My only question, How much profit from the lead? 😮, amazing video, great to see the entire process from start to finish, thanks for sharing this with us all!
Its likely that silver could be produced much cheaper by talking it from one or more of the old dumps. Although Galena was an important ore, cerussite was also an important ore at Cerro Gordo. Silver can be leached by a non-cyanide process using thiosulfate to capture the silver. This process captures silver, copper and gold, but leaves the lead behind. Tests would need to be done, but I have done this with oxidized silver lead ore at a mine in Nevada. Samples of the dump rock and assay test would need to be done to be sure it would work, but its likely that the Cerro Gordo ore would work in this process. It would result in a non-toxic MUCH cheaper process to get Cerro Gordo Silver. I'm a mining engineer by training, and I'd like to maybe do that testing next summer.
Chris, that's fascinating. What would it take to setup some kind of a leaching pit? What size would be manageable, and how frequent would it have to be changed? With trailings all over the mountain, you'd either have to bring the trailings to the leaching pit, or if its mobile, take it to the trailings. Moving tons of trailings could also alter the landscape too. What kind of impact do you foresee on the area? Would the existing trailings need to be broken down in to a finer powder too? If so, I can see where a bobcat/track-loaders attachment could combine a bucket with a hammer mill (ran off the hydraulics) so you can scoop a pile, and while moving the scoop to the leaching pit, the hammer mill could be reducing the size of the rock.
I'm a geologist at a mine. One of the issues with silver is that it needs to be very concentrated above the crustal average concentration to be economically viable to extract. Gold requires an enrichment factor of about 2,000x the crustal average, silver needs a factor of 10,000x. So even if silver is more common, less of it is viable to mine given the price. Our site is enriched in both, but the silver isn't at the concentration needed to be minable. But since we are already mining the ore for the gold, we can extract the silver from the rock at the same time to get a bit of bonus profit. It's not a huge increase, maybe 10% of the gold's value, but you add the values together to determine viability and it nearly doubles the volume of viable ore.
Those thresholds for profitability (10,000x, 2,000x) are interesting to know for precious metal speculation. Do you happen to know what the corresponding numbers were 20 or 40 years ago?
do they sell the base metals as a bonus then? I can't imagine them moving that much rock just for gold and silver without going broke. The margins must be thin between profit and loss
Yeah thats a lot of math. I'm math illiterate, I'd strait up hit rocks for a long time, and get gold and silver lol. In short, I'd waste Hella money in the form of my time getting the good stuff
@@iyziejane I'm not sure, that was before my time, and it's hard to find good historical estimates. But overall, the trend has been towards lowering the number. We don't need as high of a quality ore to be profitable now. Mining/extraction is more efficient, and the prices are higher. A lot of mines are restarting work at depleted mines because we can now mine more rock that wouldn't have been profitable 50 years ago. In some cases we are even remining waste rock piles.
Brent, your channel and your videos have come a LONG way since you started at the little old ghost town of Cerro Gordo 4.5 years ago. Your enthusiasm and curiosity along the way as well as your little pieces of advice and eureka moments along the way have been inspirational. Keep it up, and thank you for including us in all of your adventures! -Brett
I got a lot of responses to my previous comment about non-toxic leaching, and rather than respond individually to the many comments, I thought I'd just do one. Leaching can be run on on basically any scale from tiny to huge. Think all scales from a 5 gallon bucket to a mountain a couple hundred of feet tall (they do this to leach gold in Nevada). I was thinking for Cerro Gordo something more like a plastic kiddie pool about 8 feet in diameter. I did dump leaching at a mine in Nevada decades ago - its was a silver/lead/gold property (however we used cyanide as the leaching chemical). We screened the dump material to minus half inch and that should be good enough at Cerro Gordo. With well oxidized ore, its not really necessary to crush. The dumps contain values because the ores get sorted by the miners and stuff that is too low grade goes onto the dump. Only the higher grades went to the smelter because smelting was expensive and you wanted your operation to be profitable. So a lot of medium to low grade just goes onto the dump - because they could not afford to work it profitably. Dumps made of country rock where the miners were cross cutting over to the ore bodes would not have any ore in them, but it appears they did a lot of work in and around the ore bodies and this work as well as the ore sorting rock should run. Samples of the dump rock would need to be assay tested and samples would need to be leached tested on a small scale to be sure it would work, but its likely that the Cerro Gordo ore would work in this process. Silver can be leached by a non-cyanide process using a chemical called thiosulfate to capture the silver. The discovery that thiosulfate could leach insoluble silver compounds in the early 1800s was one of the discoveries that made black and white photography possible. I'd like to get hold of Brent and discuss the possibility with him of maybe doing that testing next summer and filming some video. However, I have no idea how to get hold of him. Perhaps some of you know how to do that.
