Comstock Epithermal, Miners Took The Whole Vein Out!

[Wild Bill]

Here’s an old patented mine that’s a detecting target of mine.  I’m prospecting for gold specimen but so far I’ve dug bullet fragments, bullets and trash but I’ll keep at it along with other areas.  The mine is low sulfide Comstock Epithermal and produced over 1,250,000 ounces of silver and over  25,000 ounces gold.  The ore consists of free mill gold, cerargyrite and argentite with abundant calcite and pyrite.  There’s two main veins that run parallel with one primary gold and the other primary silver that strike several miles.  An alteration zone of about 300’ in width of vuggy quartz with interesting crystal pockets.  I’ve obtained assays up to a few grams gold and several hundred ounces silver from these veins in decompose crumbly host rock consisting of meta-sedimentary and volcanic andesites and rhyolites.  Also adjacent are intrusive granodiorite and quartz monzonite.  The gold-silver ore ratio near the surface is 1/40 but increases at depth to 1/80 with occasional rich pockets mined through the years.  The mine property is 120 acres and the owner is a friend of mine who years ago did some modest surface mining with a large Cat excavator, mill, concentrating table and leach pads.  The underground workings are in bad shape and depths reach 450’ with several vertical shafts and inclines.  

Miners accessed the veins through several inclines and stope up to intercept the ore veins and drift along the veins, dropping the ore into ore shoots and haul the muck out in ore cars. 

Miners stoped up from 450’ depths to the surface taking out over 100’ along the strike of this vein.  Vein width is up to 5’ wide.  The dip on this vein is about 60’.  Others are steeper at 80’.

Some of the crystals in the stockwork veins.

what’s left of some miners cabins.

Worked the sole right off the boot!  It was a hard life.

I’m using a Nokta Gold Kruzer with the GK-24 9.5x5” DD coil about a mile out on an outcrop along the strike of one of the veins.  At the mine site and on stockwork veins I used the slightly more sensitive GK-19 7.5x4 DD coil.  I like this detector a lot and at 61 Kh, it’s very sensitive on small non ferrous metals.  I’ll be back to this area for sure but I have a few other high priority areas on the radar as well.  

 

[mntnflyr4fun]

Scarey looking place to work.....

[Wild Bill]

The mine is in northern Nevada and part of the Walker Lane mineral belt.  It’s survived some big temblors!  🧐
 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Nevada_earthquakes

[beatup]

thanks for sharing

[klunker]

 If you look closely at the 6th photo, with a little imagination, you will see the snagle- toothed grin of a rock monster.

If you work in there, just use an ice pick, a tea spoon, be REAL QUIET, and don't bump anything made of wood.

[Wild Bill]

1 hour ago, klunker said:

 If you look closely at the last photo, with a little imagination, you will see the snagle- toothed grin of a rock monster.

If you work in there, just use an ice pick, a tea spoon, be REAL QUIET, and don't bump anything mad of wood.

Lunker, I edited out that last image, it was already in the images and was posted twice.  But yeah, we know which image it is of crystals in a pocket. It resembles a shark or monster’s mouth!  
 

Good eye!  thanks

[GotAU?]

Nice photos.  I posted with photos about some stopes  elsewhere, but your photos  capture how impressive they can be.  It’s amazing how those little timbers can hold open that space between two massive formations. I used to go underground for a job I did in the San Bernardino Mountains and in Death Valley.  The gold mines in DV are crazy big and deep, several with old stopes where the timbers are now bending over, and large rooms with ceilings held up by ore columns.  Hardrock miners of the past didn’t sit in air conditioned cabs, nor were they required to follow MSHA and state mandated safety protocols, they just went for it willy-nilly and did their best to not get slabbed.  Those are Impressive workings, thanks for sharing!

[Ethan in Adelaide]

i am scared that i might be crushed inside

[Wild Bill]

1 hour ago, Ethan in Adelaide said:

i am scared that i might be crushed inside

Yeah I’m a bit surprised it’s still standing.  It’s why I posted the links to those big historic earthquakes!  The 1954 series of quakes were big and not that far from the mine.  Also check out the 1932 Cedar Mountain quake, same region.  I won’t go down into the workings but it hasn’t caved in yet!  Those miners were tough hombres…