The Richest Silver Mines Of Guanajuato

Most of my prior international mine exploring trips have been planned, but this visit to the silver mines of Guanajuato was a product of circumstance rather than planning… The highly mineralized veins of silver, gold and zinc in this part of Mexico had already been discovered by the natives before the arrival of the Spanish. The natives used wedges of wood and lime to extract the prized minerals.

In 1585, the Spanish discovered the rich veins that the natives had been working in this area, and in 1592 the Jesuits obtained permission to work them. Perhaps it is simply due to the amount of time that has passed, but it is difficult to locate much in the way of records relating to the period in which the Jesuits were operating mines in the “New World” aside from rumors on treasure hunting forums of lost Jesuit mines.

A few little hiccups along the way, such as the Mexican War of Independence, eventually idled the mines. However, in 1888, advancements in mining technology, an industrial revolution hungry for raw materials and sufficient social stability brought investors back into this region to open up the mines again. Most, but certainly not all, of the mine infrastructure and workings seen in this video dates to that era…

One of the most prolific mining operations was the Hacienda de los Cinco Senores, which had mines such as the La Joya, Nayalito and Justicia. The “Five Senores” name stems from the fact that, in 1889, the year of its development, five European businessmen pooled their capital to exploit the minerals here. It soon became one of the most productive mining operations in the area and shipped its ore as far away as Mexico City for processing.

Some of the other richest mines producing on the Mineral de Pozos veins were the Santa Brigida, Escondida, Triangulo, Potosina, El Dorado, Trinidad, Ocampo, Nona and the Angustias Mine.

The Angustias Mine (the last mine shown in the video) was owned by the Angustias y Anexas company, and its heyday at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries centered on the fat vein that ran underground directly beneath where I stood while filming the video. The Angustias Mine employed more than 1,000 workers that operated in two shifts. So, there would have been constant activity at this abandoned mine.

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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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