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GREETINGS to our new website.
The FORUM began in the late 1990’s at origsix.com. Do to its age a modern website became necessary. Here it is; however all the transaction from origsix.com during the transition are not yet available on the site. Our original website will remain. Welcome and enjoy your journey with the oldest USA gold mining corporation. Participate using either or both sites.I am currently in Toronto at the PDAC Convention – the annual meeting of the 6000 prospectors and developers associated in Canada. A wealth of risk management experience assembled in one single location for four days every year. And the biggest marketplace for mining equity worldwide. Here projects get funded that have much less to offer than ORIGSIX.
“I currently find snippets in articles about investments that bring back memories of the fourth global American gold rush and the only one during my lifetime. The first great gold rush (1849) to the newly discovered California wilderness united our vast continent under one rule, language and currency. Historians claim it was the largest human non-warring migration (figures as high as 200,000).
Alaska was the site of America’s second major gold rush (1986-1899). What a struggle it must have been.
President FDR drove the politically initiated third American gold rush (1934). Writers always report that was when the fixed price of gold rose from $20.67 to $34.00 per ounce. Output production records rather than a mass movement to “discover” fresh gold deposits for exploitation best defines the rush. WWII killed the gold mining industry and post war inflation smothered its return to pre war conditions. What no one remembers and what I never learned in school also happened with the 1934 legislation. Americans were prohibited to own gold other than gold in coinages. Even as an Economics major at UCSB, that tasty item of western free market capitalism was ignored.
The fourth American gold rush was based on the politically driven decisions of 1934. President Nixon did not arbitrarily increase the “value” of an ounce of gold; the government cut the shackles of restrictive ownership by our citizens. In other words gold was set free to reach an exchange value with dollars and it quickly surged to new heights.
Bingo! Our local papers, the Downieville Mountain Messenger and the Grass Valley Union featured the spot price of gold on its front pages…with every edition. It was big news because this is gold country. Grass Valley is the location of California’s largest gold producer, the Empire Mine. Sierra County is the home of the Alleghany Mining District with the oldest gold Company and longest producing mines. Everywhere people gathered the biggest topic of conversation was gold. The year was 1975 and the rush lasted through the early 1980’s. Manic investors, miners and con men tromped north and south along the 200 mile California gold belt in the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. It was exciting.
One of my favorite recollections that depicts a prevailing attitude during America’s awakening to the value of gold happened in Alleghany. The Sixteen to One was looking for working capital. A Sacramento bank president drove up to see the mine. During our conversation the price of gold came up. He wanted to know my opinion. Will it go up or down? I don’t know the answer to that question. He said something about the all time high in 1980. “Those in gold production thought it was an anomaly, an over zealous feeding frenzy”, was my reply. I vocally wondered who were the buyers during the January spike. Well, he told me that he was one and bought gold at its high. He waited for months, hearing about gold, watching it steadily increase in price and jumped in at the top. Was he an anomaly or does he represent the bankers and other cautious investors?
The stage is set for another rush. Think about it. What will it take for serious people to test their mettle with gold? Maybe it is mining the stuff or speculating on its present/future price. Maybe it will be viewed as a safe haven for previously acquired wealth. Some will just gamble, an act that neither others nor I who deal in gold production practice. Risk takers and gamblers are different.
The latest reason an investment guru says for putting ten to twelve percent of your investment into gold was this. Gold does not return interest. Banks and government investments now earn low interest. Jean-Marie Eveillard told Bloomberg news today why his fund is about 10% invested in gold and gold mining securities. “It’s insurance to protect against the fact that current policies by American government and the FED are potentially wildly inflationary.” (Nothing new and exciting here.) His novel idea is gold pays no interest and banks pay nearly no interest. You can print money but you cannot print gold. So, you don’t lose because of gold’s non-interest bearing condition. I’m not saying this will launch gold into a buying frenzy but somewhere the president of some bank is watching gold, waiting on the sideline before he jumps in…at the top.”
