History from 1863 to 2000

The great rush for mineral wealth that began with the California gold strikes of 1849 encouraged seekers of precious metals to explore elsewhere in the Far West. Eastward, beyond the Sierra Nevada, the first great find was the Comstock Lode in 1859. Going further into the interior of the Great Basin, discovery of silver ore at Pony Canyon, in present-day Lander County, Nevada, in May of 1862 precipitated the rush to Reese River. These prominent discoveries caused a ripple effect. A flurry of prospecting occurred in surrounding areas and lesser districts were identified as a result.

The Mineral Ridge District is an example of a district that first began as a spin-off of activities occurring in camps such as Aurora, Austin, and Belmont. Mineral Ridge, however, is seldom acknowledged as one of Nevada’s premier mining districts. The question arises as to how it compares with such great bonanzas as the Comstock Lode, or the Tonopah or Goldfield districts. Production data was prepared on 194 Nevada mining districts at which gold or silver was either the first or second most prominent mineral recovered. Of those districts, 143 or 73 percent, produced less than $1m in mineral values. Forty-one districts (21 percent) produced between $1 m and $10m. Only thirteen districts (7 percent) yielded more than $10 m, and one of those was Mineral Ridge (referred to as Silver Peak). Virginia City, Gold Hill, and Silver City all reflect the Comstock experience, while the White Pine, Eureka, Reese River, Aurora, Delamar, Pioche, and Candelaria districts reflect other aspects of the nineteenth century mining boom in Nevada. The early twentieth century mining boom is reflected by the discoveries at Goldfield, Tonopah, and Mineral Ridge.

Since its beginning in the Civil War era, Mineral Ridge has produced substantial amounts of silver, gold, and other minerals. The Mineral Ridge area saw use throughout the historic period, beginning around 1863 and extending to the present. More-or-less discrete periods can be defined based on the degree of activity and technological changes that occurred. The following discussion is organized in accordance with these periods.

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The Early Production Period -- 1863 to 1871

Most Comstock era mining in Nevada occurred in the northern part of the state. Comparatively few districts were developed to the south. Isolation and limited water and wood supplies in the southern part of the state played a role in this emphasis on more northerly districts. Mineral Ridge was discovered in 1863, during the period when prospectors were first fanning out across the state in search of another Comstock. Large, nearby communities of the day included Aurora (70 miles to the northwest), Belmont (70 miles to the northeast), and Austin (130 miles to the north). It was from these sources that the Mineral Ridge District and its town derived materials and people.

Two clusters of claims were staked, each gaining the designation as a mining district. The Silver Peak area (Vanderbilt and Pocotillo mines) showed promise for silver, while the Red Mountain area (Glory and Drinkwater mines) showed promise for gold. During the early part of the present century, the two areas were referred to collectively as the Silver Peak District. More recently, however, the Silver Peak District has been referred to as the Mineral Ridge District and the name Red Mountain has been revived and applied to an area further south. Whereas gold is predominant in the Mineral Ridge District, silver is the more common mineral in the Red Mountain District. This action plan deals only with the Mineral Ridge District.

After a brief period of speculation, control of the district was consolidated under the Great Salt Basin Mining and Milling Co. and then the Silver Peak and Red Mountain Gold and Silver Mining Company. Among others, trustees of the latter company included Samuel J. Tilden and John I. Blair. The Governor of New York from 1875 to 1876, Tilden ran for president in 1876. It is reported that Tilden made a trip to the Mineral Ridge District during the 1860s. John Blair, a wealthy banker and railroad financier (of New York and Blairstown New Jersey) eventually came to control the property. He closed it down in 1870, apparently due to his concern that the mine superintendent had cheated him.

Several mills were constructed in the district during these early years. The earliest was a small, three-stamp mill located at Red Mountain Spring. The machinery was subsequently relocated to Belmont. A ten-stamp mill, known variously as Martin’s Mill or the Vanderbilt Mill, was constructed by Sam Martin in 1866. It had been moved to Silver Peak from Jacobsville. A mill designed to accommodate 40 stamps was constructed in 1867 by the Silver Peak and Red Mountain Gold and Silver Mining Company. This mill, which never contained more than 30 stamps, was located adjacent to Martin’s Mill in Silver Peak. In 1866, a 12 stamp mill was built in Silver Peak. The mill was never put into operation; the mine purchased to produce the needed ore went bust. The mill was removed to Palmetto in 1868. Mention is also made of arrastra situated near some local springs.

