, and they still couldn't pull it off? Wow. And almost 800 acres of patented mining claim to enjoy up there! I would have found a way!

Profit/VS the Ore.. some types of ore are a real bugger to get the gold out of...Alloy Vs Ease of gold... I hate copper..lol but i wouldn't if i had the Bubbler plant i want 8)

 

[UncleMatt]

The signs you see in LaPlata Canyon are from ex-hippies who moved into the canyon in the 60's and 70's and never left. They are not everywhere up there, though there are quite a few in the canyon, but their attitude is not universal at all in the county. Besides, the Red Arrow is remote and not in a tourist attraction like the canyon is.

 

[UncleMatt]

It would be interesting to see what kind of ore is in the reserve veins. A lot of crystalline gold was taken straight from this mine to the mint with minimal processing. Now it would be silly to expect the whole deposit to be like that, but one would hope it wouldn't be the hardest ore in the world to process. Anyone know what has been coming out of that mine lately?

 

[Fullpan]

The signs you see in LaPlata Canyon are from ex-hippies who moved into the canyon in the 60's and 70's and never left. They are not everywhere up there, though there are quite a few in the canyon, but their attitude is not universal at all in the county. Besides, the Red Arrow is remote and not in a tourist attraction like the canyon is.

There are at least two signs pictured on Google E. that show the anti-mining sentiment in LaPlata canyon. They just don't accept the concept of balance.

 

[UncleMatt]

There are at least two signs pictured on Google E. that show the anti-mining sentiment in LaPlata canyon. They just don't accept the concept of balance.

Yes, there are several along the road there. but as I said that is simply a few hippies that bought patented mining claims back in the day when they were dirt cheap. Property values didn't take off in the area until the 90's. Now those people expect the world to center around them and their preferences. Which doesn't stop me from prospecting up there whenever I want to...

 

[UncleMatt]

If you look on GE at the road that leads to the Red Arrow mine, you won't find a single sign of protest from neighbors...

 

[UncleMatt]

You can see photos of the ore, some drill cores, and some of the operation right HERE

You can also read a complete report from 2012, prior to this downfall right HERE

Maybe a few of us should form a company and just buy the damn thing!

 

[Dustedyou]

Nice find... The news paper made it look like a Rundown attempt at mining.. they actually had the stuff together.. except for the mercury... hummm.. with what they seem to have already spent... why not the scrubber?
self defeating if you ask me.