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Property Overview

The Monon Mineral Property is located in Mineral County Colorado in the Creede Mining District. The property consists of four (4) contiguous lode mining claims, staked, and mapped to provide maximum coverage of the relevant locatable deposits in the area.

The property has had various names over the years, Magnusson, Silver Horde, and most recently the Big Six. Homestake Mining was the last major holder of the property recorded in 1998, this shortly before they were purchased by Barrick Mining in 2001.

The Monon Group Mineral property encompasses several properties that have operated independently over many years. The Big 6 or Silver Horde property is the southern-most drift, oft times also referred to as the Silver Horde Tunnel. The Silver Horde connects underground with the northern most adit, known as the Moon Tunnel. The Magnusson Tunnel is also on the north end of the property and accesses the upper levels of the mines and intersects with the open stopes underground.

At current, only the Magnusson Tunnel is open and accessible for sampling. By 1998 the Portal at the Big Six/Silver Horde had been bulldozed but not before images had been taken of a large vein in one of the stopes and a mucker that had been abandoned in the workings. There was no other information provided. Plates 1 and 2 are images of the underground workings.

The Big Six/Silver Horde should be an easy open with a notice of operation and a backhoe.

There is a block of patented property that runs between the Silver Horde and the Magnusson, this is noted because of its location, but also because the apex of the veins and lodes on the property have not been defined. The stopes on the property are assumed worked out but as noted in reports, the veins and lodes are divergent and have not been chased or worked out. Lodes identified in the Magnusson, Moon and Silver Horde Tunnel have been sampled but not worked and were the main elements of interest to Homestake Mining.

Silver is primary output with gold, zinc, and copper as secondary mineralization. Good ore in the mines ranged from 70-125 oz to the ton, average grade was 34oz.T/AG1. There is extensive documentation describing the workings, drill programs and the geology of the mine.

This is an excellent mine for a small mining company who can do the initial required work to get the portals open and define ore bodies while moving towards large scale operations. With valuations of 30 oz of silver per ton, it will be difficult to not be profitable with the site.

As noted by Twitty in 2003:2

The Monon Mine consists of a complex of five tunnels driven into the northwest and southwest flanks of Monon Hill.

Miners drove the Monon Tunnel, the northern-most entry, into Monon Hill’s northwest base. The Quintet Mining Company drove the Silver Horde Tunnel into the hill’s southeast base, and the Magnusson and Manitoba tunnels lay between. The Eads Tunnel, the property’s discovery adit, lies above all. Currently, the five tunnels are visible, but bulldozing and mining within the last 50 years destroyed their integrities.

The Monon Mine tapped a complex group of ore bodies proximal to the Alpha-Corsair Ore System. The U.S. Geological Survey Creede topographic map mislabeled Monon Hill as lying east of the real Monon Hill, which is accurately depicted on geological report maps. Monon Hill features moderately steep slopes, lies east of the confluence of Miners and Rat creeks, and is vegetated with open meadow spotted with stands of fir trees and ponderosa pines.
In 1999 U.S. Forest Service archaeologist Vince Spero recorded the Silver Horde Tunnel under the alternate name of the Big Six Mine and assigned site number 5ML319. Spero found the site ineligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

Gold Rush Expeditions, Inc. does offer mining consultation services and assistance with permits for a small fee.

Training courses for underground work and exploration can be found here: https://stayoutstayalive.com/training/