By 1866, two miles of grading had been completed for a proposed eight miles railroad to connect the Glory and Drinkwater mines and the Martin Mill in Silver Peak. That plan was discarded in favor of a 1½-mile surface tramway along the Drinkwater Trail, whereon loaded cars drifted by gravity down to an ore bin; mules hauled the empties back up hill. From the ore bin, enormous wagons (said to have been the largest ever used in Nevada) transported the ore to mills in Silver Peak.

Men exploring the area and working claims first occupied the town site of Silver Peak in 1864. The town site was selected due to the presence of a large spring emanating from a limestone butte. Between 1865 and 1871, the town was home to about 150 people. Since the mines were from two to eight miles away, prospectors and miners may have also lived in the surrounding hills. As of October 1868, the Silver Peak Company employed about 100 men. This is also the period during which three mills were constructed in areas adjacent to the town site. So, mining was not the only occupation one could pursue. The town had three saloons, two stores, and three boarding houses. During this period, Silver Peak served as a jumping off point for Nevada miners and explorer’s wanting to go south into the Pahranagat and Death Valley areas. With the closing of operations in the early 1870s, most of the population went elsewhere. When George Wheeler of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers visited the camp in 1871, he reported “There are in this place about twenty houses built of concrete, one store, and one livery stable. Only four or five men remain.”

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Quiet Times I -- 1872 to 1890

Following the 1871 decline, mining company trustees were willing to let the property sit idle. In the spring of 1877, their interest in the mine was revived. The mill was revamped and 16 claims were surveyed for patent; the patents were issued in July 1879 Very little actual mining occurred, however, and the company went into bankruptcy. Assets of the former Silver Peak and Red Mountain Gold and Silver Mining Company were purchased at a sheriff’s sale in February 1878 by John Vail, an agent of John Blair, an officer of both the bankruptcy company and the new company. The Silver Peak Mines Company was incorporated and in 1879 Bail transferred title of the property to the Company. The Company then borrowed money from Blair, using the mine as collateral. That load was not repaid and the property was given to Blair in lieu of payment. This new company patented fourteen additional claims. For the next two decades, the property sat idle.

Mining activities in the Mineral Ridge District during this period were probably very limited in nature. Presumably, the Silver Peak Mines Company conducted annual assessment work to keep its claim holding current. It may have leased some claims, and claims that the company let go may have been claimed by others. Any actual mining activities, that did occur, were conducted at a very low level of effort, probably by local residents working part time. It appears that no mills were operative during the period, so ores worth milling must have been transported out of the district or treated using very low-tech, small-scale facilities such as arrastra.

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The Lessee Period – 1891 to 1905

During the 1890s, a few lessees worked gold-bearing deposits along Mineral Ridge. One factor that may have prompted the interests of lessees at this time, a period of limited activity state and nationwide, was construction of the Carson & Colorado Railroad to Candelaria in 1882. The availability of a nearby railroad greatly reduced the cost of securing materials and it offered a means of moving small volumes of ore to mills located outside the district.

John Chiatovich was best known for being an early settler of Silver Peak – arriving in the 1860s. He ran a store in town and engaged in mining part time. During the early 1890s, he owned the Mary Mine (he obtained the patent in 1891) and in about 1893 he built a ten-stamp cyanide mill in Silver Peak. Fred Vollmar Sr., who was another Silver Peak resident, designed the mill. Chiatovich also leased numerous claims from the Silver Peak Mining Company. Sam Wasson was another early resident of Silver Peak, arriving in 1872. In 1891, John Blair placed Wasson in charge of local operations for Silver Peak Mines. Wasson held this position for 16 years during which mining activities continued at a low level between 1891 and 1906. Wasson served as a Nevada State Senator from Esmeralda County during 1899 and 1901 sessions. L.J. Hanchett leased the Silver Peak Mines property and during 1895 and 1896, he mined and milled about $95,000 worth of ore. Historians note that this ore was probably processed at Chiatovich’s cyanide mill.

The Valcalda brothers (John, Jim, Andrew, and Otis) came to Silver Peak in 1885. Between 1892 and 1906, the brothers (especially John) made a meager living by primitive mining and milling operations that focused on near surface outcroppings of ore on their six patented claims (the Columbus, Frank 2, Washing ton, Peorto, Oregon, and Lincoln). Seldom id they get deeper then 10 to 12 feet. The constructed a simple, two-stamp mill at Valcalda Spring and, at times, worked ores by crushing them in large mortars. It appears that theirs was a part time and off seasonal adventure.

