Golden Eagle Claim
Albany County, Wyoming
Gold
LODE, 20.66 acres
$9,000
History
The Centennial Ridge Mining District was organized in 1876 after placer gold was discovered in the Middle Fork of the Little Laramie River a short distance west of Centennial Ridge. Numerous small lodes on rich gold-bearing veins and shear zones were quickly located.
The Golden Eagle Claim covers one of the richest known gold-quartz veins in the district that was opened by numerous exploratory workings on the old Free Gold and Golden Eagle Mines.
The Free Gold Mine was developed by a 46-foot exploratory shaft and nearly 800 feet of drifts and trenches on the 2.5-foot-wide Golden Eagle quartz vein. The vein contains free gold in limonite boxworks. Hess (1926) estimated that at least 100 tons of ore were produced from the property in 1895 and run through a small primitive 2-stamp mill on the property. Reportedly this ore produced 500 ounces for an average grade of 5 oz/ton Au at a rate of 5 to 7 ounces per day. A few surviving reports of mill tests exist during this period, such as two tons that averaged 9.2 oz/ton Au and another test that averaged 16.82 oz/ton Au. This ore was mined from a decomposed part of the vein at the surface that ranged from 18 to 26 inches wide. Between 1896 and 1897, the mill was upgraded to 10 stamps, and a drift was run on the 40-ft level northeastward on the vein for 140 feet and stopped to the surface, yielding much gold. Mining was difficult due to excessive water in the shallow mine workings and the vein could not be worked below 40 feet.
Several historic samples collected from the mine by the Wyoming State Geological Survey included: (1) a surface vein sample that assayed 1.84 oz/ton Au; (2) a sample at 15 feet depth that assayed 1.06 oz/ton Au; (3) a sample at 20 feet depth that assayed 0.52 oz/ton Au; and (4) a sample at 30 feet depth that assayed 0.62 oz/ton Au. Within 500 feet and to the northeast of the discovery shaft, a 10-foot-deep trench was dug on the vein. Eight samples of quartz from the trench assayed from 0.08 to 2.84 oz/ton Au, averaging 0.89 oz/ton Au. A single sample of quartz from a 3-foot-wide vein exposed in an open cut west of the shaft assayed 2.54 oz/ton Au.
Six samples were also collected from hornblende schist country rock over widths of four to six feet away from the contact with the quartz vein. These samples yielded from 0.10 to 0.46 oz/ton Au, averaging 0.22 oz/ton Au. The presence of ore-grade material in the country rock is an intriguing feature of the Golden Eagle Claim.
The Golden Eagle Mine shaft was sunk on the same vein about 900 feet northeast of the Free Gold shaft. A sample of dump fines reported by the Wyoming State Geological Survey assayed 2.49 oz/ton Au while a sample of coarse dump material assayed 0.72 oz/ton Au. A third sample collected from the bottom of the discovery shaft assayed 3.12 oz/ton Au and 0.20 oz/ton Ag.
Gold Potential
The Free Gold-Golden Eagle vein can be followed for at least 900 feet on surface on the Golden Eagle Claim and at least 400 feet of it constitutes a rich ore shoot averaging >1 oz/ton Au that was mined at surface. In a property evaluation for the Golden Crown Mining Syndicate, Dart (1930) estimated that this ore shoot contained a remaining resource of 52,500 tons of ore at an average grade of 1.06 oz/ton Au, containing around 55,650 ounces of gold, worth $100 million USD at today’s price ($1,800/oz). This resource is still in place today!
Significant free gold can be panned from the historic prospect workings and soils along the strike of the vein. A brief inspection by Outwest geologists revealed the presence of significant visible gold in limonite boxworks, particularly in the old Free Gold Mine area.
