# Nevada - The Silver State



## DarkspARCS (Mar 30, 2020)

Hello again my friends! 

I wanted to share another find I accidently came across just outside the Las Vegas city limits while I was practicing Social Distancing ( wow... Since when did anti-socialism save lives lol!)... 

I looked at a geologic formation, recognized it as a volcanic intrusion, recognized that intrusion as a sheer zone, and understood that precious metals form in such locations... And as if a magnet literally made me a 90° turn I made a bee line for it ... And immediately discovered an entire mountain side littered with veins of Cerrargyrite! WOW !...

Here's some pictures of my finds... I want to stake claims but it would cost a fortune to claim the entire mountain... More Social Distancing required to determine best locations!


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## DarkspARCS (Mar 30, 2020)




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## DarkspARCS (Mar 30, 2020)




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## DarkspARCS (Mar 30, 2020)




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## DarkspARCS (Mar 30, 2020)

These beauties are solid silver with very little cerrusite !


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## DarkspARCS (Mar 30, 2020)

This is a 2.5'x2' cerargyrite slab that weathered and broke off from a vein! I need to clean it up a little more then purchase a plate stand for it... Perhaps offer it to a collector for a pretty penny... =)


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## fishaholic5 (Mar 30, 2020)

Very interesting, It doesnt look like you need the whole mountain  I rarely see large amounts of Silver in these forms in the primary locations, or in such a well defined geological setting. Hopefully i will one day.
How much Lead is associated with it?

Cheers Wal


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## butcher (Mar 30, 2020)

Nice find, claiming 20 acres of that mountain vein of silver chloride should keep you busy for a little while. Thanks for sharing


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## DarkspARCS (Mar 30, 2020)

fishaholic5 said:


> Very interesting, It doesnt look like you need the whole mountain  I rarely see large amounts of Silver in these forms in the primary locations, or in such a well defined geological setting. Hopefully i will one day.
> How much Lead is associated with it?
> 
> Cheers Wal



I just returned late last night from a two day sampling survey of two frontal sections out of 5 anticlinal intrusions that interestingly possessed a uniform "layering" pattern that had veins of cerargyrite encapsulated by cerrusite begin the next swell, effectively making each synclinal dip where these veins rest. The cool part is that these synclinally aligned veins are washed with water every time it rains and thus nice sized specimens were available without a single hammer blow right at the base of the formation.

As such I unloaded roughly 230 lbs of material from approx. 25 veins I mapped on those two frontal sections. I will be returning soon as I excercise Social Distancing once again to attempt mapping out the other three anticlinal intrusives. Then there the back side to survey. 

That being said I havent had time to properly assay the specimens... Some of the samples appear to possess boytriodal goethite mixed with the silver and lead content.

A couple of odd veins didn't appear to possess lead at all but instead were a boytriodal goethite/ silver mix oozing out from red ryolite ... As pictured below... When I can get the tests done I'll post the findings here !


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## DarkspARCS (Mar 30, 2020)

butcher said:


> Nice find, claiming 20 acres of that mountain vein of silver chloride should keep you busy for a little while. Thanks for sharing



I know right!! What I intend on doing is getting my claims staked according to assayed results (as the xrf data from several fossil hot springs in this same area provided some rather dynamic numbers last year...) ... which Im still awaiting the results of ... And then setting up my crew to begin methodical improvements on them in order to prep location for exploratory petrology and acquire the small mining waivers next maintenance fee due date...


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## fishaholic5 (Mar 30, 2020)

[/quote ]

That being said I havent had time to properly assay the specimens... Some of the samples appear to possess boytriodal goethite mixed with the silver and lead content.

A couple of odd veins didn't appear to possess lead at all but instead were a boytriodal goethite/ silver mix oozing out from red ryolite ... As pictured below... When I can get the tests done I'll post the findings here
[/quote]

Cool, I hope this material proves to be gold bearing veins within the Silver deposit. I hope the project goes well

Cheers Wal


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## Lino1406 (Mar 31, 2020)

This publication may be a good reason for falling silver prices we witness


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## kjavanb123 (Apr 1, 2020)

Nice find. Is this mineral what you found?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrargyrite


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## DarkspARCS (Jun 20, 2020)

kjavanb123 said:


> Nice find. Is this mineral what you found?
> 
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrargyrite



In all honesty this material is more like Cerargyrite/ Chorargyrite.