Activities during the 1890s were different from what had occurred previously, or would occur in the future. The 1890s saw a very decentralized and vernacular approach to mining. Most mining and milling was done by individual property owners or small crews, was comparatively small in scale, and often was seasonal. Old workings were reopened or extended, surface outcroppings were exploited, and technologies were adapted to meet local and individual needs. This is perhaps best reflected in the number and variety of mills constructed between 1890 and 1905. These included the Valcalda brothers two-stamp mill at Valcalda Spring; Chiatovich’s mill in Silver Peak; mills (reported to be two-stamp mills) on the Columbus, Esmeralda, and Vega claims (near Tarantula Spring); and an arrastra at Coyote Springs.

The ten-stamp cyanide mill designed by Fred Vollmar Sr. and built by John Chiatovich is of particular interest. Developed in Glasgow, Scotland, by J.W. MacArthur and two brothers, W. and R.W. Forrest, the cyanide process was first used on a production scale at the Crown Mine at Karangahke, New Zealand in 1889. Two years later it was tried in the United States at Crestone and Denver, Colorado, and Mercur, Utah. According to an early historian:

The Pittsburgh Period – 1906 to 1916

The first years of the twentieth century saw a tremendous increase in mining activities throughout Nevada. Several technological factors facilitated this second wave of mining. Cyanidation made it possible to increase rates of recovery and to realize worthwhile returns from lower grade ores. The arrival of electrical power also added to property values in Nevada during the first two decades of this century, greatly reducing the cost of both mining and milling. New discoveries were made first at Tonopah, Goldfield, and in numerous smaller districts, and many older districts experienced a revival. The development of large-scale copper mining near Ely also began in earnest. According to one historian:

“The most immediate result of the Tonopah-Goldfield-Ely booms was the increased impetus given to the mining industry in Nevada and this lifted the state once more into the mining limelight.”

In particular, activities in Tonopah, Goldfield, and Rhyolite led to an increase in the amount of exploration conducted throughout southern Nevada, an area generally overlooked during the earlier Comstock era mining boom.

At Silver Peak, mining activities during this period focused on three major claim blocks: the Blair, Valcalda, and Mohawk-Alpine groups. The Mohawk-Alpine Mining Company was incorporated in December of 1903. It eventually came to control 15 claims, which were referred to variously as the Tietjen Group or the Homestake Group. Once consolidated by the Mohawk-Alpine Mining Company, the claim group was referred to by the company’s name.  Mining methods of the Mohawk-Alpine Company were comparatively crude. Ore was packed by mules to a loading bin where it was loaded into wagons and hauled eight miles to the five-stamp Mohawk-Alpine Mill in Silver Peak. The mill was located north of town near the hot spring. The mill was expanded in 1905 to ten stamps.

The Silver Peak Valcalda Gold Mining Company acquired the Valcalda claim group, which was held earlier by the Valcalda brothers, in January of 1906. The company built a 50-ton mill onsite, piping water from Red Mountain Spring some four miles to the southwest. This combination amalgamation and cyanide mill went into production in August of 1907, but operated only at intervals over a period of not more than one year. Samuel Newhouse bought the Valcalda Mine in 1908 but conducted little work.

The history of this period, however, deals primarily with activities on the Blair group of claims, held by the Silver Peak Mining Company. Rumors that the Silver Peak Mining Company and its 40-plus claims were about to be purchased by Pittsburgh businessmen began to surface. The August 4, 1905, edition of the Goldfield News stated that:

During 1904 and 1905, the Mary and the Drinkwater mines were examined by prominent mining engineers on behalf of M. Effinger, a Utah based mine promoter, and on behalf of the prospective buyer. Negotiations were concluded in May of 1906, and the Silver Peak Mining Company was purchased by the Pittsburgh Silver Peak Gold Mining Company. Major figures included in the new management group were Pennsylvania businessmen William Flinn (newspaper publisher and state senator) and George Oliver (steel magnate and U.S. Senator). The new company also took controlling interest of the Mohawk-Alpine Mining Company and claim group.