Isn't his contact info in the video description? I would like an answer to my question. You seem quite knowledgeable, do you know of any mines that would have pure silver deposits or is it always mixed with lead?
@@JudyGoodwin-l9b Kongsberg mines, silver islet mine, Michigan's Keweenaw peninsula mines all have naturally occurring pure silver veins. Usually in wires running through other stone, or in plates between them,
@@JudyGoodwin-l9b Metallic silver in mines is pretty rare, but not unknown - much more common are minerals where silver is the main metallic constituent. This type of mine is where the silver is in the form of silver minerals with very little lead. The famous Comstock Lode of Virginia City, Nevada has a little lead, but much silver in the form of silver minerals like acanthite, polybasite, Stephanite, etc. There are also copper-silver mines with silver rich tetrahedrite, and some silver mines with gold and almost no lead. However lead rich veins with significant silver are a pretty common form of silver deposit.
I'd love to go communicate with the Spirits in that mine. Maybe get a lead on where the gold was stashed. Then go look for it. That would fix the Tariff issues we are about to face.
May I suggest that you have a modern assay done. In addition to gold and silver, other elements are now needful...Lithium... which was unknow to the old-time miners and discarded on tailings piles. A new assay might determine that the old Cerro Gordo mines could reveal new profit possibilities that could fund the rebirth of Cerro Gordo and your plans for it. I'm not suggesting that Lithium is present, but possibly other industrial metals/minerals may be. And, additionally, recovery methods are far more efficient than they were in times past. Your tailings piles might contain overlooked assets that modern recovery methods could maximize.
@@versi0nzero The parking lot in front of the mine house is a tailing pile. I would have used some of that for the road, landscaped with it around the buildings, endless uses.
@@versi0nzero With Brent owning the place it will remain historically correct, but other mines in the area would reopen and take advantage of whatever they could produce.
I really still think you should make a shadow-box display of every material you smelt to later put in the hotel as a display item. Dated, where it was collected, what depth etc so there's a literal living history from the ground itself for people to see. Its fascinating to see you work and keep the history of Cerro Gordo alive, im so glad i fell on your channel through the Corridor crew, its a treat every time you upload. Thank you for all the work.
In Butte, the Washingtons are mining the water of the toxic lake created by a pit mine. The small trace amounts of gold and platinum they recover pay for the cost of the project, and they sell the molybdenum for pure profit. Then supposedly the water becomes a lot cleaner and safer. Pretty cool operation from what I understand.
butte is basically a biosystematic automatik mine. the acidlake absorbs the precious metals in the ground into the liquid and you can cement out the precious metals out of the acid trough using metals with a higher reaktivity or trough elektroplating. so using iron, graphite and zink you can get copper, silver and gold out of the acid at butte while the acid keeps "mining" for precious metals deep in the former mine leaving behind silicates and others, basicly everything that you usualy would need to refine out.
this will work as long as the acidity does not kill the sulfur and iron eating bacteria in the lake. however even if the bacteria die once, if they keep extracting precious and heavy metals and water keeps filling the butte mine, wich would both happen, the bacteria would just reapear once the acidity drops back to accepable levels.
I was 7 in 1979 and I remember my grandparents, who were silversmith hobbyists, worrying about the costs for silver to make their jewelry. I think they ended up going down to Mexico to try and find a cheaper supply. I love watching your videos and still have fond memories of meeting you this last spring up there. I think I have decided on the best way to make that pen for you from the dynamite box wood. I’m going to use some stuff called “cactus juice” to stabilize the wood just to make sure it will hold up to turning without disintegrating, like I had a piece of old shipwreck wood (obtained before it became illegal to collect wood from old shipwrecks) do last year.
In 1971 I worked between 4,000 ft & 4,400 ft down in Cominco gold mine in Yellowknife, NWT. Very grateful for memory thrills your vid gave me. At time, Cominco was second deepest gold mine in world next to one in South Africa. You could watch them melt & pour the gold at the top & then drive it to the airport. lol we always laughed at that. It was 54 yrs ago, ty sir again for your video & mems if the stope mine. Men who do this work and all similar jobs are great , largely unsung beings.
Enjoyed...this. I worked for Bunker Hill in Kellogg, Idaho, until it closed. I was a "tapper" on their blast furnace. Ended up going to their Zinc Plant and became a Furnace man...and then to their Striping room where I ended up striping zinc off of plates until the EPA closed them down. It was all quite the process. We had the honor of being the largest lead, silver and zinc producers of the world, at one time. Also at one time we had more millionares per capita than anywhere in the world.
This is so important for people to learn the value of silver, it would be interesting to see and compare what it takes to mine and refine other precious metals!
Really interesting ! I've been watching your videos for the last 4 years , and I still love how much I learn about the mining industry . I just have a lot of respect for all our ancestors who worked so hard to build North America .
