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Gold Mines and Mills -
Mojave Preserve
Death Valley Mine
Gold Milling and Mining Company (initially called Dawson Camp) was formed by the Dawson brothers. First
opened in 1906, most production was between 1917 and 1921. The quartz veins contained argentite (silver sulfide)
and
galena (lead sulfide). Typical of ore bodies in arid climates, the silver at the ground surface was dissolved and
carried down the dip of the vein and redeposited. The portion of the vein above the water table was “secondarily
enriched” with embolite (silver chloride/bromide). The underground workings burned in 1927. The equipment
present today is the result of mine reactivitation in the 1950s, and includes an unusual steel headframe.
The first ore was hauled to the rail head at
Cima,
bound for the mill at
Needles. By 1907, ore was sent to the
American Smelting and mining Company in Salt Lake City. The onsite mill burned in 1927. The 1931 concentration
plant consisted of a Blake-type (14 x 21”) crusher, and classified ore went to an elevator feeding a marathon
rod (roller) mill, then to elevated 10-mesh screens where oversize ore was returned to the crusher. The fines went
to a cone classifier that fed the coarse fraction to an Isabell concentrator, and fines to a double-deck Deister (concentrating)
table. The entire plant was driven by an electric
motor. |
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These items are historical in scope and are intended for educational purposes only; they are not meant as an aid for travel planning. Copyright ©Walter Feller. 1995-2024 - All rights reserved. |