The new company had bold plans. The Mary and Drinkwater mines were to be connected, a new mill was to be constructed, a five-mile long aerial tramway was to be built that would move ore from the mine portal to the mill, a railroad was to be constructed connecting the mine to the outside world, and a new company town was planned. Land speculation in and around Silver Peak was so severe that the new mill site and town site were placed some two miles outside of Silver Peak. To ensure secrecy, they staked out the new sites at night.

The railroad was a 17½-mile link between the Silver Peak District and the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad. The Silver Peak Railroad Company was organized and the alignment was surveyed. The same company that had built the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad constructed the railroad. Grading began in July and the line was completed in October of 1906

Construction began immediately on the new mill. The first part of the mill was put into operation in October 1907. The following April, the operating capacity of the mill was increased to 100 stamps. The company also operated a cyanide mill in Silver Peak. They used this mill to process tailings from old dumps scattered throughout the district on claims the company controlled.

A 3,800-foot tunnel was drilled connecting the Mary and Drinkwater mines. Electric locomotives pulled trains of side dump cars from underground loading stations in the Drinkwater to ore bins at them out of the Mary mine. A crusher reduced the rock to a manageable size; it was dumped into a bin, and then loaded on the 14,000-foot long aerial tramway. The tramway consisted of 124 buckets attached to a cable that dropped the ore 1,600 feet in elevation to the mill.

The town site of Blair was established in the summer of 1906 and its population swelled. Blair was a company town that boasted piped water to all the houses, a sewer system, and well-graded streets. Within a month, Blair boasted 100 wood frame buildings and a population of 700. That number shot up to about 1,050 the following year, mainly due to the large amount of construction ongoing at the mill and mine. During this same period, Silver Peak rose in size to 250 people and a number of miners were housed in barracks at the Mary Mine portal. After the construction period ended and the excitement, which a new camp always generated had died down, the operation became routine and the population declined. The need for many businesses also declined and Blair took on the look of a classic company town. In 1910, only 366 people were recorded there by the census enumerator, and by 1913 only about 100 remained.

In 1909, the Pittsburgh Mining Company acquired the Silver Peak Valcalda Mine and its associated group of claims. A rail line was constructed connecting the Valcalda property with the upper level of the Silver Peak Mine and the twenty stamps from the Valcalda mill were moved to the Pittsburgh Mill, increasing its capacity to 120 stamps.  The Valcalda property was worked continually into 1915.

When expanded to 120 stamps in 1909, the Blair Mine was the largest mill in Nevada, treating about 540 tons of ore per day. The amalgamation tables recovered about 63 percent of the gold values, while another 30 percent were retrieved by cyanidation. The average value of ores dropped over time, from $10 per ton in 1909, to $6 per ton in 1911, to $5 per ton in 1914.  By October of 1915, the mine was considered worked out.  Dismantling of the mill began the next year (1916) and the equipment was sold piecemeal. By 1918 there was little left, and the town of Blair was deserted. Abandonment of the railroad was authorized in the spring of 1918 and by the end of the year the railroad was gone.

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Quiet Times II – 1917 to 1928

Gold production in Nevada declined during the 1920s. Statewide gold production figures reflect a transition in the source of gold from predominantly gold-bearing lodes to byproduct gold, mainly from copper ores at Ely. The onset of the national depression in 1929 also played a part in slowing gold production. As a result, viable lode mines that date to the late 1920s and early 1930s were a rarity.

With the decline of the Pittsburgh Mining Company in 1916, mining activities faded across the Mineral Ridge District. In 1920, the census enumerator in Silver Peak recorded 78 people. Mining activities consisted of limited leasing of claims and, presumably, assessment work.  Their owners dropped some claims, including patented claims. For example, about 1917, one of the Valcalda brothers re-acquired the Valcalda claim block at a Sheriff’s sale for the payment of the back taxes. By 1926, only 10 people remained in Silver Peak and by all appearances the town (and the district) was approaching the status of a ghost town.

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The Late Production Period – 1929 to 1942

Silver Peak’s immediate salvation came in the form of Fred Vollmar Sr. and Fred Vollmar Jr. This father and son team did a great deal to initiate, or facilitate negotiations that led to the development of viable mining companies. Beginning in early 1920’s, the Vollmar’s leased selected claims. When he returned to Silver Peak in 1927, Fred Vollmar Jr. began putting small groups of miners to work on some of the leased claims. During that year, the Fanchini and Hughes Mill was constructed in Silver Peak, on the same site where an earlier mill had been built in 1867. The mill saw only intermittent use. By 1928, Silver Peak was home to 150 people, a sizeable increase over the previous years.