Can we even imagine having a working mine at Cerro Gordo, again? Not sure how that would look. A lot of noise, traffic, etc., etc. Can't wait for the "grand finale" of this video. Blessings, Brent, from an old lady in Southern California.
I Love Silver, Its all I wear and I made Silver jewelry for a while. But... I am a part time scrapper too, as in, if I see something metal on the side of the road or poking out of a dumpster, I grab it. Folks have no idea what they toss out. IE: My best score ever- I once found a dumpster full of x-rays...I netted 42 Pounds of Silver.. All it took to get it was an investment for 8 gallons of vinegar, a quart of sulfuric acid and a battery charger. It took me 3 hours of work soaking and moving the films, 2 hours drying the silver sludge and dissolving it in acid and about a week changing electrodes and waiting as the silver came out of the solution by electrolysis. It produced some beautiful Silver crystal formations too. I kept a few and melted the rest into kilo bars and 4 Toz slugs. What I do find strange about the process, the crystals I kept, on a shelf and in shadow box, are still as shiny today as they were 20 years ago but the boxed and protected bars and slugs, are tarnished. Did I mention I love Silver? XP
@@dennisschlieckau8723 I was into photography in my youth, Most real photographs/negatives are made with silver. I honestly have no idea how many in total.... Never really added it up..Off a 20 year long memeory...5,000?..I mean...The dumpster was full..packed like a shipping container. The boxes were made for the film ..Maybe 2-300 shots per box? 150 +/- boxes.? 5k sounds about right but, that could be a little liberal now as I voice it out. I remember each box weighed around 65lbs. When I went to pick the first one up, I was instantly wondering why they were so dense. It did take 2 trips simply because I did not trust the poor old F-150 to carry it all in one go. XP
A dumpster full of x ray film? Holy crap! Can only imagine how much that weighed compared to ordinary paper filling same dumpster. In today's money the 42 lbs of silver is worth $2725 but when you did process it the $ return might have been lower.
Brent, I’ve watched you from the very beginning. I wanted you to be successful and it looks like you are. I’m so excited about the silver. I wish you could get some minor up there to help you and assess it. Maybe you’ve already done that. I’m so happy and surprised this is great news.😊
This is one of the only channels I follow that I wish the videos were longer. Great content and those silver bullets were awesome! We dont realize or appreciate enough how much work goes into making such simple things.
Being involved in Risk Management as an investigator I immediately feel uneasy when someone is travelling way underground in an old mine with nobody on the surface to help if something goes awry. When going into these old mines your life really is on the line so please make sure you take all needed precautions to ensure that each trip down into the mine is a safe one.
Was I the only one who was happily surprised that Noraly used the term “ MacGyver”. Made me smile both times she said it. Noraly was the 80’s TV show watched in the Netherlands or was it a reference from recent movie? As an American I’m so happy to see inside countries like this. Much respect!
Also the appreciation of the conditional back in the 1800's and what they did for light down in those tunnels. It's extremely hard now, imagine how hard back then. Another awesome video as always, thanks Brent.
I worked underground in the United Keno Hill silver mine in Yukon Territory that had been in operations for 90 years at that time. We were ripping old mining tunnels full of ice for access into some of the old workings. There was a band of galena that we used to pass through every day to and from work that was about a yard wide from the tracks to the back so 8 feet-ish tall. I guess they were saving it for later to bring the percentage of the ore up to what was required of their shipments down south to Cominco or perhaps Tacoma for refining. It's always interesting to me to follow you TH-cam explorers as you pass mine works and equipment. 1975 was a long time ago now.
I love watching your channel, I frequently go to Knotts Berry farm and talk about Cerro Gordo around the panning for gold section and the blacksmith. I remind people that everything made of metal comes from the ground and someone had to get it out and refine it and make it into something we can use. Mr. Knott would have loved you Brent
As a miner, I want to congradulate you on this basic primer presentation. Gold is the money of kings because it is a representation of human (sometimes slave) energy expended. Not many people get that aspect.
I am in awe of your devotion to this project. I've loved seeing the progress, from the initial scoping, to the road rebuilds with the amazing neighbor, to the audiobook session, and all of it inbetween.. I'm loving the silver bullet idea, even if just for the lore aspect. Definitely approve =D This really put into perspective the labor behind the silver. I know that there are better ways, more efficient ways, and all of that. But there was the LONG discovery trail that lead up to them existing. They all started somewhere. And these hard labor endeavors are what lead to them becoming commonplace. I respect and admire the many years of blood, sweat, and tears put into it all. Thank you for showing the whole process and explaining it out for us.