But not exactly that either. I would have to say this ore is a weathered galena deposit, where the lead oxidizes into clear/ white crystals and the silver separates out to formulate oxidized coatings and inclusions within the cementing matrixes. There is a great deal of iron and what appears to be manganese included as well.

Best descriptive nomenclature I can supply at this time would have to be argentoferous, mangoan cerrusite

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerussite


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## DarkspARCS (Jun 20, 2020)

Lino1406 said:


> This publication may be a good reason for falling silver prices we witness



Silver prices are @+- $17.50 oz. I don't comprehend your post.


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## FrugalRefiner (Jun 20, 2020)

DarkspARCS said:


> Lino1406 said:
> 
> 
> > This publication may be a good reason for falling silver prices we witness
> ...



The price had dropped below $12.00 in mid March and was around $14.00 when Lino made his post.

Dave


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## Lino1406 (Jun 20, 2020)

Thanks Dave. Indeed at that point in time the find looked enormous


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## DarkspARCS (Jul 9, 2020)

FrugalRefiner said:


> DarkspARCS said:
> 
> 
> > Lino1406 said:
> ...


Silver now @ $18+


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## Lino1406 (Jul 19, 2020)

The corona came just in time and brought a huge printing of paper money, therefore expect further climb


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## DarkspARCS (Aug 8, 2020)

Lino1406 said:


> The corona came just in time and brought a huge printing of paper money, therefore expect further climb



=)...

Its now August and yep! Since your post silver has jumped to $28+- per oz. .. A $10 jump in one month!

Silver is expected to jump upwards towards the $100.00 per oz. Mark here real quick. Not only did cv19 put a choke hold on the worlds population but here in the states the communists are using it to destroy the economy and thus devalue the dollar.

I think I found this deposit just in time! I have a new partner who has brought in a warchest of equipment thats being set up... Poured the first of three concrete slabs and erected the first shelter over it... A real nice work area that we have mounted a Uline AG-3 shaker table and my old Action Mining table within... Real nice sturdy steel frame with durable oiled canvass screwed with tek screws covering all but the face of the area. 

Have a roasting/ firing area set up right next to it that possesses a huge King Fan, ace/ oxy torch system, modified propane grill that has two stainless steel gas tubes running the basement and cieling of it that blasts sulphides into powder, an electric furnace as well as a KK-6 Assay furnace, as well as modified pottery kiln that uses a propane grill canister and 45,000 b.t.u. weed burning wand ... great for creating dore bars.

Next to that is the supplies shed that houses all the elements needed for the hydro metallurgical processes such as sodium metabisulphate, litharge, lead foil, etc. etc. Also use it as temporary storage for three rock crushers that will be set up on the second concrete pad... An impact crusher, jaw crusher, and an old (I mean old! Wow... And it works like a spartan!!) Rock crusher system that powders ore into baby powder...

Have been working with the ores that Ive posted here on the forums that Ive made discoveries of here locally... Right now we are finishing up a 100 lb. Batch of powdered pollymetallic refractory sulphide ore that I posted about a long time ago that assayed out to 500 opt... My partner just cant stop playing with it lmmfao he's VERY impressed with it. So far the recovery has netted 2 troy lbs. Of 50% copper 30% gold 20% platinum dore I need to fire into ingots to ship off to David H. Fell in Los Angeles. Im FINALLY going to secure my Umpire Assay for that mine and possibly incorporate on that deposit!

Ive started powdering the ore from this location and will be working with it to see what it produces. Found out this ore comes from a turn of the century mine that was known as a GOLD MINE... The ore producing gold, silver, tungsten, and molybdenum. Being that this is a cerrusite based ore Im sure a quantity of lead can be worked into usable material for further metallurgical value.. 

I just think this looks so damn perty!...


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## Lino1406 (Aug 8, 2020)

Good luck Darksparcs!


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## butcher (Aug 8, 2020)

When you get the mill set up it would be great to see some pictures of the equipment, I am also interested in learning more details about the process of recovery, especially more the details of that perty smelted ore, and even some more details of the claim, details about being able to work the claim legally (getting past all of the govenment red tape and restrictions...