GOLD RUSH FILE: written June 9, 2009. How does this read, nine and one half years later?
David I,hope you are still checking the FORUM. I was inundated with paperwork in December, which has continued and took a break from the FORUM. Thanks for your participation. I plan to get back on a schedule to keep shareholders, gold minded people and curious others up to date on how 2018, looks for Sixteen to One.
My major concern regarding a dollar backed currency with gold is who will be fixing the ratio of dollars to ounces of gold. Most of the deep gold minded people believe that the “price” of gold continues manipulated. It could be those who want a lower spot price (buyers) or those who want a higher price (sellers) or those who want equity balance. I prefer the market to set prices; however an ounce of gold becomes out of reach for most of us at $10,000 an ounce. What will be our choices?
In 1974, my choice was to find the gold and participate in my expected price increase that way. My economics and business beliefs are simple: supply and demand; law of diminishing returns; dynamics of scale; and for gold ownership as close to the metal as possible. I dredged. I mined some. I took over one of the finest companies with honest gold in the ground. Here we are.
What I see after forty three years is a very exciting future with the only concern is the dynamics of scale. The odds, as Sixteen to One sits today, foretell a struggle (as if we haven’t had twenty plus years of struggle)are not-in-our-favor. To eliminate the struggle (too small an operation) is achievable in multiple ways. My job is to find others who want to join our struggle to overcome this issue. I will.
Paper work, via ridiculous wrongful regulatory behaviors, is reduced to one source. Soon I can tell you about which agency seems better and which agency continues to break the law. Any guesses? Gold business which is out of my influence or control (spot price) is fun to think about but whatever I can influence to improve gold mining in the United States of America and especially with our Company, I will pursue vigorously. Anyone want to join us?
Happy new year. There is some consideration being thought about by the Trump administration about returning America to a partial gold standard with the price of gold set at $10,000 per ounce. This would be a boon for your industry. Also a very important legal consideration is being viewed by the US supreme Court regarding a Mr. Brandon Rinehart’s case against the California Supreme Court to reverse the decision of the California indicating that the mining right of the 1872 Mining Act is limited to holding a claim, and not the right to mine the claim. This case was submitted to the US Supreme Court 01/05/ 2018 for review by the US Supreme Court to here the Case.
The following report caught my interest. While Americans are buying Bitcoins, Germans recently brought 53,780 gold bars to their home country. Nice move! Story follows.
Deutsche Boerse says Germans continue to invest heavily in gold, with holdings of its gold-backed security reaching a new all-time high in 2017. The German marketplace exchange organizer reported (January 3) that the holdings of Xetra-Gold reached an all-time high of 175.04 tons of gold at the end of 2017, up significantly from 117.59 tons at the end of 2016.
Out of all commodities traded on the Xetra Stock Exchange, Xetra-Gold was the highest-performing security with order book turnover around 2.86 billion euros in 2017. Xetra-Gold has been around for a decade, having first been introduced in 2007, and last year the gold price ended up about 13 percent. “The increase is mainly due to the high demand from institutional investors” said Deutsche Boerse Managing Director Michael König. “However, more and more asset managers, family offices and private investors are showing interest in gold as an asset class.” For each unit certificate, 1 gram of gold is deposited in the central safe deposit for German securities in Frankfurt.
The World Gold Council (WGC) notes that Germany’s gold investment market has “boomed” in the last 10 years. The WGC explains that concerned investors turned to gold to protect their wealth in the face of “successive financial crisis and loose monetary policy.” German investors bought more gold per person in 2016 than investors in China and India, two other countries known for being gold powerhouses. Reasons given by purchasers were investment and retirement.
Germany’s central bank completed the transfer of US$27.9 billion worth of gold bars held by France’s central bank and the Federal Reserve in New York. The 53,780 bars were brought back to Frankfurt three years ahead of schedule in a move intended to build public “trust and confidence.”
!Hi Mike,
to answer your question in Director Erdahl´s words: The price of gold will either go up or down.
