Posted On: 02/21/2013 12:42:37 AM
Post# of 54
| The Golden Lottery: AZ gold rush 2011 | ||||||||
10/11/2011 5:26:00 PM CAMP VERDE - In the world of latter-day prospectors, Dan Patch is a legend. A Quartzite native, Patch made a fortune after assuming ownership of 63 claims along the northeast tip of the Moon Mountains, not far from the eastern boundary of Yavapai County. The claims area, which sat over a detached fault buried beneath alluvial sediments, had gone unrecognized as a mineral district until Charles Ellis identified it as a copper prospect in 1968. Ellis, owner of Southwest Silver Company, worked the claims for seven years before leasing the property to a mineral exploration company in 1975. The company drilled a single test hole -- then walked away. In 1980, Ellis' company drilled six holes, the results of which were never revealed. Then, while roofing his house, Ellis fell and broke his neck. Unable to work the claims, Patch assumed ownership. A few months later, Patch leased the property to Cyprus-Amoco. Instead of copper, an ambitious drilling program revealed a significant deposit of microscopic gold. By 1987 Cyprus-Amorco had developed the claims into an open pit mine. Over the next six years the company withdrew 510,000 ounces of gold from Patch's Copperstone claims, before declaring the load financially exhausted. Then in 2002, American Bonanza Gold Corporation leased the mine from Patch's heirs. American Bonanza estimates that an additional 300,000 to 1.2 million ounces of microscopic gold remain to be extracted. The mine is expected to reopen next month. |
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