The Vollmar’s formed or assisted several small mining companies and sough financial backing for companies in which they were involved. Three companies in which they were involved were the Lucky Boy Divide Mining Company, the Liberty Divide Mining Company, and eventually the Black Mammoth Consolidated Mining Company. The most successful was the Black Mammoth Consolidated Mining Company. First formed in Manhattan, Nevada in 1920, this company made its first appearance in Silver Peak in 1928, focusing its attention on the Laddie group of claims. Fred Vollmar Jr. was in charge of the Black Mammoth operations. He was also president of the Liberty Divide Mining Company, which took over claims adjacent to the Laddie claims. In June of 1929, the Black Mammoth Company, with Fred Vollmar now acting as President, leased the Mary Mine from the Lucky Boy Divide Mining Company. At first, ores were milled at the Fanchini and Hughes Mill. Soon, however, operations shifted to a new mill then under construction in Silver Peak. The 50-ton mill was commonly known as the Vollmar mill.

About the same time the Vollmar’s were busy, the Valcalda property once again became prominent. As noted above, the Valcalda family re-acquired the Valcalda claim block in 1917. The Oromonte Mines Company took over that property in 1927. The following year, the company refurbished the old Chiatovich Mill in Silver Peak; the mill became known as the Calved Mill. After limited operation, it became apparent hat the mill did not work adequately and a new mill, the Rock and Keeler (or R & K) Mill was constructed in 1930. It was located in the same general area s the Chiatovich Mill. This mill saw only limited use. In 1935 the Oromonte mine and R & K Mill passed to the Gold Wedge Divide Mining Company which operated for only a short period.

The late 1920s and early 1930s saw a lot of mill construction. The Fanchini and Hughes Mill (1927), Vollmar Mill (1929), the Rock and Keeler (R & K) Mill (1929), the Fanchini and Hughes tailings plant (1930’s), and the Gordon Brodie Mill (1934) were all constructed about this time.  The population of Silver Peak shot up to 1,200 individuals employed, one might suspect, as much in the construction of mills and other facilities as on mining. These new mills were needed because many of the older mills had been dismantled and removed from the district. Experience had shown that those mills that did remain could not be renovated profitably. Options open to the Vollmars and other mining interests of the time, were to build new mills or to transport ore out of the district. They chose to build new mills. Of interest, the mills built during this period were small in capacity, with the size of the mill being adjusted to accommodate the volume of ore expected to be produced by the mine it served. The custom milling of ores occurred only when mill capacity was available.

An increase in the price of gold in 1934 prompted a renewed interest in gold mining nationwide and many Nevada lode mines reopened as a result, extracting lower grade ores and necessitating larger mills. The small mills built in district between 1927 and 1934 could not accomplish this goal over an extended period. As a result, the late 1930s saw the construction of two, larger-volume mills. The 100-ton Black Mammoth Mill was built in 1935 adjacent to the Vollmar Mine in Silver Peak. The 300-ton Cord Mill represented the culmination of negotiations between Fred Vollmar Jr. and E. L. Cord, the automobile magnate. Funding provided by Cord allowed for construction of the mill. The Black Mammoth Mill burned down in 1940, leaving the Cord Mill as the only operative mill in the district. District production between 1937 and 1940 was high, exceeding tonnage and gross yield amounts from the Pittsburgh Period. In 1940, the census enumerator found 655 persons in Silver Peak.

War Production Board Order L-208, issued in 1942, called for the closure of operative gold mines. Mining operations in the Silver Peak Mining District ceased and the Cord Mill shut down. With the demise of mining operations in the area, the population of Silver Peak experienced a marked decline; only 60 some people remained after the war.

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The Recent Period – 1943 to 1975

It took some time for mining to become reestablished in the district after the war. Early interest focused on properties outside the Mineral Ridge District, such as Nivloc and the Mohawk Mine. After several attempts by others, the U.S. Mining and Milling Corporation began production at Nivloc in the mid-1950s and bullion was poured in 1958. Within a year, however, operations were discontinued. In 1973, the property was purchased by the Sunshine Mining Company and the Mid-Continent Mining Corporation, but it appears they did little actual work.