But the truth at the bottom is more complicated than that, if you look not only at the price of gold in US-Dollars.
For instance, looking at the price of gold in Swiss Francs during the last 40 years – it has not changed much at all.
But for a gold-mining company in California, where all expense is paid in US-Dollars, the price in sfr does not matter much.
And for an investor who is invested either in gold or Swiss Francs, the dwindling purchasing power of the US-Dollar does not matter much either.
Hans
Hi Hans,
Yes to your question, is the world running out of new goldfields. Remember the nuances for understanding the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns? Think about gold (and other natural resources) with both considerations. The known goldfields are becoming more expensive to mine as the ore changes and the access becomes more involved. “New” as a 20th and 21st century new gold deposit described discoveries which were really deposits that got a second or fresh look. Homestake mining, an old California gold corporation that was swallowed by Barrick, turned this trick in Yolo, Napa and Sonoma counties with its McLaughlen open pit mine. Was it new or rediscovered? It has happened globally.
Exploration has moved into regions that are awful to develop. This has also been ongoing for years. Gold is sought today in the high Andes Mountains, the frigid north Asia and elsewhere. What does this mean? Think supply and demand and come to your own conclusions. My conclusion is that gold will continue to be in demand, the supply is questionable and the cost of getting the stuff will increase.Thanks about asking about Origsix. Our leadership has acquire good mines since 1911. We shareholders now own gold deposits with over two million ounces of production, maybe even three million. At spot price the dollar range for gold produced is between 2.550 billion and 3,825 billion ($2,550,000,000 and $3,825,000,000). Currently, I am sitting above the apex and very close to the center of our gold deposit.
What about the remaining useful economic life-span? Geologists have told me, written about and talked about 80% of this golden anomaly in a well-defined quartz vein system remains for the taking. Even though our federal government froze the price of gold at $35 an ounce from 1934 to 1975, Origsix remained a useful economic asset for its owners. It is more so today. It is the most undervalued American public company, which is why I continue to buy shares and defer personal compensation.
Where do you think the future price to buy an ounce of gold is headed?
An important risk in precious metal mining is the risk of depletion of known deposits.
If you look at global production numbers during the last two decades it seems that gold output has declined everywhere in the world except in China and Russia.
And if you look at the numbers for new goldfield discoveries in the 5000+ metric ton bracket the sad news is that there seem to be no really big new finds except one in China.
Is the world running out of new goldfield discoveries?
What about the remaining useful economic life-span of the Origsix orebody at todays prices?New mining regulations in Tanzania have put gold companies under pressure and slowed investment in the country. This behavior is more than a trend. It is classic!
Tanzania’s reforms were introduced in July, and among other things, they allow the government to renegotiate or revoke existing mining and energy contracts. They also give the state the right to own at least a 16-percent interest in mining projects, and increase royalties from 4 to 6 percent.
“Minerals may not be mobile but the capital that funds the mines is,” said Ben Gargett, head of PwC’s Australia-Africa practice. “Investors are saying, ‘On our risk radar, Tanzania has just gone a lot further down on the list.’”
Why is this relevant to Sixteen to One? When gold resource capital be it investment, speculation or just a fun gamble looks for a safe harbor, Sixteen to One is the light house on solid rock.
How about the mine?
During the 1980’s and 90’s a fundamental yet unique corporate policy was established by a world class board of directors: Charles Irving Brown, Leland H. Erdahl, Willard P. Fuller, Sandor Holly, Scott K. Robertson Richard Clarke Sorlien, Brian R. Van Camp. It remains today. The mine and mining its bountiful gold is our greatest responsibility to guide management and lead our Company to prosperity. So, what’s going on in the mine?
We are working three active headings. All headings are north of Tightner Shaft: Compromise Raise area above the 800 level; 1076 stope (far north) twenty feet above the 1000 level; 1500 level south of the 1064 winze. All three have produced gold for us. The 1500 level now holds the greatest potential as we blasted the face last Thursday for the first time, producing a small amount of gold. The signals leading to this target are not in an old stope or pillar. It is a significant block of virgin quartz about 300 feet wide and continuing 300 or more feet up dip. Handling the muck is not an issue. Traveling to the heading is the greatest obstacle both for the miners and supplies. Unless the geology (or detectors) tells something different, the crew will mine this quartz the old fashion way: run a raise and wing off in two directions. Three miners work this heading.
