ORE DUMPS MAY HIDE MODERN DAY BONANZA Page 1

By Delos Toole Copyright 2000.

The rush of the 1990's interest in old ore dumps will be comparable in magnitude as to the rush of the old 49ers, who chased the gold nugget fields of the west. All through the 1 800's, gold nuggets were scooped up from the surface of the land much like one would pick strawberries today.

When the gold nuggets ceased to be easy pickings, the eye-balling prospectors turned their efforts from surface searching to digging holes and soon discovered, just below the surface of the land more of the gold nugget bonanza in glory holes, pot holes, shallow sinks, dried up canyons, and ancient basins.

Those eager prospectors stirred up the dirt and gravel like so many busy gophers and marmots would do. Leaving behind huge discarded piles of rock containing unrecognized metals, unseen valuable minerals, elements and rare earth minerals.

Time was when the eager quest for wealth was concentrated on only for gold. World events created a demand for silver and this big demand created more holes to be dug by the prospectors who threw away more seemingly worthless rock and dirt onto newly formed ore dumps.

Time marched on into the future and interest in new minerals appeared and created a demand for new test holes, and new ore dumps at the mine head. Fueled by several wars, the world's appetite for more and different minerals seemed unsatisfying and the hunt was on for tungsten, zinc, copper and lead as well as the dependable gold 'n silver.

This demand for new metals drew thousands of dreamy-eyed would be prospectors out of America's depressed areas and into the western part of the country, to dig still more holes, sink shafts, carve out tunnels and create new lode mines.

These new diggers sent the dirt flying in all directions, creating newer piles of dirt 'n rock, and unknowingly created huge piles of heaped unrecognized minerals. Invisible wealth in rare-earth metals, exotic minerals and unseen valuable rare nobles lay in wait for future prospectors armed with new knowledge and technology to unravel those secrets.

The old-time prospectors unaware of what treasures remained locked in the rocks they discarded, threw their split rocks into the canyons below, made wagon roads, and built up railroad roadbeds with the discarded rock debris. The discarded rock contained ores rich in cobalt, bismuth, rare platinum, uranium and a host of other valuable minerals.

Early prospectors being "sight prospectors, passed over much valuabie ore which gave evidence as to signs in metallic form. This discarding practice moved tons of dirt'n rock debris onto waste dumps, considered at that time as being worthless material.

Fortunes in unseen minerals were left behind when the old mines were abandoned after the visible gold 'n silver, lead, zinc, copper and tungsten ran out. These old ore dumps have lain undisturbed for more than a hundred and fifty years, just waiting for today's knowledgeable prospector to come along with a field testing kit to chemically analyze its mineral content and to identify each individual metallic mineral, rare-earth metal and mineralized element.

The instruction kit that comes with the step-method in chemical analysis testing is easily Understood. With varied alterations in heating tests, evaporation of solutions showing color in spectrum, step-additives in numbered chemicals and methods of filtrations, will give results and answer questions as to the Unknown identity of the ore. It will also give an indication of its worth, quantity, percentages and will provide the prospector with reassurance that they have made a quick, intelligent assessment of the discovered old ore dump waste. The chemical analysis testing is semi-quantitative, semi-qualitative and gives results of the ore sample tested in grades of very good, good, fair and poor.

Beryllium is a valuable rare metallic chemical element used to form strong, hard alloys with several metals, including copper and silver. This miracle metal, when used as alloy, makes tools non-sparking, non-magnetic instruments, high-speed bearings and turns stainless steel into a "super metal".

There are 48 very important rare minerals associated with beryllium. A simple test can determine what the sample host ore contains. Should beryllium or any of the companion rare-earth minerals be located in low or high grade deposits, or in pockets of varying quantities near the earth's surface, it is possible to sell in small lots of the material, giving the prospector quick cash without having to become too involved with tons of ore by the carloads, as when dealing in lesser hard rock metals.

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