Mine in middle canyon

[KDT1970]

Does anyone know the name of this mine. It is owned by Kennicott.

[Mike]

It looks like a bunker.

[KDT1970]

it is located here: 40.486779,-112.192168

[lobster68w]

It's the Utah Metals Company Tunnel.

[KDT1970]

So does anyone know how you would gain legal access to this tunnel for a day.

[lobster68w]

Given it's KUC property, I highly doubt you'd be able too. In 1910, it was said to be 11,000' long. The old tunnel up by Anaconda was supposedly 22,000' long.

[bergdh]

There are also some interesting openings on the SL side. aka Butterfield Canyon. Ive never been back with gear to check them out. Id imagine that whole range has quite a few. I wish it would be opened up in my lifetime.

[KDT1970]

I would like to know where they are if you would like to pm me.

[KDT1970]

Given it's KUC property, I highly doubt you'd be able too. In 1910, it was said to be 11,000' long. The old tunnel up by Anaconda was supposedly 22,000' long.

I tried to go up and look around and take some pics of the Anaconda one but the road is gated.

[lobster68w]

I tried to go up and look around and take some pics of the Anaconda one but the road is gated.

Yup. As far as I know, a construction company owns that land below it. I would love to get up to the Headframe and tunnel though. There were some pics posted a couple years ago. Haven't seen them in a while though.

[ExpUt]

Its not a mine, its a drain tunnel. At one time that was the level of the bottom of the pit but its now above that level so I believe the water is pumped from the pit and out that tunnel. You can regularly hear water rushing near the entrance. Not only is it under lock and key, there is a monitored camera at the portal, inside of the grates pointing outside. KUC is very, very protective and secure with their property, I'm doubtful you would ever gain access short of working there. One can wish though

[lobster68w]

Its not a mine, its a drain tunnel. At one time that was the level of the bottom of the pit but its now above that level so I believe the water is pumped from the pit and out that tunnel. You can regularly hear water rushing near the entrance. Not only is it under lock and key, there is a monitored camera at the portal, inside of the grates pointing outside. KUC is very, very protective and secure with their property, I'm doubtful you would ever gain access short of working there. One can wish though

Last time I was up there, I noticed the camera right inside.

A little OT, but last weekend we ran into the security guy for Chief Consolidated in Eureka. KUC is drilling and apparently has taken quite an interest in rehabbing the Trixie and starting mining again. One thing the guy warned us about, was that KUC is thinking about installing motion detectors and remote CCTV around the Trixie, Apex, and Burgin. He even thought it was overkill. Best bet, just don't mess with Kennecott property I guess.

[acidman1968]

Last time I was up there, I noticed the camera right inside.

A little OT, but last weekend we ran into the security guy for Chief Consolidated in Eureka. KUC is drilling and apparently has taken quite an interest in rehabbing the Trixie and starting mining again. One thing the guy warned us about, was that KUC is thinking about installing motion detectors and remote CCTV around the Trixie, Apex, and Burgin. He even thought it was overkill. Best bet, just don't mess with Kennecott property I guess.

The Trixie and Burgin mines are being reopened by a company called "Andover Ventures". Andover is going to be restarting the Burgin Mill, too, to process the ore from the Trixie.

As far as the drilling by KUC, it's actually by Kennecott Exploration under an earn-in agreement with Andover for their "Big Hill" project. From what I've been able to find out, Big Hill is apparently a lithocap formation - the same type of formation that Bingham Canyon is/was - and they're looking at a "target" for Copper, Gold, and Molybdenum...

Here's a link where you can read up on some of the information: http://www.andoverventures.com/proje..._consolidated/

Being as I work for Kennecott, I'm a bit interested in this Big Hill project, because if it IS a good target for copper, gold, and moly, that really will help keep me employed until I hit retirement in another 20 years or so. Then again, the OTHER reason I've been following this earn-in agreement is that Andover Ventures' stock price is in the mid 50 cent/share right now, and I've been toying with buying stock in their company. From what I've seen, when Rio Tinto finds a project they're really interested in, they'll try to purchase the project entirely, and if they can't purchase the project from the company, they just might buy the company.

[Ossyconno]

Couple months back I talked to a core driller from Andover around the area of the old Bill Hill shaft. He told me they are finding excellent samples of porphyry copper. He said that the best samples of ore around the Burgin, Trixie and the Apex are under the permanent water level. In fact he said the whole east side of the Tintic mining district he believes there are thousands of tons of ore that the old boys left untouched because of the water level. I wonder if the old workings of the three said are under water and if it would really be cost effective to go after the ore. Does anyone know if the Big Hill is going to be a open pit or an underground operation?

[Derek]

Given it's KUC property, I highly doubt you'd be able too. In 1910, it was said to be 11,000' long. The old tunnel up by Anaconda was supposedly 22,000' long.

Are you referring to the Elton Tunnel or the Pine Canyon Tunnel as being 22,000' long?

Yup. As far as I know, a construction company owns that land below it. I would love to get up to the Headframe and tunnel though. There were some pics posted a couple years ago. Haven't seen them in a while though.

Yes last I knew Christensen & Griffith construction were leasing the lower buildings to work on their big rigs. Sometimes during the daytime working hours that lower gate is open and you can drive right to their buildings and the upper gate. I still can't believe how big that production headframe is!

Its not a mine, its a drain tunnel. At one time that was the level of the bottom of the pit but its now above that level so I believe the water is pumped from the pit and out that tunnel. You can regularly hear water rushing near the entrance. Not only is it under lock and key, there is a monitored camera at the portal, inside of the grates pointing outside. KUC is very, very protective and secure with their property, I'm doubtful you would ever gain access short of working there. One can wish though

According to a former KUC safety inspector that I am friends with, that tunnel does have some workings in it. I was told that it was a mine before becoming a drain tunnel for the pit. In the 90's my friend went all the way through the tunnel and into the pit. It wasn't 30 seconds before security was on his A$$!

Couple months back I talked to a core driller from Andover around the area of the old Bill Hill shaft. He told me they are finding excellent samples of porphyry copper. He said that the best samples of ore around the Burgin, Trixie and the Apex are under the permanent water level. In fact he said the whole east side of the Tintic mining district he believes there are thousands of tons of ore that the old boys left untouched because of the water level. I wonder if the old workings of the three said are under water and if it would really be cost effective to go after the ore. Does anyone know if the Big Hill is going to be a open pit or an underground operation?

That big hill shaft is crazy dangerous. I don't know the exact dates that it was worked, but it does look recent (in the last 30 years or so). It amazed me how fast that the sides of the shaft have sloughed off. Does anyone know how deep and how long ago it was worked? My guess would be that if it is a 1000' or less to the ore up there that it will be a strip mine. So much cheaper at shallow depths that underground.