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Property Overview

The Buckeye Property is a high value gold mining property with documented production back to 1869. The property was located in 1861. The mine has been worked for gold and silver on small scale intermittently since that time. Shipments of 2 tons to 9 tons has been the average. High grade ores yielded miners values up to 20 oz. to the ton in gold with huge silver valuations and copper byproducts.
The mine consists of a series of deep adits and shafts, connected by winzes and raises on either side of the canyon. There is an ariel tram system that was upgraded in 1953. This tram was constructed to bring ores from the south side of the canyon to the mill facility. This tram was noted as being used in 1873 by Captain Kidd who built the structure to transport ores more easily to the mill.
Samples were taken from the surface dumps in 2015 and chip samples were taken from inside the mine workings on the north and south side of the canyons in 2018. Chip samples show gold and silver in varied quantities. Average value is 0.8 oz AU/T and 31 oz. AG/T.
Surface samples vary and show that the mine was likely targeting the high-grade silver over gold. Surface dump samples assayed an average of 0.3 oz. AG/T and 1.1 oz AU/T.
The Mill on the property is a standard, pre-1900 gravity mill that operated by crushing, and then washing the crushed material into a concentrate.
The Buckeye is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a tungsten mine. This is incorrect, but unscrupulous developers trying to gain federal funding for the mining of strategic minerals through the DMEA program stated they might have tungsten and applied for grants. The grants were denied on the fact that there was no tungsten of quantity and the mine was obviously a high-grade gold and silver deposit.
Further evidence of this fraud is exposed in the mill workings at the property. Tungsten is not a mineral that is crushed and separated through a shaker or trommel system. Tungsten is separated chemically due to its high temperature rating. If there was tungsten being processed there would be vats and tanks for the separation.
Finally, the reports made by the DMEA Mining Geologists state that the mine does not show tungsten, but shows high grade gold, silver, copper and zinc on large, defined quartz veins throughout the workings.

There is an unknown element on the property, that being a shaft that is cut into competent, hard rock just below one of the adits. Water from the adit is draining into the shaft at a rapid rate. The walls of the shaft are thick with moss and laser measure devices reports over 300’ with no obstructions. There is no obvious drain point for the mine. The workings are not mapped.

Matrixed native silver (extremely rare) is noted in the workings. The following is reported from a mining document:
On September 2, 1867, Captain Stephen Kidd, Superintendent of the Buckeye Mine, in the North Twin River District about 50 miles south of Austin, brought to the office of the Reese River Reveille, a superb specimen of mineral obtained from his mine. It is irregular shape, almost eight inches long, and four inches broad at one end and three at the other. Its greatest thickness is about three inches.
The large uneven face of the broadest end contains several clusters of delicate wire silver, golden hued, projecting from the surface and in cavities, besides many points and flakes of native colored silver. There are small but pretty crystals of stephanite, galena and zinc blende, with little points of bright, brassy looking copper pyrite surrounding the wire silver, and producing a beautiful effect. We learned that it is the intention of the owner of the fine specimen to present it to the Mercantile Library Association in San Francisco.

A silver specimen matching this description was auctioned by the Mercantile Library in 2006 for $6 million dollars and noted as a priceless specimen from the lost mines of Nevada.
The mine is in close proximity to the Round Mountain Gold Mine, which is operated by Kinross Gold Mining. Round Mountain is known for its gold production and has made billions for Kinross over the past 20 years. Round Mountain has been in continuous operation since 1906 and is not expected to be closed until 2027.

This is a high-grade metals mine. It can be worked by a small miner, or small miners on a casual use basis by extracting samples and high-grade ore for sale to collectors. Alternatively, a small mining operation could easily rehabilitate the workings and extract ore for processing in any one of the custom mill sites in Nevada. The road infrastructure is good and would accommodate larger vehicles including dump trucks and loaders.

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/