Here in my state with the government closing roads to public land and putting more and more restrictions on our ability to do most any any type mining, making some kind of tourist parks on any land you can still get fairly easy acsess into, or your ability to work the ore, I am also interested in hearing what how you are fairing in that aspect in your state and with your claim...


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## DarkspARCS (Aug 10, 2020)

butcher said:


> When you get the mill set up it would be great to see some pictures of the equipment, I am also interested in learning more details about the process of recovery, especially more the details of that perty smelted ore, and even some more details of the claim, details about being able to work the claim legally (getting past all of the govenment red tape and restrictions...
> 
> Here in my state with the government closing roads to public land and putting more and more restrictions on our ability to do most any any type mining, making some kind of tourist parks on any land you can still get fairly easy acsess into, or your ability to work the ore, I am also interested in hearing what how you are fairing in that aspect in your state and with your claim...



Greetings Butcher! 

Youre one of the ones who have been here from the beginning of my ventures with mining, with the original mine that I rediscovered over a decade ago and joined this forum for to learn the ropes on metallurgy and discover the tips and tricks experienced miners use with their ventures with working refractory ores...

Becoming an instrument that gives you insight into not only my progress but also what that progress has returned regards the time and efforts I have struggled to make happen these things is a genuine privilege for me, an original GRF student who will forever remain grateful for Harold V and Noxx for the creation of this group, along with those members here (past and present) who's insight has given me the knowledge to in turn create an economic solution that will carry me forward into the economic disaster this pandemic has created.

I will start a new thread to cover my experiences and my discoveries, my legalities and the concessions, that will culminate with my current effort to set up this back yard "mill site" that will begin processing the ores Ive come across over the years that I will have access to.

I hope it will not only assist you with your interests but too perhaps become an informative tool with its creation, like the thread I created so long ago regards that original mine (which still to this day continues to both educate me regards ore types as well as inspires me to do the research on them to crack their combinations and make them become the precious metals producers the XRF reports and assays have shown them to be) and its ores has proven to become.

I will also include those locations and deposits Ive branched out from there to discover that will also be involved will my efforts. Las Vegas has proven to be an ideal place to find access to "past producing" mining ventures that have been recommended by the industry to take a second look at, especially true with the location this thread talks about as it still possesses half a mountain that possesses silver (and evidently gold too!) embedded within a series of weathered galena deposits that has transformed into cerrusite and separated the lead from its precious metal contents...


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## DarkspARCS (Aug 10, 2020)

Lino1406 said:


> Good luck Darksparcs!



THANX LINO!!!

With all that I have had to endure along this path that I chose to take over a decade ago and all that Ive discovered and learned is proving to temper me and my efforts into a mining professional that understands not only the products and the processes today, but just as important the safety and the legalities involved with them.

It was the interest that was taken in me locally by the head geologist of the Las Vegas BLM office that has given me the tools and knowledge to proceed forward regards my mining ventures...

It was the help and the experiences recorded here on the GRF forums from seasoned industry professionals such as yourself that have assisted me with the expansion of my own experience in this industry...


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## etack (Aug 10, 2020)

WOW!!!!!!!!!!! Thats over a $1.00 a gram I hope this works out for you. 

and by chance you have a nice specimen laying around let me know I do like the rocks.  

Eric


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## Lou (Aug 10, 2020)

Darksparcs...


*Not to be a party pooper, but that has all the hallmarks of a bad XRF assay. Do not take that to the bank! 
*Unless its done with a certified reference material (of which there aren't any that high in concentration which I'm aware of--most of the PGM ore type materials are S. African in origin) and the material is carefully prepared for analysis, the results are extremely suspect as that is more like a synthetic sulfide concentrate from a matting furnace (less the Ni) than anything else...

My advice is reach out to Act Labs in Canada and send it out (three or four ground samples) for Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis. For the money, it's a really good screening technique for ore materials. Have them retain the sample and then follow their direction on further analysis if there actually is something good in it.


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## butcher (Aug 10, 2020)

I agree with Lou, I would not count chickens before they hatch, keeping watch on the gold fever, before spending much money on processing the eggs, I would take more careful samples and spend a little more on good assaying, before spending a fortune on equipment to set up a mill site, start out small, proving the value and the ability to extract the values economically...