Gold is presence in the shot ore on the ground in the 1076 stope. We have been here off and on for five months. Three miners work this heading, running detectors to locate and sack gold. Some jewelry chunks are in the pile, but most rock will continue to be ore for the high-grade mill (six to 12 ounces per ton).
The crew continues to dewater the lower workings. The next milestone will be walking on the 1700 level. We are surprised how good the 25 horse power pump is moving the water. At some point is will just quit the lift. Three choices face us but one must be taken to continue lowering the water: add another pump to the 49 winze, move the pumping systems (plus another pump) to the Tightner Shaft or to the present location. This is an ambitious plan!
We made a significant investment in two heading currently on hold: the ZERO Level and the Compromise Raise area. They are on hold for conservation of capital to hire more miners. This is a tough call for me and could be too conservative (cautious). I’m sleeping on this decision every day. I will feel more comfortable adding miners after completing the 1076 stope and working the 1500 level for a month or so. Maybe the gold inventory will increase enough to make it an easy decision.
Maintenance is ongoing. The track always needs attention, ground support is checked regularly and our phone lines and utilities need ongoing attention. The current MSHA inspector is a real pain and has caused us unnecessary work to satisfy his opinions of safety. He has never been a miner in an underground mine, something now ongoing with MSHA inspectors.
I’m working with Hans, a German gold admirer, to develop a European jewelry market for quartz/gold. Our bank has about $75,000 of slab available for export. Hans has created a style of jewelry that has a new look for the world.
The financial goal is: no more debt and eliminate our existing debt. Sure, I want to mine our way to reach this goal; however if the right people learn that one of the greatest gold mines in the world wants to expand, we will work out a deal to make it happen. Our finances improved recently but it is still under pressure. I will explore ways to become debt free and sassy.
My gold mining business sense leads me to a belief that the future for a gold producing company (us) is getting more promising. I will always remember what Lee Erdahl told me when asked about the price of gold. His answer was, “Well, one thing I’m sure of is it will either go up or go down.” Thanks, Lee. Spot price is an external. Our internal picture is improving weekly.
This report is for all of you who continue reading the FORUM. Stick along for the ride in 2017. I am.
MMM
December, 2016Yesterday I was told about the labor issue at Hecla. Seems that the Company proposed reducing some benefits. The union took issue with this. I asked about the job/employment situation and was told that miners worth a lick had jobs, good jobs. The unemployed “miners“, well their story can be told around any mining camp.
Don’t know the workers compensation tax in Idaho, Montana or Nevada but in California the base rate is $84.65 for each $100 in wages. A problem in California is the small number on underground miners working. A primary reason why there are so few underground miners is the high cost of workers comp. Are we chasing our tails? California has the most proven gold deposit with the fewest underground miners working to get the stuff into circulation. The time for change is now.
I’ll look for more news about a labor strike and post it unless someone else has fresh news.
That is very impressive! Good for Hecla. But I thought the miners for Hecla were on strike? Maybe this means that they were able to resolve or mediate the issues with the Union.
Early this month an exciting and bold headline came out of Mullan, Idaho, home of the Silver Valley mining district: “Sinking of the Deepest Shaft in the USA Completed”. Congratulations to all the miners, independent contractors, executives and financiers for carrying forth this super human task!
With a finished diameter of 18 feet, the Lucky Friday #4 Shaft was sunk to a final depth of 9,587 feet below the surface. Completion of this shaft is a major milestone for the historic Lucky Friday Mine which has been in operation for over 74 years. The shaft provides access to lower mining levels which increase operational flexibility and extends the life of the mine by 23 years. May this risk reap a grand and justified reward!