When the mine was at it's peak the economies of scale and higher-grade ore would have multiplied the profit. There are many semi-dormant mines which are only reopened when prices are high, then closed again when it's no longer worth working. A small gold mine near me was re-opened in the 80's by a couple people which has produced enough for the two owners working it to live fairly well. The real incentive is that there's always the chance you'll find a rich pocket or vein which will make you exceedingly wealthy in a very short time. The odds of that are tiny, but it only takes once.
I work at an underground gold mine in Nevada. On a good day we get close to 2000 ounces of gold out of it. average day is probably around 1200 ounces. Crazy to see how these old mines were run without heavy equipment!
Have you watched the British channels where they explore old iron mines in Wales and the south of England. They discover things like candles and discuss mining in complete darkness to save the candles.
I enjoyed your day of producing an ounce of silver from ore you personally mined out of the ground. I enjoy history, mining, and geology, and your videos have the magic combination. I am also aware of the hazards of mining and refining lead. My step father, worked at the Trail Smelter (still going 100 plus years), and in later years, suffered from heavy metal poisoning. Earlier in my life, I was also involved in molding lead fishing lures, but quit, when I started experiencing early symptoms of muscle pain and cramping. The problem resolved over a couple of years, and when I was tested for heavy metals 20 years later, the laboratory reported no abnormal accumulations. I am 81, and remember the Hunt brothers escapade just as if it happened yesterday. I have a coin collection with lots of silver coins, and it was a temptation to sell them off, but I decided that the historical and numismatic value of the coins, made keeping them as coins, a better long term investment. Merry Christmas
Me and a buddy collected a few lbs. of lead from the shooting range. We melted it down in the back yard and scraped off the copper jackets. We both had headaches the next day. No more playing with lead for me.
Lack of environmental protection during those 100 years plus caused untold damage to people, animals and fish in N/E Washington. Soil was removed around Northport, WA and people are restricted from eating certain amounts of fish coming from the Columbia River.
@@larryminton2670 Yeah, there are numerous maps, showing the areas of radioactive contamination from the testing done in Las Vegas. Lots of downwind contamination. There is also the contamination from Hanford to consider.
Another priceless video! Thank you. We’ve been watching you for four years! We always learn so much and find it so entertaining. We’re too old to get out and do what you’re doing but watching you is the next best thing. 👍 Happy Holidays, Brent!
As a sparky from Australia it scares me at 6:05 there is steel conduit and cotton cable in the background. Obviously disconnected these days but imagine back in the days when that mine was used, the risk of fire from the electrical and the slow means of getting out really puts things into perspective.
Merry Christmas Brent! Things are coming into place more and more every day my friend! Looking forward to what next year brings and adventures to live. Keep moving forward with your dreams, hard work pays off in many ways!
Brent, these journalistic and historical videos FAAAR outshines that silver. Seriiously. Everybody watching your videos are already enjoying something greater than that silver piece. May as well auction a wooden nickel instead of silver and have the same effect. Looking forward to when the hotel gets wrapped, windowed and contractors can work inside, stay inside safely, comfortably regardless of the weather outside. Gonna be fun!
16:35 in Cornish tin and copper mines breaking up the ore on the surface by hand used to be done by wives and daughters of the miners, known as 'Bal Maidens' (Bal being the Cornish word for mine). They would wear thick layered dresses and hooded hats similar to a nun's whimple. These traditional clothes are an early example of PPE; they were designed to protect the wearer against flying rock shrapnel caused by the breaking rock.
I don’t like commenting on videos, but to see how much you have conquered your fears is inspiring to me. Watching in earlier videos how is 30 foot shaft would shake. To now scaring down your mineshaft over 900 feet.
Such a unique video showing the journey from the very start to the very end. Unmatched. After all, how many people have the ability to do this whole process on their own land. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Nice job explaining and exploring the efforts to create what you can do yourself. As you have explained, that is why it is so hazardous and adventurous back in the times when these mines were active. Silver may be a precious metal, but I think it is because of the precious lives that were lost during those days as well. Enjoyed this a lot, so keep it up.
A great and educational video. Hey Brother, fist rule of mine safety - never go in a mine ALONE! You should also look into a remote Lift control and call system - climbing back up that shaft can take it out of ya. Merry Christmas!🎅
Great video!! I am a silver stacker. I love Silver in every way. I’m a bit addicted to collecting it. I must say but over the past 15 years I’ve accumulated quite a lot, which will turn into a good retirement eventually!! Thank you for showing all the hard work that goes into producing this wonderful, beautiful precious metal!!!!!!!!!
I've been calling you for the past four and a half years. I still enjoy it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's Eve another One bites the dust huh. Bless you and have a great day
Great video Brent! I had no idea how much went into mining silver. Very educational to see. Hope you have a Merry Christmas out there! Looking forward to your next one.
