The Mine Finder Difference
Most weekend and part time prospectors prefer placer claims for numerous reasons such as ease of operation, gold in hand at the end of the day, inexpensive equipment and lack of time consuming BLM plan of operations and posting reclamation bonds.
The truth of the matter is that over 98% of all the gold recovered in Arizona was mined from lode deposits. Arizona from approximately 1860 through 1960 has produced over 16,000,000 ounces of gold, almost 500 tons. In Arizona, Yavapai County is the highest producer of gold. In the past 60 plus years most recovered gold has been a by product of the large open pit copper operations in various counties in southern Arizona. Another point to remember is that most mines either occur in clusters or along faults or trends, such as the Carlin Trend in Nevada which was discovered in 1962 and has produced many millions of ounces of gold and has many years of ore reserves remaining.
Mine Finder Gold / Ranger Gold Exploration LLC specializes in grass root prospecting, strictly in Arizona. Our team uses exploration techniques that the major mining companies use, plus we have developed a few effective techniques for locating grass root deposits or veins. Grass root exploration is our method of locating ore that is not visible on the surface. We specialize in locating lode claims but on rare occasion stake placer claims where our testing reveals a valid mineral discovery. Most lode mines that we encounter have placer at or near the lode outcrops and down-slope, often for miles as our summer monsoons carry fine gold particles for great distances from the original source. Sometimes a claim we stake will have old workings however most are fenced with danger signs. If such workings exist on any of our claims we advise of it in our sale listing to let you know in advance.
We are seeing many claim listings for sale with old workings and we refuse to stake dangerous, abandoned underground workings that you would not feel safe taking your six year old son or grandson into. We do not, and I repeat, we do not jump from state to state staking every hole in the ground. I realize that in many cases the hole, shaft, tunnel or pit was dug for some other commodity such as manganese, lead, zinc, tungsten, etc. Unfortunately, a lot of folks don’t have the geological experience to tell the difference between a manganese deposit and a lead or other commodity. With the information available through the internet it has become easier for people to sound like pro-geologist with 50 years of experience when their real talent may be of the copy and paste nature.
Mining abandoned workings include dangers such a rotted timbers, rattlesnakes, rabid bats, skunks and slabs of rock just waiting for a slight tap of a rock hammer to collapse, burying you and yours under tons of rock. Please beware should you make that choice. The old timers were not dummies as many people may think. If there was or is any ore remaining in an old mine it is usually there for a reason. Often the miners left pillars, columns of rock holding up the backs and ceilings for support. Often these pillars were/are ore grade. A seller may insist a fortune still exists by chipping samples from these ore grade pillars and showing the buyer assays of that material. The problems I see with this line of thinking after the obvious danger of robbing support pillars, is the expense to ship/extract the gold. Finding a mill being your first challenge and the cost being very prohibitive.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at Team@minefindergold.com or (623) 374-5413.
Thank you
-Steve
