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Old Ores Mining History in the Eastern Mojave Desert Robert E. Reynolds, Editor The Oro Belle claim in Hart. Photograph courtesy Larry Vredenburgh. Old Ores: mines and mineral marketing in the east Mojave Desert—a field trip guide Robert E. Reynolds and Ted Weasma Abstracts from the 2005 Desert Symposium Robert E. Reynolds, compiler California State University, Desert Studies Consortium and LSA Associates, Inc. April 2005 The 2005 Desert Symposium Table of Contents Old ores: mines and mineral marketing in the east Mojave Desert—a field trip guide Robert E. Reynolds and Ted Weasma ...................................................................................................................................3 Cancelled due to flooding William Presch ........................................................................................................................................................................20 An overview of mining in the California Desert Larry Vredenburgh ................................................................................................................................................................22 The historical mining towns of the eastern Mojave Desert Alan Hensher ..........................................................................................................................................................................28 Railroads around Mojave National Preserve Gordon Chappell ...................................................................................................................................................................41 The mint at the Mescal Mine John E. Bennett .......................................................................................................................................................................49 Evaporative salt production on Soda Dry Lake Rob Fulton ............................................................................................................................................................................ 55 The Silver Lake talc deposits, San Bernardino County, California Lauren A. Wright ...................................................................................................................................................................61 Halloran turquoise: a thousand years of mining history Robert E. Reynolds ................................................................................................................................................................63 Recent rare mineral finds at the Noonday and War Eagle mines, Tecopa Pass, Inyo Co. CA Robert M. Housley .................................................................................................................................................................68 Recent rare mineral finds in southern California and Nevada desert mines Robert M. Housley .................................................................................................................................................................73 Rich Hill, Arizona: a modern gold rush to a historic gold district Erik Melchiorre, Dante Lauretta, M. Katherine Crombie and Chris Gholson ................................................................74 The 100% true story of Hubert Tecumseh Miller (except for the made-up bits) Steven W Smith ......................................................................................................................................................................77 Age constraints of the Copper Canyon Formation, Death Valley National Park, California Torrey Nyborg and H. PaulBuchheim .................................................................................................................................79 Landslide damage within Big Santa Anita Canyon, Los Angeles County, California Suzanne M. Baltzer .................................................................................................................................................................82 Abstracts of Proceedings, 2005 Desert Symposium Robert E. Reynolds (compiler) ...............................................................................................................................................87 — 2 — The 2005 Desert Symposium Old ores: mines and mineral marketing in the east Mojave Desert—a field trip guide Robert E. Reynolds, LSA Associates, Inc, 1650 Spruce Street Suite 500, Riverside, CA 92507. bob.reynolds@lsa-assoc. com and Ted Weasma, Mojave National Preserve, 2701 Barstow Road, Barstow, CA, 92311. [email protected] Summary (1) Sulfide ores run through a roasting furnace; oxide ores On Day 1 we will visit base metal mines: gold, lead, run through a blast furnace. silver, zinc and copper. These metals occur in relatively (2) Multiple runs through roasting and blast furnaces leave thin deposits in contrast to the bulk-commodity, open lead bullion, and continue the separation of copper pit mines we will visit on day two. Thin, metal-bearing matte and blister copper. hydrothermal dikes and secondary enrichment deposits required crushing, concentration and smelting to produce (3) Lead/silver bullion is put into acid solution that allows a marketable product. Free-milling gold in quartz simply lead chloride to be precipitated and roasted into bul- required crushing followed by water panning to concen- lion. trate the heavy metal. Complex processes were developed On Day 2 we will visit bulk commodity mines whose to extract low-grade ores of mixed metals associated with production was facilitated by the economics of population uneconomical “gangue” minerals of pyrite, calcite, barite growth and two World Wars. We will see mines for pure and fluorite. limestone (marble) that have produced raw material for Gold extraction (beyond simple arrastra crushing) cement since the 1930s. The first Portland cement factory required: was commissioned in 1900 at Alameda, California by F. (1) Classification and fine pulverization; density concentra- M. Smith (Hildebrand, 1982). Iron mines active from the tion on shaker table. 1930 produced iron as an additive for cement and for the (2) Amalgamation. Gold has an affinity for, and sinks in, steel industry. Talc was used in cosmetics, ceramics, and mercury, which floats other materials. Heating drives manufacturing rubber products. These mines were mainly off mercury for collection and reuse, leaving gold open pits where precision ore removal was followed by behind. crushing and size classification that allowed shipment of a marketable product. (3) Cyanidation. Gold attaches to cyanide, and can be fil- tered in charcoal. Roasting the charcoal leaves behind the gold. Historic mining: what to look for 1. Claim Location (location monument, claim notice cor- Copper extraction is accomplished by leaching. ner posts, discovery prospect) (1) Copper ore is pulverized and saturated with sulfuric acid (pyrite helps). 2. Ore (vein, lode, or placer; stockpile) (2) The copper sulfate solution is mixed with tin (cans), 3. Mine workings (adit, shaft, tunnel, stope decline, tunnel, causing precipitation of native copper, then sent to winze, raise, prospect pits, open pits) blast furnace for purification. 4. Equipment (collar, winch, headframe, bin, shoot, hoist, (3) Copper ore needs sulfides for roasting (mix of ox- tram chute, hoist, ball mill, Wilfley concentrating table) ides with copper sulfides or pyrite). The blast furnace 5. Milling equipment (arrastra, crusher, grizzly) produces native copper “matte” which can be shipped economically. 6. Smelting equipment (assay shop, ovens, slag) (4) Ultimate refinement involves dissolving copper into a 7. Leaching equipment (reservoirs, ponds, tanks, tin cans, sulfate solution, and using electrolysis to separate pure sludge) copper from gold and silver. 8. Ore transport (conveyor, tram, roads, wagon ruts, rail Lead and silver extraction involves furnaces. beds) — 3 — The 2005 Desert Symposium Introduction Planck, 1961; Vredenburgh and others,1981; Vreden- Native Americans in the Mojave Desert used fine- burgh, 1995, 1996a, 1996b, 1996c; Hensher, 1996; Hewett, grained volcanic rocks, chalcedony, and chert for cutting, 1956; Shumway, 1980; Casebier, 1973, 1974. Also see chopping, and piercing tools. They used coarse crystalline articles by Vredenburgh and by Hensher in this volume. rocks and vesicular basalt to abrade and grind vegetable and animal material, clays for pottery, salts for tanning, and metallic oxides for pigment. Turquoise and other stones were used for jewelry and ceremonial objects. Day 1 Gold and silver were located in the Mojave Desert in Early exploration, transportation, ore deposits, mines, and 1849 by immigrants on their way to the gold fields of the prospects. Sierra Nevada foothills. We will visit the Amargosa Gold Mine at Salt Springs on the Spanish Trail, and the Mojave 0.0 (0.0) Convene at Zzyzx with a full tank of gas for the Road will take us through the early Rock Springs mining 212 mile trip. Wear sturdy shoes and dress for the occa- district of the Mid Hills. sion; bring water, hats and sunscreen. Many early strikes were of high-grade (secondary 4.7 (4.7) Enter I-15 eastbound, toward Baker. enrichment) concentrate. The low cost of extraction by 11.0 (6.3) Continue past Kelbaker Road and central Baker. simple mining tools (pick and shovel) and concentration Proceed eastbound on I-15. in arrastras was offset by the expense of transporting ore to mills and smelters as distant as Wales, Utah, or Alame- 24.4 (13.4) continue
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