@@mpetty9947 exactly right. Especially if the property costs and overhead were included. I’m wondering how they got the ore out of the ground. The little elevator can’t be how they removed thousands of tons of ore. I’ve seen horizontal shafts that exit out of the mine but only a few. Were there horizontal exits at every level of the mine? There was a lot of rock removed and I haven’t seen an episode on just that topic.
Brent I’ve been watching your channel since you started it and I’ve been also waiting for you to go on the 200 level, I understand that it’s had a collapse but if you don’t explore that part I feel it’s never going to see another human in that level
For this to happen, he would have to set up a whole operation with safety crew, etc. Seeing as going to the 400-500 is already pretty dangerous. I can't imagine how dangerous it is going to a place that has already (partly) collapsed
Wow talk about coincidence... Earlier today I was pondering (based on your prior videos) how much time and materials it would cost to get an ounce of silver out of Cerro Gordo today. And then several hours later up pops this video! Awesome! (And I'm not just saying that without reason)
Makes me think about the Ghost Train "Blå tåget ("the Blue train") at the Liseberg Amusement park in Gothenburg, from my childhood "Blå tåget" was torn down 1979, but felt exactly like that mine... Not scary, but cozy & fun, in an Addamsy way.... (I thought it was still around but to my surprise i found out it was torn down already in -79.. Guess it means i'm an oooold guy....) (Liseberg were & still is very classy place, operated by the City, not like e.g. the Battersea funfair, where you did things like shooting down conserve cans with rolled up socks..) Good material for Silver solder (Refer to WBT..)
We’re “in” on the drawing for the silver bullets…and as we (my wife and I) discussed with you over lunch in Hurricane this past spring - we are so looking forward to returning to visit when the American Hotel reopens!!!
This is an informative and educational piece, Brent. I am buying silver as a hedge; seeing what an ounce of silver costs to produce gives me a better understanding of the seller's premium. Hope you and your Cerro Gordo friends have a great holiday.
Considering that the scale effect, countless efficiency methods could reduce the cost, this is like comparing an amateur raising a pig up to get sold as meat (this ends in a big minus) compared to an actual farm that generates profits.
Silver isn’t a very good investment. Its price never holds up. If you’re considering it a hedge, just invest into index funds. You will be a lot better off in the future.
Metals go up during times of inflation. I can't predict the future for sure but I think they will peak soon and then decline. They will never lose all their value but be careful about how much you hold. It never hurts to have a small amount on hand. Gold for example was $614 in 1980 and fell $381 in 1989. What was the difference? Reagan stopped runaway inflation making the dollar stronger against gold. The trend continued and in 2000 it was down to $271. Then 911 happened with government spending going wild so gold has been climbing for the last 23 years.
The silver price is undervalued. The general mining ratio of gold to silver is roughly 1:8. This means that for every 1 ounce of gold mined, approximately 8 ounces of silver are produced. The current gold-to-silver price ratio is approximately 80:1, meaning it takes around 80 ounces of silver to equal the value of 1 ounce of gold. This ratio has remained relatively high compared to historical averages, which are closer to 50-60:1 over the past century.
@@demri123 In 1850, the price of gold was approximately $20.67 per ounce in the United States. In 1850, the price of silver was approximately $1.29 per ounce in the United States. This price was tied to the bimetallic standard in place at the time, where both gold and silver were used to back currency. The value was set at a ratio of about 16:1, meaning 16 ounces of silver were equivalent to 1 ounce of gold. Gold stayed around 20 dollars an ounce until the Federal reserve changed it to 35 an ounce.
The bullion banks determine the price with paper silver (derivatives). Even the huge silver miners are forced to mine gold to survive. Even then, huge companies like Hecla Silver Mining haven't made a profit over the last 2 years (despite the higher silver prices).
@@pl3317 I guess you need to get large quantities for your mining effort - and they may not be getting that out of modern mines, as the easy stuff is probably gone already.
17:33 Silver was also used in black and white photography to make the prints, and also was used in films for x-rays, but when black and white photography and digital x-rays became easily attainable the value of silver plummeted.
You've got some huge brass ones buddy. I don't know how anyone would think to go down there by themselves. Awesome video! 11:38 - Those deposits are pretty incredible!
For comparison, my Grandfather worked, in copper mining,in Michigan at the turn of the last century. He was a teamster, and drove one of the ore wagons from the mine to the railroad. He was paid 2 Double Eagles a month, or $40! His ore wagons were replaced by 4 wheel drive trucks about 1910. Manufacturer of the truck s was ..... I can't quite remember! I was shown pictures of the teams of horses, and one of the trucks, and I remember the truck best. Manufacturer was a 3 letter name, best I can remember. That was a long time ago. I was the youngest grandchild, and was honored for Pap to reminisce over pictures with me!
