All,
Again, thank you for all the replies and information. It does seem that if there are more topics around claim validity and law type things, perhaps a new thread that is specifically on topic would be more easily searched and found for others on the forum. As 'Clay Diggins' mentions, my intention on my post was to share my mistakes and experience with others on this forum and the public in general. I do not mind standing up and saying I made an educational mistake. So long as it benefits others to understand what I did, and to NOT do so themselves. A man who hasn't made mistakes, likely has not pushed the boundaries to go very far in life.
I do not need to justify things however to clarify, I am a very busy more than full time business executive who loves the outdoors. The later part there being the love of the outdoors, like most all on this forum. I find my peace and quiet digging in the dirt and kicking the rocks, and mining has always been an interest. That is a nice hobby, as it is with most, with potential for a profit when done right.
I talked to Gold Rush Expeditions on the phone about the claim, I assumed (there's that word...assumed, lol) that a company specializing in selling high end proven historical mining claims knew their geology and what they were selling. Good lesson there. I purchased the claim on ebay as is noted in my original post, having made a down payment and payment arrangements...giving myself time to DO formal due-diligence and formal exploration, engaging the experts where I needed their expertise. eBay also provides a certain level of buyer protection, and using a Credit Card on the purchase, on eBay, also provides an additional layer of protection for certain fraudulent activity, thus it was a calculated risk purchase.
This secured the claim in that, if there was in fact the massive quantities of gold present and my assays and my geological/geophysical reviews, exploration and reporting proved it, then I could easily pay off the claim and obtain the quit claim deed with full interest. So, this was a smart move not to pay all $34k and go all in. It provided me the time and security to do my 'prospecting', perform due-diligence and engage the experts as I did. Yep, it cost me a bit of money to do the exploration, geological reports, on site visits by myself and geologists, assay testing at multiple labs for quality control and accuracy. That is where the bulk of my money was spent there.
Now- There is a nice showing of Chalcopyrite and pyrite. Some Ag, Pb and Zn. However, not enough to be economic for recovery. As for gold...Having proven that there was nothing there of significant value, I notified GRE that there was not enough minerals present in the claim, that it was VERY low values on my assays, etc, and that I was abandoning it, stopping payments and relinquishing it back to them. At the time I offered them FREE... hundreds and hundreds of 24.2 MP photos and 4k Ultra HD video from the claims, to help them resell it as I was sure they would do. I offered to sell them the other 4 Mary Clough claims I had staked, claimed and paid for over top of the lode during my initial visits (IN CASE there was the vast quantities of gold and silver there). I offered them at a very cheap price to cover my filing fees. The response from GRE was "We do not see any value in purchasing your 4 claims that cover the remainder of the Mary Clough property. As for the pictures and the video's you have, we do not need them. We shoot 24 Mega pixel pictures and 4K ultra HD video so unless they are of that quality, we wouldn't use them."
The arrogance educated me further. They assumed me to be some simple Joe that doesn't know what they are doing, nor had quality gear, pictures or video...that I was offering to them FOR FREE to help them sell the claim to anyone who might be interested in the copper, lead, zinc and low grade silver. Not impressed by their response. And the fact that they were not interested in purchasing my other 4 claims that covered the area, as they "see no value in purchasing your claims", told me that they apparently did not see any value in the entire property...but would resell it anyway.
To shed a bit more light here, in the past 2 years I've had over a half dozen individuals, including at least 1 geologist, 2 BLM employees and 4-5 individuals all discuss with me their issues with Gold Rush Expeditions doing things that were less than honest and skirting fraud and breaking the law. Everyone I spoke to that had issues with GRE said to me, why doesn't someone DO something, yet no one had done anything. Pursuing GRE legally is a private matter and would not be discussed on any forum. It 'may' benefit ME. However, taking actions to educate others and the public about GRE (or any company/individual that sells historic 'proven' mining claims), about the process of evaluation, about performing due diligence and engaging your geologists who are there to help the rest of us, and to educate people about the Mary Clough property's true economic potential based on expert exploration, testing and review, benefits EVERYONE that reads it.
I decided that I would take the time out of my schedule to DO SOMETHING that would benefit everyone and educate the public.
With that note, I would encourage those who know of other forums, other places to share the knowledge, to copy and paste my information that's pertinent and applicable, and share it via those venues. Either in text or by link to this forum or both. Each of us taking action a group accomplishes much more than one of us posting a thread.
Most of us are out there to help one another. Most of us are on here to learn and share to help one another. Let's keep that focus.
Thanks again all- Jack