The Lucky Friday #4 Shaft is a vertical shaft that begins underground, which makes it a Winze in mining terminology. A Winze is an internal shaft which requires the equivalent of a shaft head-frame and hoisting system. Again congratulations to the Hecla/Cementation Project Team for undertaking and completing another proud moment of mining history.
Thanks to The Mining Record of Denver Colorado for keeping mining industry news available to the public’s eye.
Mike,
congratulations on the turn-around! Good to hear that 2015 was a profitable year.
Managing the marketing risks for your product is important as you ramp up production. Here is what I could do at my end over here to support you:I have a relative who is a professional German goldsmith. If you send me a standard shipment of gold-laced quartz slabs, we could work on a marketing strategy for Europe and build a few samples that we could show to potential resellers.
Please send me an E-Mail with details on available volumes and prices.
Hans,
The mine gave us more quartz and gold than our major buyer can handle. Most of our gold is sold in jewelry in Alaska. Over one million people take the Alaska cruse. There are no dealers or jewelers in Europe marketing Sixteen to One mine precious gem stones. A representative claiming to be familiar in Germany met with the owner of our major wholesaler at the annual Tuscon Show this month. He is unknown to me.Do you think that Germans may have an appetite for the rarest precious gemstone once again on the market? If so, write me on our public website of email. We have a good inventory and a European market is long overdue.
I don’t know how to proceed with our idea of uniting some Germans with more dollars or euros and our very real gold mining operations in California. I know that the opportunity to significantly expand our operations with investors is also long overdue.
An agreement seems unlike which means this old gold producer, once again, is left to mine its way back to great gains for its owners. We are profitable for year 2015 yet I know I am under achieving, which no German wants to realize, especially a Californian living and working in California’s gold country.
Risk management strategies need to be reviewed from time to time.
When looking back on the past six years of risk management at Origsix it seems to me: The strategies worked well!
Legal risks were settled or minimized.
Technical risks have been under control and no accidents happened. However there have been recent complaints by mine supervisors that will need to be adressed in due time in order to avoid more legal trouble in the future.
Economic risks seem to have decreased to some small degree but remain challenging.
In Mike’s words: We are on our own.
The August 25th edition of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) ran an article that caught my attention entitled “Business Thrives in Abandoned Mines”. The article reported on how exploring abandoned mines looking for traces of gold in South Africa has become a popular (and very illegal) trade among hundreds if not thousands of people.
Compared to the U.S., the nation of South Africa is a relatively poor country and people with their backs to the wall are willing to risk life and limb in search of $50 a week in gold in abandoned mines.
The professional mining industry in South Africa has undergone a painful downturn that has resulted in the laying off of thousands of miners. The WSJ blamed this in part on cheaper gold mined in China.
South Africa, it seems, has a staggering number of abandoned gold mines. The WSJ put the figure at an unbelievable 4,400 abandoned gold mines in South Africa alone! They are almost impossible to patrol and have become fair game for impoverished, out-of-work miners looking for gold.
Many of the abandoned mines have been “permanently” sealed with concrete slabs at their adit portals or shaft collars. This has not been much of a deterrent. The illegal miners simply blast the plugs open again and descend. Some miners have been known to descend up to 3,000 feet or as far as they can before they hit water. Obviously, with the mines closed, the pumps have been silenced and the mines are no longer kept dewatered.
In addition to the ever present threat of cave-ins, the illegals also encounter a lot of violence with rival gangs of miners looking for gold. Life, it would seem, sounds like it’s cheap over there.
The whole article left me with an impression – or a reminder – over just how much we have to be thankful for here in America! Sadly, just what kind of a direction are we headed in? Could it be that with all our over-the-top regulations, mining might one day become no longer profitable for anybody? If that point is ever reached here in the U.S., could it one day pay more to simply abandon all of what’s left of our mines and “go illegal”? An illegal miner, as long as he or she doesn’t get killed, has to pay no insurance, pay for no permits or taxes, etc, etc. You have to wonder about this.