I met Lamar Hunt a few times. He turned out ok. He was also one of the founders of the AFL (now the AFC, after merging with the NFL) He also owned the Kansas City Chiefs. I met him in 1996 as we were at the "war room" for another team he owned, the Columbus Crew of MLS. He was also a partial owner of the Chicago Bulls back in the day. One of the most down to earth people you could meet. The man lived about 5 lives in his life.
I remember the brothers Hunt and the Silver Mania. We started recycling the silver from the photographic processes in the darkroom. I was an avid amateur photographer (just a young kid). My dad developed a method for this - and almost started marketing the machine. Most people sold their old silverware for a lot of money, and lost heirlooms because of that: Then it collapsed.
It collapsed because Hunts brothers over invested in silver on purpose to raise its price, and have succeeded to let it reach 49$ for few minutes. It closed the year at 15,5$/oz. which is the reasonable rate for that year (44 years ago).
@@Cablelib - I simply recalled how it went down. We know the history of those guys money-grab plan. Most of us would probably have been better off, had we never had the Hunt for this red herring. :)
Wow all those tunnels in the rock took some work to make. Those guys knew how to work. I had family that worked in mining back in those days - can't imagine spending day after day working deep in the earth. That was a damn interesting historical tidbit about the Hunt brothers. $50 an ounce in 1980!!! Crazy. I had no idea.
Watch to the very end! Here is the form to enter to win the resulting silver from this video! kingsumo.com/g/m55odnm/win-a-cerro-gordo-silver-bullet
This video is gonna blow up.
we are watching it a second time very interesting
My only question, How much profit from the lead? 😮, amazing video, great to see the entire process from start to finish, thanks for sharing this with us all!
love all you have done there
@@FatMattVideos Not much call for or profit in lead compared to past times when it's use was commonplace.
It might not have turned a profit in money but these videos are priceless.
He's making a fortune off these videos
@@Drdum123 Good for him. He has worked his butt off to preserve history and taken risks that only one in a million would take.
@@InsideOfMyOwnMind 💯
100%@@InsideOfMyOwnMind
I'm pretty sure he could put a price on this video.
Its likely that silver could be produced much cheaper by talking it from one or more of the old dumps. Although Galena was an important ore, cerussite was also an important ore at Cerro Gordo. Silver can be leached by a non-cyanide process using thiosulfate to capture the silver. This process captures silver, copper and gold, but leaves the lead behind. Tests would need to be done, but I have done this with oxidized silver lead ore at a mine in Nevada. Samples of the dump rock and assay test would need to be done to be sure it would work, but its likely that the Cerro Gordo ore would work in this process. It would result in a non-toxic MUCH cheaper process to get Cerro Gordo Silver. I'm a mining engineer by training, and I'd like to maybe do that testing next summer.
isn't it amazing, what astonishingly useful people turn up on YT!
I hope to see this.
This would be great to see!
Chris, that's fascinating. What would it take to setup some kind of a leaching pit? What size would be manageable, and how frequent would it have to be changed? With trailings all over the mountain, you'd either have to bring the trailings to the leaching pit, or if its mobile, take it to the trailings. Moving tons of trailings could also alter the landscape too. What kind of impact do you foresee on the area? Would the existing trailings need to be broken down in to a finer powder too? If so, I can see where a bobcat/track-loaders attachment could combine a bucket with a hammer mill (ran off the hydraulics) so you can scoop a pile, and while moving the scoop to the leaching pit, the hammer mill could be reducing the size of the rock.
You should hook up with Ghost Town Living on that!
I'm a geologist at a mine. One of the issues with silver is that it needs to be very concentrated above the crustal average concentration to be economically viable to extract. Gold requires an enrichment factor of about 2,000x the crustal average, silver needs a factor of 10,000x. So even if silver is more common, less of it is viable to mine given the price.
Our site is enriched in both, but the silver isn't at the concentration needed to be minable. But since we are already mining the ore for the gold, we can extract the silver from the rock at the same time to get a bit of bonus profit. It's not a huge increase, maybe 10% of the gold's value, but you add the values together to determine viability and it nearly doubles the volume of viable ore.
The long explanation of most mines having a byproduct of silver
Those thresholds for profitability (10,000x, 2,000x) are interesting to know for precious metal speculation. Do you happen to know what the corresponding numbers were 20 or 40 years ago?
do they sell the base metals as a bonus then? I can't imagine them moving that much rock just for gold and silver without going broke. The margins must be thin between profit and loss
Yeah thats a lot of math. I'm math illiterate, I'd strait up hit rocks for a long time, and get gold and silver lol. In short, I'd waste Hella money in the form of my time getting the good stuff
@@iyziejane I'm not sure, that was before my time, and it's hard to find good historical estimates.
But overall, the trend has been towards lowering the number. We don't need as high of a quality ore to be profitable now. Mining/extraction is more efficient, and the prices are higher.
A lot of mines are restarting work at depleted mines because we can now mine more rock that wouldn't have been profitable 50 years ago. In some cases we are even remining waste rock piles.
