haile gold mine in sc

[lucky strike]

Hello everyone, first post to the forum. I have been reading t'net for many years. T'net is the best site that I have ever seen. The wealth of knowledge from the members is the greatest I have ever seen, thank all of you. Now a little background about me. I am 70 years old and have been chasing the gold since 1958. Learned a lot from a great teacher/mentor, who is 93 years young and still panning. Now to my thread. The feds gave the final OK to romarco on Nov.3rd to start mining, the state gavet their final ok on Nov. 5th. The mining co was told they could start mining on Nov.21st, they opted to start in Jan. 2015. All of the tree hugging groupe signed off on the deal but one. They have stated they are going to appeal the ruling. They will lose if they do.romarco mining has stated that in the 12 years they are mining, they will recover 3000 ounces per week at a minume. In 12 years' they say on the low side of ounces recovered will 1.8 million ounces, on the high side the amount will be 3 million ounces. A lot of work but a lot of gold.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[BurntBear]

Welcome! Thanks for sharing your post! -Luke

 

[lucky strike]

Thanks for the welcome Burntbear. I live about 30 minutes from the mine in another county. That area is super, super rich in gold. When I started in 1958,we had 5 creeks and a section of the lynches river. We recovered gold in all of the creeks. The river was the biggest payoff. We recovered pounds upon pounds of gold from that river from 1958 until 2008. In 2007, the owner of the property died, his kids put the place up for sale. They said we could stay until it sold. In June of 2008, Joe, my partner, teacher, and best friend had a stroke down on the river. He survived thanks to the rescue squad. They had to carry him out over 2 miles. He is a huge man, 6-5, 290, me, 5-9, 170. I could not even lift him up. So l called 911. He has not been back to any Creek or river since. Every year I take him 50 gallons of super rich pay dirt for him to pan out. Oh, the twinckle in his eyes are priceless.

 

[BurntBear]

You're a good man! It sounds like you had a lot of fun in those streams. I'm sorry to hear about your partner's stroke. I can't imagine how much gold used to float around back in the day before it was a hobby, like it is now. Are you panning, sluicing, dredging? Another big welcome to TN! -Luke

 

[NJ1315]

Your a good friend. Happy Hunting

 

[lucky strike]

Burnt bear, we do all of it. However, the owner of the property that I am on now, will not let us dredge. I sure wish he would. This is the richest creek that I have ever been on. It is almost as good as the river. We are recovering nuggets up to 4 grams, a lot of 1-2grams. We are running 2 high bankers, 2 gold cubes. Wish we could run even more. Since Joe's stroke, I have 3 other partners now. So far it has worked out real good. We have stopped the field operations for now to begin our winter clean-ups. We hope this is going to be the best winter cleanup in my life. We did a clean-up in march and recovered 27 ounces. We did another cleanup on Nov. 1st and recovered another 19 ounces. The boys wanted some early Christmas money that was the reason for the Nov. Cleanup.

 

[BurntBear]

Wow! That is amazing!

 

[lucky strike]

Thanks for the kind words nj1315

 

[Lanny in AB]

Welcome lucky.

If you stick with it like my partner that taught me many, many things about chasing the gold, you've got lots of good years ahead of you.

My buddy is 82 and we've gathered lots of memories over the years, which leaves me with all kinds of stories to tell.

Maybe you should grab on to a youngster and teach him your tips and secrets like your 93-year-young mentor did, and as my 82-year-young mentor did for me.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[djpitr]

Thats great story , i have to go and check the Lynches river , looks like ritch area .
It would be cool to see some pictures of what your working there and of some gold you find there .
Thanks

 

[goldgit'r]

Peter you will have a hard time getting in Lynches River! All the land is private and all the land owners are very protective of their property. I have been trying to get permission for 3 years!

Wes

 

[djpitr]

Thanks Wes , i will talk to some people and mayby i get lucky

 

[lucky strike]

Dipitr, goldgi't is right. It is real hard to get written permission from the property owner. We are no longer on the river, it was sold. In DEC. 08 or Jan 09. The last time that I was on the river was in Nov. 08. They are a lot of great creeks in the area that you may be able to find the owner and get written permission to prospect. With the mine opening back up, owner's have gotten leary of anyone on there property.sc state law says you have to have written permission to be on anyone's property for any reason, if you don't have written permission,you can go to jail. The property does not have to be posted. As for pictures, I don't have any pictures of the river or the gold from the river. The last gold from the river was sold in march of 09. Do some research, get the owners written permission, and start chasing the gold. Good luc

 

[lucky strike]

Lanny, thanks for the welcome, I to have a lot of memories, stories to tell. Maybe one day I will share some of them. As far as grabbing a youngster, I have tried for years to do just that. I have tried to get the 17-18 year olds, they have girls, playing games on whatever device they have, on their minds and nothing else. When I do get someone they learn the bare basic's and strike out on their own. They end up giving up. No ground to work, no knowledge to get area's to work, so they quit. I am 70 and my health is starting to go south on me,so I thinking about passing the torch to someone else in about 2 years. Not a fast as I used to be, slow on everything. I have had a great run chasing the gold, 56 years at it has been a blast. Wouldn't change one thing about it. Gold was bringing 34-35. Dollars an ounce in the sixties, it took a lot of gold to make any money. Still wouldn't change a thing. Keep on chasing the gold.

