To buy or not to buy

[Mgumby16]

I have the potential opportunity to buy a piece of property on the east coast that has an old gold mine on it. I wanted to see what you guys think and if it would be worth it.

The property consists of 6 acres and does have a house and garage which are move in ready. About 100 ft behind the house are the caved pits and shafts from the old mine circa 1850's. At that time the mine had a 16 stamp mill, two chillian mills an engine and two boilers. In its heyday they were able to produce $100 a day with 5 people working. All the old equipment is long since gone.

I would live in the house and work my normal day job and in my free time see if I can extract gold from the property. Unfortunately not water crosses the property.

I still would have the pieces of private property that I normally dredge.

If it wouldn't work out I can always flatten the old working clean up the property and probably resell at a better price.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Oh ps the current price is $124,000 but it has been on the market or over a year.

 

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[KevinInColorado]

If the house is what you need, I say go for it!

You will end up buying a small rock crusher and digging a well for processing water I bet What a cool thing to have a lode mine in your back yard

PS $100/day was probably 5 oz per day so 1 oz per worker. You might do better now with modern equipment. Today you'll also potentially face regulations that'll slow you down. "I'm not mining, I'm digging a root cellar and processing the tailings as an ancillary activity officer." LoL

 

[Mgumby16]

Yeah regulations are always an issue. But from reading the law as long as you do not cause significant surface disturbance and are not selling the gold then you are not considered to be mining. Also I just be cleaning up the the trash that people have thrown in the pits ad trenches.

Someone recently tried to reopen one of the old mines in the area about two years ago. As far as I know they are still buried in state and federal red tape.

I've got to do more research and maybe set up viewing. But it is an interesting thought. Lol.

 

[bobw53]

Mineral rights? I know out here you can own a piece of property and not own the mineral rights, you can also own a piece of property and not own the
water rights (though you can still sink a residential well, but not a 10" pipe to irrigate with).

Then again, how does not owning the mineral rights even work?? Are taxes paid yearly on mineral rights? If not have they been transferred from Great grand dad?
Was it a piece of paper in a lock box that has gone missing many many moons ago?


I really don't know, but its something you may want to check on before pulling the trigger... I don't care if the house is a cardboard box, sounds like my kind of place.

 

[Mgumby16]

All things I will definitely check before buying. But generally the mineral right go with the property unless you are in coal country. Another piece of info is that it would be at least a 45 min commute to work for me. Which is further then I like.

 

[fowledup]

I'd get some soil testing done and make sure your not buying your own little superfund site. Hope it works for you, what a dream come true!

 

[Mad Machinist]

Yeah regulations are always an issue. But from reading the law as long as you do not cause significant surface disturbance and are not selling the gold then you are not considered to be mining. Also I just be cleaning up the the trash that people have thrown in the pits ad trenches.

Someone recently tried to reopen one of the old mines in the area about two years ago. As far as I know they are still buried in state and federal red tape.

I've got to do more research and maybe set up viewing. But it is an interesting thought. Lol.

Depending on the state and the section of the state it is in, I think it is still legal to shoot "regulators" as trespassers.

 

[bakergeol]

You need to get your priorities in order. You are buying a home and acreage. Is this home suitable for you and your family? Do you want to live there? The fact that it has a gold history should be the last thing you should consider.
Check out the value of the home and property as well as the mineral rights.
Think of the gold history as a bonus- because it may never pan out. Sort of like buying a beautiful house which as a bonus has a great view.

George

 

[Reed Lukens]

If it was that large of an operation see if you can get the tunnel maps. Personally I would get a mucker and start working it and getting it opened up. There are many types of muckers but find the one that fits your tunnel and style.

 

[BagLady]

Can I be your new BFF?? (and my Hubby too..)
We have our own pans...

 

[Hoser John]

Rights to minerals, water and trees must be checked prior to any sale. Get the owners to let you pan and test as ez to do. Then if no gold as pyrite/mica is usually( as all mining no solid rules) around complexed sulfide types of deposits so it might not be economically viable to treat the ore to make any profit. If you like the land and house as a getaway your way ahead as price is CHEAP-John

 

[Mgumby16]

Well I'm 25 and am currently not married so family wise it works out fine. Though the drive to work is my biggest concern at about 45 to 50 min and 40 miles oneway. Plus i would no longer have to pay rent which is a huge plus in my book.

It's hard to find out exactly the size and extent if the operation other then there were about 6 trenches and one shaft. There are no tunnel maps or anything else. Site depth and extent of the workings is unknown. Most likely most of the work done was probably superficial as most the mine in my state were. They suffered from mismanagement, lack of know how, the civil war and the skilled labor be drawn away by the California gold rush.

 

[Mgumby16]

Also I'm not sure if the shaft had tunnels off of it. But I'm sure by know they have all collapsed. Depth to ground water is also not known.

 

[Bquamb]

Shoot, that would be an amazing opportunity - I have always wanted a "Mine" i'd just call it Mine Mine. Because... It's Mine

 

[bobw53]

It's hard to find out exactly the size and extent if the operation other then there were about 6 trenches and one shaft. There are no tunnel maps or anything else. Site depth and extent of the workings is unknown. Most likely most of the work done was probably superficial as most the mine in my state were. They suffered from mismanagement, lack of know how, the civil war and the skilled labor be drawn away by the California gold rush.

Before you get too deep into this... And it could potentially be a gold mine (pun intended).... RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH. Are you sure it was a gold mine. They used to dig
some stupid stuff out of the ground, they still do... Up the street from me is the Ruby Mine... HOLY COW!!!! pretty red stones... No.. Its a flourite mine, the guy who started it
was named Ruby.

RESEARCH, is it on a gold vein? What is the history of the gold mining in the area? Geology Geology Geology... You need to know what is there before you pull the trigger.

When you find a map like this, and that house is sitting on one of those medium black lines, then go buy it.
Be careful though, to some people any mine is a gold mine... That's what they show on the old westerns.

 

[Mad Machinist]

I'd buy it and start digging. If anyone stopped by, I'd do my best to get a crazed look in my eyes and tell them I was digging a doomsday bunker for the upcoming alien invasion. That should make people think you are batsh!t crazy and leave you alone.

 

[Mgumby16]

It was definitely a gold mine. And while no detailed geologic maps of the area are available, from the historic papers it sits on a vein that extends for a good ways and had at least 5 other mines on the vein. I believe they called it the fisher lode after George fisher the geologist who found it and opened it at multiple sites.

The overall geologic formation that it sits in is the main part of what is considered the gold pyrite belt.

Btw I work as a geologist and am in the process of attaining my professional geologist license in a year or two.

 

[russau]

And IF you buy land with tunnels , mines on it BESURE to buy subsidence insurance incase the mines collapse under your home! Ive been seeing this happen a LOT on the evening news.

 

[Mgumby16]

Here is some more info.

The largest mine on this vein reached a depth of 250' and had over 1000' of tunnel.

The gold should be recoverable through milling since all the mines that operated on this vein did so before the cyanide process was invented.

The vein was about 2 to 5 feet thick and consists of friable quartz carrying free gold and auiferous iron oxide. It dips to the southeast at approx 60 degrees.

 

[Reed Lukens]

So you need a mucker