The Mohawk Mine, located some 10 miles west of Silver Peak, was first discovered in 1920 but was not developed until the early 1950s. Site development occurred during 1954 and a mill was constructed in Silver Peak to process the recovered ore. After discontinuing operations at Nivloc in 1956, the U.S. Mining Corporation purchased the Mohawk operation. They refurbished the mill in Silver Peak and processed the ore from Nivloc, Mohawk, and several other regional operations (including Tonopah). Operations continued into the early 1960s.

A new mining process entered the scene in the mid-1960s, when Foote Mineral Company began extracting lithium from ground water in the nearby Clayton Valley. Water was pumped to the surface and allowed to evaporate. Lithium salts were then collected and concentrated. This operation has continued to the present.

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The Modern Period- 1975 to the Present

Interest in the Mineral Ridge District did not reoccur until the mid-1970s when the Sunshine Mining Company, Homestake Mining Company, and Zephyr Resources became involved in exploring for low-grade ores that could be mined economically through the excavation of an open pit mine. In the early-1980s, a number of companies conducted geologic investigations and exploration programs on the Mary and Drinkwater claims at Mineral Ridge including Houston Oil and Minerals, Occidental Minerals and the Sunshine Mining Company. During this same period Sunshine Mining and FMC Gold Co. conducted exploration programs on the Oromonte claims.

Between 1989 and 1992, an open pit mine was constructed in the Mary and Drinkwater mine area. Operations were discontinued in 1992. Recently, Mineral Ridge Resources, Inc., has conducted additional exploration in the area and is considering the feasibility of reopening the area to open pit mining.

During the 1980’s Sunshine Mining Company operated the 16 to 1 silver mine southwest of Silver Peak, processing the ores in a 750-ton per day cyanide leach mill. By the late-1980’s silver prices were so low that the 16 to 1 ores were no longer economic and Sunshine leased the Mineral Ridge property from the Mary Mining Trust with a view to feeding their mil with gold ore from this area. Sunshine ultimately elected to discontinue operations in the Silver Peak area and leased their 16 to 1 mill to Zephyr Resources Inc., a Reno-based company.

During 1989 and 1990, Zephyr opened Mineral Ridge as an open-pit, trucking ore 17 miles to the 16 to 1 mill. In mid-1990, Homestead Minerals Corp., another Reno-based mining company, purchased Zephyr’s interests in the area and continued mining at Mineral Ridge until early-1992. Unfortunately the cost of trucking the ore to the 16 to 1 mill proved to be uneconomic and Homestead declared bankruptcy in mid-1992. From 1989-1992, Zephyr and Homestead mined 1.4 millions tons of ore grading 0.082 oz/ton (113,961 ounces of contained gold). With Homestead’s bankruptcy, the leased Mineral Ridge property reverted back to the Mary Mining Trust.

In the meantime, both Sunshine Mining and FMC Gold had dropped their respective options on the Oromonte claims. Subsequently, Benguetcorp, USA Inc. (BUSA), a subsidiary of the Philippine mining conglomerate Benguet Corp., purchased the Oromonte claims from the underlying property owners. BUSA undertook extensive exploration programs at Oromonte during the 1991 and 1992 field seasons before a corporate decision to curtail activities in North America brought exploration activities to a halt.

In July 1993 Cornucopia entered into a mining lease on the Mary and Drinkwater claims with the Mary Mining Trust.  In May 1995 they entered into an option agreement with BUSA on the Oromonte claims, which generally cover the land on top of the ridge where the crusher is now located. Commencing in July 1993, Cornucopia conducted extensive exploration and development programs on the Mineral Ridge Property, which culminated in the feasibility study prepared by Behre Dolbear in February 1996. The feasibility study, performed at gold price of $385/oz Au, was positive, although not robust, and, in its executive summary, stressed two main risks: (1) grade control during mining and (2) maintaining the permeability of the heaps by agglomerating with sufficient cement.

A mining contractor did Cornucopia’s mining, which is notoriously not a good omen for exacting ore control procedures. In any event the operation ran for just under a year and failed, reportedly, from a combination of the following:

In 1998 the property was acquired by Vista Gold, whose general operating plan included increased placement of ore on the pads, albeit at a somewhat lower grade, and mining of both ore and waste with large equipment (to keep mining costs low) which Vista had available at their Hycroft Mine. The new operations by Vista also ran somewhat less than a year, and also failed, reportedly, from a combination of the following:

In January 2000 Mineral Ridge Resources, a Subsidiary of Vista Gold, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  A Trustee of the court maintained the property until Golden Phoenix Minerals acquired the ownership of the mine on November 8, 2000.