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## DarkspARCS (Aug 10, 2020)

Lou said:


> Darksparcs...
> 
> 
> *Not to be a party pooper, but that has all the hallmarks of a bad XRF assay. Do not take that to the bank!
> ...



Thanx Lou, Butcher...

Lol actually I have known about xrf issues for awhile now, but one can always dream, right?...

Just kidding...

That XRF was actually given to me free of charge by a local metals refiner in hopes that I will approach them with the exchange of my dore bars, whereas an XRF based assaying service would have charged me $45 a pop on elemental snapshots like that...

All things considered there's one aspect about XRF readouts that I deem applicable and that is the exposure of elements within an ore... Forget the amounts. Tellurides, Arsenides, Sulphides, Antimony, Bismuth, radio active metals...

They all interfere with extractiin and need to be identified.

The calculations on that provided XRF did look nice though =)

Call it pandemic blues...


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## Lou (Aug 20, 2020)

Just send what you think you have to ACT labs and know for sure.

https://actlabs.com/


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## g_axelsson (Sep 21, 2020)

A bit late to the discussion, I've been busy this summer and haven't had as much time to spend on the forum.

I just wanted to say that I agree with Lou and Butcher that the XRF results are way off and that there are an easy way to prove it.

Your ore sample shows a quartz vein if I'm not totally wrong. So the bulk elements should be silicon and oxygen, but neither are included in the results. The major part according to the XRF is iron at 71% and even that is wrong. You don't find metallic iron as an ore, it is always combined with oxygen, sulfur, carbonate, phosphate... and so on. So even pure iron ore have a hard time reaching that percentage.
XRF is measuring a small spot, so the only way to analyze an ore by one shot is to mill several representative parts of the ore into a fine powder, mix well and press the powder into a small button with a flat surface before doing an XRF measurement. You also need an XRF with a full elemental library to catch the rock forming elements like oxygen, silicon, sulfur, calcium, magnesium... some might even be undetectable by XRF.

So you can dream but you better wake up before you are betting your life savings on an XRF measurement.

I heard a similar story about the lead geologist at the Pahtohavare copper mine. While prospecting the ore they got a drill core with large gold flakes visible. The gold that this single sample showed made them assume there were more pockets of gold in the ore and a decision on opening the mine was taken.
If I remember it right the mine produced decent amounts of copper but in the end it came out with less than 0.1 g gold per ton and they never saw any visible gold again. The geologist kept that drill core in his office drawer to remember not chasing dreams again.

I visited the mine about 20 years ago. Our guide was a local mineral collector that had good connections with all the mines in the area and knew a lot of the geologists working at the mines and he told me this story. So my memory might be a bit off and it's not a first hand account. But the sens moral is to make several measurements and not staring blindly on the one measurement that shows your dream.
https://www.mindat.org/loc-10617.html

Let us know how the project develops, I wish you will find your dream.

Göran


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## voidforged (Sep 29, 2020)

After you get a claim established would it be alright if I poked around the areas outside of it? I'm a rock nut too and I'm moving down to the Vegas area next spring/summer, I've never seen specimens like the ones you showed us.


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## DarkspARCS (Dec 9, 2020)

voidforged said:


> After you get a claim established would it be alright if I poked around the areas outside of it? I'm a rock nut too and I'm moving down to the Vegas area next spring/summer, I've never seen specimens like the ones you showed us.



Greetings voidforged... I decided to not claim this location so feel free to poke around. Hit me up when you get to Vegas I will give you directions on how to get to the location. Meanwhile, heres 3 more specimens I collected last week, these from an untouched vein on the next ridge over. These have a nice silver to lead separation ratio with the lead forming square crystals with the silver covering them =)

=)


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## voidforged (Dec 11, 2020)

DarkspARCS said:


> voidforged said:
> 
> 
> > After you get a claim established would it be alright if I poked around the areas outside of it? I'm a rock nut too and I'm moving down to the Vegas area next spring/summer, I've never seen specimens like the ones you showed us.
> ...



Hey thanks for the reply, yeah I'll absolutely shoot you a message when I get down there. Looking like it'll probably be late May or June. Looking forward to it!


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