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In The Sixteen to One Mine, California


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I certainly don't recommend going in old mines as I well know - better than most - how dangerous that can be. However, I recently had the very special opportunity to do some detecting in the Original 16 to 1 mine in Alleghany, California. It is a mine that is open, well maintained and worked by miners every day, so the dangers are not the same as old abandoned mines.

I hiked all around for hours with some of the miners, but only saw a tiny fraction of the 35 MILES of drifts and other workings in this old mine. Much of their mining is done with metal detectors as the gold tends to be coarse. I took my SDC 2300 and even found some gold in an old heading where they had recently taken some gold out of the vein.

I found a couple pieces and they actually gave me one - it fell apart after I dug it and so they just gave it to me.

 

The miners had the latest equipment - the new Minelab GPZ 7000 on hand for their work - anything that will get depth and see mossy of dendritic types gold. The big 14 inch coil however is a limitation on the irregular walls of the mine. I knew they had the GPZ, so I took in my SDC 2300 as an alternative and I believe it was the first one in the 16 to 1 mine. I kind of convinced them that its small coil had some advantages and it also ignores some hot rock within the mine that sounds off on the GPZ and VLFs. All in all it was quite the experience and adventure, and the 3rd time I have been underground at the 16 to 1.

 

I mentioned this stuff on another forum, but I thought I would share a photo and make a separate thread because of the interest in the topic.

 

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Cool photo Chris, I have always wanted to go into that mine, been up there a couple of times to see the mine and see some of the gold that comes out of it. Thanks for sharing Chris.

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This was a totally awesome experience for me, having never really spent any time in a real operating underground gold mine. The Sixteen to One Mine is famous for its butter yellow gold in pure white quartz. It is not only the only underground hard rock gold mine operating in California but a piece of living history as well. http://www.origsix.com/

I was lucky enough to tag along on this extensive tour of the mine and facilities with Chris. Really fascinating, and I want to thank the friendly staff at the mine for such an informative visit.

Chris at the front gate

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Quartz sculpture in office

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An old drill

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The mine portal

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Following Chris underground

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Thanks Ralph and Steve. Great photos and post.

 I have vast experience in under ground mines- as a kid. I would make a torch with a stick, some tar paper and a piece of rusty wire and go exploring. An old miner (my great uncle) heard about it and and told me to watch out for old caps lying around and winzes." OK, I will" I told him. I hoped one of the caps would fit my scrawny little head and thought a winze might make a good pet if I caught one. I would love to go back into some of those old mines and detect but they have long since caved in.

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