Brent, your channel and your videos have come a LONG way since you started at the little old ghost town of Cerro Gordo 4.5 years ago. Your enthusiasm and curiosity along the way as well as your little pieces of advice and eureka moments along the way have been inspirational. Keep it up, and thank you for including us in all of your adventures!
-Brett
I got a lot of responses to my previous comment about non-toxic leaching, and rather than respond individually to the many comments, I thought I'd just do one. Leaching can be run on on basically any scale from tiny to huge. Think all scales from a 5 gallon bucket to a mountain a couple hundred of feet tall (they do this to leach gold in Nevada). I was thinking for Cerro Gordo something more like a plastic kiddie pool about 8 feet in diameter. I did dump leaching at a mine in Nevada decades ago - its was a silver/lead/gold property (however we used cyanide as the leaching chemical). We screened the dump material to minus half inch and that should be good enough at Cerro Gordo. With well oxidized ore, its not really necessary to crush. The dumps contain values because the ores get sorted by the miners and stuff that is too low grade goes onto the dump. Only the higher grades went to the smelter because smelting was expensive and you wanted your operation to be profitable. So a lot of medium to low grade just goes onto the dump - because they could not afford to work it profitably. Dumps made of country rock where the miners were cross cutting over to the ore bodes would not have any ore in them, but it appears they did a lot of work in and around the ore bodies and this work as well as the ore sorting rock should run. Samples of the dump rock would need to be assay tested and samples would need to be leached tested on a small scale to be sure it would work, but its likely that the Cerro Gordo ore would work in this process. Silver can be leached by a non-cyanide process using a chemical called thiosulfate to capture the silver. The discovery that thiosulfate could leach insoluble silver compounds in the early 1800s was one of the discoveries that made black and white photography possible.
I'd like to get hold of Brent and discuss the possibility with him of maybe doing that testing next summer and filming some video. However, I have no idea how to get hold of him. Perhaps some of you know how to do that.
Isn't his contact info in the video description? I would like an answer to my question. You seem quite knowledgeable, do you know of any mines that would have pure silver deposits or is it always mixed with lead?
Just curious 🤔
@@JudyGoodwin-l9b Kongsberg mines, silver islet mine, Michigan's Keweenaw peninsula mines all have naturally occurring pure silver veins. Usually in wires running through other stone, or in plates between them,
@@JudyGoodwin-l9b Metallic silver in mines is pretty rare, but not unknown - much more common are minerals where silver is the main metallic constituent. This type of mine is where the silver is in the form of silver minerals with very little lead. The famous Comstock Lode of Virginia City, Nevada has a little lead, but much silver in the form of silver minerals like acanthite, polybasite, Stephanite, etc. There are also copper-silver mines with silver rich tetrahedrite, and some silver mines with gold and almost no lead. However lead rich veins with significant silver are a pretty common form of silver deposit.
@ChrisRalph Thank you so much, very interesting. Have a Merry Christmas 🎄 🎁
Brent, it is not an abandoned mine, it is YOUR mine.
I'd love to go communicate with the Spirits in that mine. Maybe get a lead on where the gold was stashed. Then go look for it. That would fix the Tariff issues we are about to face.
@@scuss2 tf you smoking and where can I get some
Agreed! No longer abandoned.
It's actually not his mine btw. It's owned by 10 investors one being Brent..
Nah it's abandoned, this is all fake. Like everything on youtube.
May I suggest that you have a modern assay done. In addition to gold and silver, other elements are now needful...Lithium... which was unknow to the old-time miners and discarded on tailings piles. A new assay might determine that the old Cerro Gordo mines could reveal new profit possibilities that could fund the rebirth of Cerro Gordo and your plans for it. I'm not suggesting that Lithium is present, but possibly other industrial metals/minerals may be. And, additionally, recovery methods are far more efficient than they were in times past. Your tailings piles might contain overlooked assets that modern recovery methods could maximize.
That size of an operation would surely become an open pit mine. Needless to say, that’s far from an ideal future for Cerro Gordo
@@versi0nzero The parking lot in front of the mine house is a tailing pile. I would have used some of that for the road, landscaped with it around the buildings, endless uses.
He's not a capitalist, he's a romantic dreamer, two totally different mindsets
@@versi0nzero With Brent owning the place it will remain historically correct, but other mines in the area would reopen and take advantage of whatever they could produce.
@@versi0nzero size does not dictate mining method. mineral occurrence does
I really still think you should make a shadow-box display of every material you smelt to later put in the hotel as a display item. Dated, where it was collected, what depth etc so there's a literal living history from the ground itself for people to see. Its fascinating to see you work and keep the history of Cerro Gordo alive, im so glad i fell on your channel through the Corridor crew, its a treat every time you upload. Thank you for all the work.
