The Power Of A Giant Mining Operation

The "power" in this title is a reference to the evidence of modern mining left behind at this site… Specifically, I’m referring to the building-sized slabs of rock that have smashed across the workings of the abandoned mine, to the tremendous cavities left behind in the earth and to the sheer, incredible quantity of rock moved… Modern pit mines simply haul everything away to neat piles and so, aside from the massive holes in the ground, I think many fail to appreciate the sheer destructive power of modern mining. Similarly, when mining takes place underground, it is difficult to see more than pieces of the puzzle and it is often difficult to appreciate the scale of what has been done. Consider, for example, some of the mine shafts that we have roped down. When I shine my light down a shaft, it just looks like a black hole. However, we have descended for more than 1,000 feet in some mines. That’s the equivalent of a skyscraper higher than 100 stories! That may seem abstract, but look up at a skyscraper of that height the next time you’re in a city and ask yourself if that scale is even remotely conveyed in the videos that I show of such mines.

This mine from the 1950s is unique in that it is from an era of transition from historic mining methods to modern mining. Thus, we see the ravaged landscape left behind and a glimpse of the destructive potential of mining without it being cleaned up and sanitized as modern mines (at least in jurisdictions like the U.S. and Europe) are. Yes, I know, the hydraulic mining of the past moved massive quantities of gravel and dirt and certainly showed us the destructive potential within humanity. However, hydraulic mining was washing away ancient river channels and wasn’t smashing through solid rock as was done at this mine. It didn’t toss building-sized slabs of rock around as if they were nothing and, at least to me, doesn’t showcase the same raw force. Haha, maybe you had to have been there…

In case it was not possible to tell from the geology, this was an iron mining operation. As I mentioned above, the work seen in this video was done in the 1950s. There is some suggestion in the records of minor work being done in the area back to the early 1900s (or possibly even earlier) to extract copper and lead. However, we saw no evidence of this and I suspect that any such workings were devoured by the larger iron mining operations later. Various companies have come out and kicked rocks at this site and there has even been some surface drilling done for sampling, but no one has yet been inspired to bring this mine back into production.

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You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: https://goo.gl/TEKq9L

You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: https://bit.ly/2wqcBDD and here: https://bit.ly/2p6Jip6

Several kind viewers have asked about donating to help cover some of the many expenses associated with exploring these abandoned mines. Inspired by their generosity, I set up a Patreon account. So, if anyone would care to chip in, I’m under TVR Exploring on Patreon.

Thanks for watching!

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Growing up in California’s “Gold Rush Country” made it easy to take all of the history around us for granted. However, abandoned mine sites have a lot working against them – nature, vandals, scrappers and various government agencies… The old prospectors and miners that used to roam our lonely mountains and toil away deep underground are disappearing quickly as well.

These losses finally caught our attention and we felt compelled to make an effort to document as many of the ghost towns and abandoned mines that we could before that colorful niche of our history is gone forever.
I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!

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Видео The Power Of A Giant Mining Operation канала TVR Exploring