Hi,
Just curious as to why they seem fishy? You can look up the claims on the BLM website using the LR2000 database, it will show you all claims, active, pending, closed.
This is Corey from GRE, and I just found this somewhat amusing as to the anxiety of buying a mine site, there are many sites out in Utah that lapse, or that we pick up based off of assays of what are in the mines. Both Corjess 1 and 2 are solid and Im curious as to why you think it might look dangerous? No cave ins are present, and there are no wood support structures in the mines, so they are staying up and intact totally due to the diligence of the miners that created the tunnels. As to the Rangie, well, it is a remote site, and this truck was for sale anyway, so I thought Id throw it in as an incentive to "buy it now". If thats fishy, than I guess it is.
As to existing value in the site, well, thats why there is an assay, the site was previously worked for palladium mainly, with lead as a side value. Gold and Silver in pockets is very common in this range, and has been found up and down the range, there are two mining districts in the range which shows evidence of something since its only about a 20 square mile range.
As to holding claims, well, I would suggest research, when the price of gold dropped into the 400-500 range, it became economically unfeasible for a lot of people to work their sites, also Silver took a huge dive and most people that we have worked with have said that silver needs to be in the $18-20 range to be a viable resource. Also, there are no more refineries in Utah, the last claims on these sites were in the 70s, they lapsed in conjunction with the closure of the Bauer refinery in Tooele. Id look at that as two things, 1, the pricing on gold and silver was quite low in the 70s and 2, when the refinery closed, it simply was too expensive to ship tons of ore out to Denver which is the next closest plant.
Its all a matter of what you want to do with it, and honestly, what your ambition is. There are many millionaire miners that were made overnight hitting sites that were "worked out". in the 1920s, the depression pushed a resurgance and many people began reworking mines and tunneling farther in, hitting viens, and pockets that were previously undiscovered.
Im not saying this site will make you a millionaire, but Im not saying it wont either. I think you will get out what you put into it. There is gold and silver, and platinum, lead and copper in the mine, and with work, you could open up the next pocket of super rich ore and make a killing. The metals are in the mountain, its just a matter of finding them. Having a tunnel you can work in is a bonus, try and get a permit to cut a 1000 foot adit into a mountian. Its going to cost you a minimum $100,000.00 in rec. bond alone, and that doesnt touch any of your work in exploration, drilling, saftey, msha, etc... To cut a mine like this today would easily cost you $500,000.00 and you would have no guarantee of hitting anything.
If you want to buy a site with guaranteed gold reserves, they are out there, I think the cheapest Ive seen is the one $20 mil on eBay, most of the other sites are looking at $50 mil to a nice one out in Gold Hill that is on the market for $175 mil.
Plus, with a minor plan of operations, you can secure the site and thats about as close as you can come to owning any BLM land at this time.
Im not trying to ruffle any feathers here, just give you a little insight as to what you are looking at. Seems like everyone assumes the worst now a days, and I think a little perspective is warranted. Claim filings and sales are huge right now, with the # of claims in Utah up almost 30,000 claims in 2007 from 2000. People are making money on gold and silver and working it themselves, instead of waiting for a govt. paycheck to pay their bills.