And here I am getting back to the Original Sixteen to One Mine. I think it is almost criminal on the part of our government to impose regulation after regulation after regulation on an operation like this. For its part, the Sixteen to One is bending over backwards to comply. But when we do the government comes back with, well, now we have to add new regulations “to keep everybody safe” and “protect the environment”.
Well, the liberal ideology pushing some of this stuff might end up with something one day that they never intended or figured on. Illegal mining would be far less safe and there would be no “environmental protection” observed by Illegal miners. To quote an old, worn-out cliché, “The pathway to hell is paved with good intentions.
-Fred M. Cain
Wow! I just finished reading this four year old topic. The best way is to start at the first entry and scroll up to the next entry chronologically. For recent viewers to the FORUM with an interest in learning about this one-of-a-kind gold deposit, I highly recommend taking a few minutes to review this remarkable exchange of dialog between serious parties.
Upon completion I had to smile and snort a laugh out loud. Four years later the questions, opinions and insights of the participants ring as true then as they do today. Time may be running away from me and my crew from mining another super pocket of gold; however, all familiar with the Sixteen to One know that it remains hidden from our drills and explosives.
Enjoy a look into the recent past but verified from over 100 years of experiences. We have a saying when someone asks, how’s it going at the mine? No gold right now but it could be in the next round.
The guys below offer worthy advice but my analysis yesterday (below) was offered for its historical perspective. Expect to see and hear gold mining promoters (most of whom are far from actual gold miners) tout exploration programs to attract people with little background in gold. The pace will increase over the next two or three years, maybe even four. The hucksters want a market for their accumulation, be it gold, gold futures or gold related stocks. The hysteria will be short lived and once distribution is accomplished, the decline will be swift.
The “toutsters” will repeat and raise many of the reasons for acquisition as they did before with questionable vigor: inflation, security, insecurity, and the expectation that their exploration protect will be bought out by a “major”. They will not report how long it will take to permit a mine and bring a prospect into production. They will broadcast meaningless drill results to suggest production at a profit. Beware!!!
Over hyping a gold mine in theory is no different than the hypes in high-technology, medicine, real estate, energy and health care. The players may be different but the marks have similar tendencies towards finances and investments. The upcoming gold drama will take different paths from the drama leading up to $850 per ounce years ago.
It’s apparent the best time to acquire more shares or to begin new purchases is the lull between discoveries.
I always urge everyone to read below first…
Considering the total drift and raise square footage already mined vs. quartz deposite worthy of gold, this is a live horse.
California’s largest high-grade gold pockets were mined in the Alleghany Mining District according to the State Geology Bulletin 193. Eleven of the top 25 were mined on Sixteen to One patented mining claims. The spot price received today for those eleven pockets would be over four billion dollars ($4,114,950,000). The current spot price of the largest pocket, which was mined in the 1920’s, would increase our bank account by $154,814,400 or $11.55 per each outstanding share of Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc.
There are no arguments against the fact that the Sixteen to One quartz and gold sells for a premium over spot. Twenty years of sales records are proof! If only 50% of that largest pocket qualified as jewelry slabs or specimens, revenue from that single pocket would be $222,546,500 or $16.61 per share.
Most geologists, historians and men that have actually worked in our mines reckon that the biggest pocket deposited within our mining claims remains to be found. To find and mine this pocket is our mission. (NOTE: the 10,000 ounce pocket we mined in mid-1990 would become number eleven if the State of California updated the list.)
Many times people have asked me why I stick to this dead horse of a mine, industry or occupation. The above mathematics is a partial reason. I believe we will find that pocket. Do you?
Mike, is it correct, that the two high grade pockets on the 1915 progress map, that you have written on in May last year – see below – would be worth 60 million US $ at todays prices?
Could you take a picture of that part of the map and send it to me or post it on the website?
Please go to NEWS on this web site for an interesting newspaper article published on December 13, 2010 in The Union.