 

[djpitr]

Thanks Lucky strike , great info , no i dont know the area mutch , bud i dont mind talking people and asking for permision .
50 years is long time you have alot of experience to share .
If the river is big enuf i was thinking first take kayak and check it out .
I will do research ,bud i can see on satelite exactly what you talking about .
Thanks again

 

[lucky strike]

Dipitr, they are areas that you will have to carry your kayak. In those areas you may sink down in the sand, maybe waist deep, maybe more. The river can be, and has been deadly. They are a ton of snakes everywhere. For the most part, they don't mess with you, just trying to get from point a to point b. All bets are off if you mess with them. The biggest thing that I see with a stranger been on the river is, the moonshiners. They don't take to kindly to strangers. Their shine season starts the same time as chasing the gold starts. They not only have guns, they also have pit bull dogs. Mean as a junk yard dog. I would hope that you have a partner that goes with you. If by chance you have a problem, at least you have some help. If you need outside help, they have to know where you are, or it could take hours for them to locate you. If help get there hours later,it may be to late.

 

[djpitr]

Lucky strike , i understand what you saying
I would not like nobady on one of my properties ether , i m little prospector not looking to go and mine the river out , i like adventures and outdoors and the little gold i sometimes find its just extra .
So i will fit right in , i sometimes take my pidbull with me , i could probably give some moonshiner some good points how to make the moonshine better i handle my guns well and would play with the snake and than eat him for dinner

 

[lucky strike]

Dipitr, I hear ya. Just trying to let you know what is going on in this part of the state. I have not had any problems to speak of on the river. The creek, well that's a different story. We chase the gold all year long, wheather in the field or in the shop during the winter. You have some good ground up in your neck of the woods. We found some decent ground in 5 or 6 counties near you some years back. I would try broad river below the 99 dam, kayak across the river below the creek. The property where the creek is at is private, the river is not. Down toward abbyville is some good ground also. Pickens county has some good ground. One miner trying to help another miner.

 

[djpitr]

Yes Lucky strike , i really appreciate you share your knowledge.Tnet is great tool for people who dont mind reading and learning new stuff , alot of cool people here .
And yes i hade pretty busi last couple of years, i found gold in Greenwood,Abbeville , Anderson , Pickens,Oconee,Greenville, Spartanburg,Union counties , i dont mind driveing around and its cool hobby to me to get me out .
Now i m not talking pounds of gold like you just little here and there
I got question for you , i gues i just never got the gold fever that bad or didnot found that rich area that i would wanna recover every speck from one spot , You in 50 years of prospecting (mineing) and selling the gold , was this your hobby or way to make living or some extra cash ?
I just dont see myself selling the hard way recover gold for any money to me its more about the fun around , people i meet , and beautiful South Carolina nature .
i just dont see ,if i would ever found a 4 gram nugget like you sad u did, that i would ever sell it for any money , evan if gold will $2000/lb
Thanks againg for your input.
Peter

 

[lucky strike]

Peter, I was raised up on a farm. We did not have a lot of money, but we had a lot of love. The way that I got started was this, we sold livestock to area people, it was more of a barter deal, they gave us something and we gave them a cow, hog, or whatever we had that they wanted. Well, Joe was one of the people who bartered with my dad. He would trade gold for 2 cows and 3 hogs, that was his family's year supply of meat. So, one day I was talking to Joe about the gold. I knew if I was going to be able to go to college, I was going to have to find a way to pay for it. Joe took me under his wing, taught me everything that my small mind could take in. I worked hard to learn all I could, with my drive of going to college, I could not fail, if I failed college was a no go. Gold was selling for around 34-35 dollars an ounce. They would fire assay it, weigh it, then you were paid 32- 33 dollars an ounce. Not a lot of money, but things were a lot cheaper then. I paid my way through college, by then I had the fever. Since then, all the gold that I sell goes into each one of my gran-kids college fund. I have four gran-kids. Two of the gran-kids college is paid for, one will be paid for in march,the fourth one will be paid for in 2016. It was me wanting to susceed in life that has been my driving force, that same force is driving me for my gran-kids. As far as money, if I could get by without it I would, but today it takes money, not bartering to survive. Hopes this answers your guestion. Keep chasing the gold.