Gooseberry Mine

[Ken Walls]

  Anyone know of any info on this mine in Storey Co. NV. I have access to it by the claim current claim holder and im trying to find out any history from someone who may know. I have heard there was some placer found there at some point in time.

[Gold Seeker]

More info at the following link...

 

http://westernmininghistory.com/mine_detail/10310373

 

"Comment A prospector discovered gold and silver at the surface in 1906, and did some trenching and surface work until 1910, when "a Fuller mining man", from back East bought a half interest and soon bought the whole property. The original Gooseberry Shaft was sunk at that time to a depth of 50 ft by hand. In 1928, J.D. Martin, Sr. purchased a half interest in the Gooseberry Mine from "the Fuller man," and together they operated the mine on a small scale, concentrating on development until the early 1930s when they switched from hand operation to a gas engine and air conditioning for the main shaft. The Martin family took over the mine in mid-1930s and for 40 years sank a 70 degree inclined shaft to the 1000-ft level. Over 9000 ft of drifts were driven at 100-ft intervals with the longest at the 1000-ft level extending 2100 feet west and 1640 feet east. Despite all this development, there was no production recorded from 1906 to 1966. Most of the drift material was stockpiled in dumps at surface, with no development of stopes or vein material. In 1974 the Martin family executed a partial sale of the Gooseberry Mine to APCO Minerals Inc. who sampled and began construction of a 350 tpd mill, shaft and plant. West Coast Oil and Gas (subsidiary of Scurry-Rainbow Oil Limited) took over the mine in 1976 and operated the mine until suspending mining operations in 1981. Asamera Minerals purchased the mine in late 1982. Mill capacity was increased to 500 tpd by the end of 1984. Mine closed down to a skeleton crew in 1985, but reopened in 1987 and production continued throughout 1990. Asamera went out of business in 1992. In December, 2004, the Carson City BLM reported the recent successful clean up of hazardous waste from the 90-acre Gooseberry Mine/Mill Complex. In an on-going program of cleaning up and rehabilitating abandoned mine sites in Nevada, the BLM contracted with Phillips Services Corporation (PSC) for on-site management of mine wastes, including the identification, removal and proper disposal of more than 100 drums of containerized hazardous wastes. Former mine heap leach tailings pond materials were also isolated in a lined containment trench to prevent the materials from contaminating surface and ground water as a result of storm/rain runoff. The site is now considered safe from hazardous waste. Future mine site rehabilitation (such as building removal and grading) will be conducted as funds become available. The former owner and operator of the facility, Pallas Resources (1993-1998) filed for bankruptcy and the private property was deeded to the Storey County Treasurer in June 1998. BLM is working with the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection (NDEP) and the Nevada Division of Minerals (NDOM) to close and rehabilitate the site."

 

 

Link to the internet search I did to find the above info, you maybe able to find more info via the search results.

 

http://www.bing.com/search?q=Minedat+Gooseberry+mine+Storey+Co.+NV.&qs=n&pq=minedat+gooseberry+mine+storey+co.+nv.&sc=0-0&sp=-1&sk=&cvid=a9ef922d8c5a48dd83d15f998afb8b22&first=1&FORM=PERE

[Ken Walls]

  Thanks for the info

[EZMoney Bob]

Ken, for what it might be worth, here's an excerpt from Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 70 "Geology and Mineral Deposits of Washoe and Storey Counties, Nevada"  The report quoted in the Bulletin is dated 1959 and a lot of work was done at the mine since then so I don't know how valid it is now.

 

"...Grab samples taken from the dump at the mine were found to contain gold values ranging from .83 to 1.14 ounces per ton and silver values of 13.02 ounces to 69 ounces per ton.  Presumably these samples came from the underground workings, but it is not known how representative these samples are of the deposit."

 

The above doesn't sound like placer gold, but if any of the old dumps survived through the years it sure sounds like it would be worthwhile to detect them. 

 

Bob

[Ken Walls]

  Thanks, the old dump piles are pretty much gone now. I was going by what a old timer that worked there said. He said they used to find gold in the washes by panning every spring. The claim holder is having the area checked out as I type this. I have a drywash and im going to try a few of the run off areas and see what it shows.

[hooodis]

Has anyone had any luck out here at this abandoned mine through the years or have current access to it?  I have read this post from 6 years ago and would like to spend a little time metal detecting on the site.  Anyone have contact info for the current claim owner?  I am new to the sport and haven't fully figured out how best to use the Nevada Division of Mines Site to find them.

 

I am also interested in spending a little time up at Rye Patch honing my detecting skills if anyone is headed up there and want's company...