It was a surprise to see this article in the semi local newspaper (Grass Valley). I’ve talked with the publisher/editor, Jeff, over the years. When he was typing on his computer while in his office, he must have been writing down my words. Hmm, I’d better be careful what all I say about gold mining to him in future conversations. To his credit, he got my sentiments right. Hope you enjoy his article.
I have worked in the Alleghany district for over 35 years. Less than half the gold on the 16:1 Mine property has been mined.
One-way to send article to others: print article, scan it, transfer to desktop or my documents, and attach to e-mail.
Someone else chime in with an easier way. There must be a better way, Lone Wolf Geologist. Hope someone else shows the way. Is there any gold left in the Sixteen to One or have the “old-timers” mined it all?
How can you e-mail this article to friends?
Robert Zoellick’s recent remarks on a possible revival of the gold standard as an international benchmark to measure inflation-rates or currency-fluctuations are good news for Origsix-Supporters. After all, Origsix was created in times, when an official gold standard was strictly observed inside the USA.
The risk-management strategists of the World Bank have obviously rediscovered the value of precious metals whose supply is limited by scientific facts that cannot be tampered with. Better times for Origsix may be just around the corner.
As a canvas painter, I sometimes refer to it as the “rubber-band effect”….the harder the pull, the bigger the snap.
There are times when I paint, and curiously times when I never paint, building the momentum for when brush hits the canvas (this is never intentional, it just happens this way)…usually the result is an explosion of something entirely new, and good.
The underground is waiting. The political and regulatory caltrops have been thrown down in front of this mine’s main focus for a very long time (pulling the rubber-band), and the obstacles have never stopped the next pocket.
This is the time!
I heard on CNBC yesterday that
Gold is becoming the “other”
currency “world-wide”; not only
in places like Sierra, Trinity
Counties. Each pocket found in
the Origsix is like a “Jackpot”
waiting to happen.The gold seizure, that has happened in 1933, may happen agein if things become bad enough.
In 1933 it was smart to have gold jewelry rather than coins, bullion or certificates.
To read the orginal wording of President Roosevelt’s gold seizure order go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102
The securities market is the back bone of the derivative market. Which is why it got in trouble with mortgages being held as securities.
There has been some written news about another type of security which is electric power plants. there is a plan for the government to guarantee loans for development of new electric power plants. once these plants are built they then become security for the power plants them selves as well security for other development such as new housing, or other higher risk ventures. Mining would fall into higher risk ventures.
In the past a hydro electric power was discussed in this forum. I am wondering if it is windy on your hill top?One of several hidden asserts of this mighty little gold company is its map collection. We don’t write about it much but the information contained therein is priceless. Here is what it means to me. The maps cover over one hundred years of development. One grouping is titled “Progress Maps”. They are usually depicting annual work and the months are colored individually. My mind turns to the appropriate dates of these progress maps. I transform into that miner, geologist, engineer or mining executive while studying the monthly (yearly also) progression of development and gold production. Why did they go here? Why did the go there? Why is this block of ground untouched?
The answers are speculative but, come on, all mining is speculative as are most investments. The ‘whys’ of the Sixteen to One are great topics for discussion. These maps affirm a fact: this deposit involves risk with hope of large profits. Also we have years of data beyond the times the maps were drafted.
Work to reorganize the map collection is underway. Years ago an old building was renovated to house the maps and have space to spread them out. Other needs preempted the reorganization…no longer so. The thirst for knowledge of the past now preempts other needs. I am thrilled to return to study of the work of yesterday’s miners. With each map comes the opportunity to learn.
I had an epiphany this morning after unrolling a 1915 map of the Tightner Mine Company. The map details the early working which are near bedrock elevations above the 250 level. The gold values are recorded in dollars when gold sold for $20 an ounce. One stope is breath taking…$700,000. Not far away is a $350,000 stope and there are many values at five figures. Times these numbers by 60 for gold today. Breathe taking!
Back to the epiphany. Are there no risk takers today for investing in this gold deposit? Apparently the answer is yes. Why? No one has taken the time and effort to understand this gold deposit, how it became successful and whether our plans will reap large profits. It is as simple as this…we are on our own.
Mining legends like Fuller, Searles, Foote, Kallenberger, HR Cook, Alling, Ferguson, Bennett and Taylor left their imprint in Alleghany. I have my answer to understand the risk/reward of mining for gold here, which is strengthened with these maps and thoughts of these great men. Thank you..
It is good to see in the News-Column that a portable, underground rock-screening device has delivered promising first results.
This is exactly the type of low-cost exploration activity that seems indispensable before money can be raised to start drilling and blasting again.
Manage and minimize exploration risk. Manage and minimize production risk. Good luck!
There is a lot of talk in Europe right now about hedging the credit risks that weaker Euro-Members like Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy cause for the Euro-Currency via creating a new European Monetary Fund similar to the IMF.
And guess what the German Department of Finance has proposed to back up that fund? Plain old gold. Is that a new approach to manage paper credit risks? Nope. It is a very old and very conservative approach.
But right now the biggest risks for Origsix seem to be legal risks. Maybe you’ll have to do something extraordinary – like converting the mine temporarily into a “gemstone quarry” to get it off the hook.
Maybe in a not too distant future a new California Administration will be happy to see some folks re-converting “gemstone quarries” into real gold mines again.
Anyway, I wish you luck.
After seeing “How The Earth Was Made”. I stand corrected as for the gold deposit in the quartz vain. It is a very good program, and the interior of the Original sixteen to One looks very promising for much more gold value. I like that ribbon quartz.
Dave & Hans,
There was a guy named “Gold Master” who suggested this very thing 5 years ago on this forum, I think he said they should drill holes as a patern down through the tunnels at some degree of angle aiming both up and down of the structure of the vien! (45 degrees & 225 degrees) with the vien running 45 degrees of verticle and bore into the face of each tunnel. This opens up and defines pockets with out actually stoping or blowing and mucking the face! I think this guy said you can run a metal detector up the bore hole to detect gold 3 or 4 feet around the bore hole. It’s a lot cheaper testing than actually mining a dry hole.
I feel that Dave I.’s proposal has a lot of merit for future, underground exploration projects.
If we could use the existing horizontal bore-drill at the mine to drill – may-be 5 inch bore-holes – several hundred feet(?) towards the prospective pay-zones, collect and examine the drill spoils and then run micro-detector-coils through a set of bore-holes about 20 ft apart from each other, Ray and Mike should be able to make very precise decisions on how to point the future headings.
That would be exactly what I mean, by “establishing proven reserves” within the Origsix. And if the crew is just a bit luckier than during the past few years, the bore-drill might hit a “high-grade-pocket-home-run” during the exploration stage.
If you need additional information on bore-drills for pointed bore-holes in hard-rock that can be operated in a very limited underground work-space, let me know. I have collected such information already over here in Germany.
I appreciate the depth of these comments and look forward to responses from geologists or others or Ray. My comment is only directed to the second paragraph of Bluejay’s entry:
“To make matters worse, our past lucrative halo of pockets between the 49 Winze and the Tightner shaft, basically above the 1000-foot level, appear to be a one-time event within a very small section of the Alleghany Mining District.”Consider that the past halo of pockets between the 49 winze and Tightner as well as those document throughout the mine are like gold spread on the ocean floor from sunken ships. Deep ocean underwater miners use this to discover even greater booty. It works at the Sixteen to One for the underground miners as well. Nature played a role in both events. These gold deposits, whether from activity 135 million years ago or the 1800’s are proven methods for mining gold.
Yes, the gold deposit in Alleghany was a one-time event; however the event spread gold along the strike of the quartz vein and its dip for miles in both directions. The Sixteen to One mine workings stretch over six miles along the strike and down dip about a half a mile. Our production records are ‘proven valuable data ’in guiding development over the past one hundred years.
The best part and why anyone with dead money in storage should come knocking on our office door is the following. The amount of virgin quartz veins owned by Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc associated with past production is vast and located in California
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