In digging and refining silver, you once again struck gold with an amazing video Brent!
I did NOT watch any of the VIDEO ..silver cost about FIDDY cents
a pleasure sharing the ride with u.
In Butte, the Washingtons are mining the water of the toxic lake created by a pit mine. The small trace amounts of gold and platinum they recover pay for the cost of the project, and they sell the molybdenum for pure profit. Then supposedly the water becomes a lot cleaner and safer. Pretty cool operation from what I understand.
butte is basically a biosystematic automatik mine. the acidlake absorbs the precious metals in the ground into the liquid and you can cement out the precious metals out of the acid trough using metals with a higher reaktivity or trough elektroplating. so using iron, graphite and zink you can get copper, silver and gold out of the acid at butte while the acid keeps "mining" for precious metals deep in the former mine leaving behind silicates and others, basicly everything that you usualy would need to refine out.
this will work as long as the acidity does not kill the sulfur and iron eating bacteria in the lake. however even if the bacteria die once, if they keep extracting precious and heavy metals and water keeps filling the butte mine, wich would both happen, the bacteria would just reapear once the acidity drops back to accepable levels.
I hope you have a great winter Brent no collapses, light snow and no flooding.
I was 7 in 1979 and I remember my grandparents, who were silversmith hobbyists, worrying about the costs for silver to make their jewelry. I think they ended up going down to Mexico to try and find a cheaper supply. I love watching your videos and still have fond memories of meeting you this last spring up there. I think I have decided on the best way to make that pen for you from the dynamite box wood. I’m going to use some stuff called “cactus juice” to stabilize the wood just to make sure it will hold up to turning without disintegrating, like I had a piece of old shipwreck wood (obtained before it became illegal to collect wood from old shipwrecks) do last year.
Where did you and your parents live? Arizona?
@ Michigan.
In 1971 I worked between 4,000 ft & 4,400 ft down in Cominco gold mine in Yellowknife, NWT. Very grateful for memory thrills your vid gave me. At time, Cominco was second deepest gold mine in world next to one in South Africa. You could watch them melt & pour the gold at the top & then drive it to the airport. lol we always laughed at that. It was 54 yrs ago, ty sir again for your video & mems if the stope mine. Men who do this work and all similar jobs are great , largely unsung beings.
Enjoyed...this. I worked for Bunker Hill in Kellogg, Idaho, until it closed. I was a "tapper" on their blast furnace. Ended up going to their Zinc Plant and became a Furnace man...and then to their Striping room where I ended up striping zinc off of plates until the EPA closed them down. It was all quite the process. We had the honor of being the largest lead, silver and zinc producers of the world, at one time. Also at one time we had more millionares per capita than anywhere in the world.
This is so important for people to learn the value of silver, it would be interesting to see and compare what it takes to mine and refine other precious metals!
Makes me really appreciate the shiny bullion we buy from dealers, that is a lot of work. Thank you for sharing!
I stack a bit of bullion and Morgan dollars. It’s fun imagining my silver could have come from the mines I live by 😎
That goes for ANY metal that you use…….
@@bnalive5077you are Correct Sir!
Really interesting ! I've been watching your videos for the last 4 years , and I still love how much I learn about the mining industry . I just have a lot of respect for all our ancestors who worked so hard to build North America .
Can we even imagine having a working mine at Cerro Gordo, again?
Not sure how that would look.
A lot of noise, traffic, etc., etc.
Can't wait for the "grand finale" of this video.
Blessings, Brent, from an old lady in Southern California.
I Love Silver, Its all I wear and I made Silver jewelry for a while. But... I am a part time scrapper too, as in, if I see something metal on the side of the road or poking out of a dumpster, I grab it. Folks have no idea what they toss out. IE: My best score ever- I once found a dumpster full of x-rays...I netted 42 Pounds of Silver.. All it took to get it was an investment for 8 gallons of vinegar, a quart of sulfuric acid and a battery charger. It took me 3 hours of work soaking and moving the films, 2 hours drying the silver sludge and dissolving it in acid and about a week changing electrodes and waiting as the silver came out of the solution by electrolysis. It produced some beautiful Silver crystal formations too. I kept a few and melted the rest into kilo bars and 4 Toz slugs. What I do find strange about the process, the crystals I kept, on a shelf and in shadow box, are still as shiny today as they were 20 years ago but the boxed and protected bars and slugs, are tarnished. Did I mention I love Silver? XP
Fascinating! I didn’t know X-Ray film contained silver. 42 pounds of silver? How many x-rays did you find? 1000’s?
@@dennisschlieckau8723 I was into photography in my youth, Most real photographs/negatives are made with silver. I honestly have no idea how many in total.... Never really added it up..Off a 20 year long memeory...5,000?..I mean...The dumpster was full..packed like a shipping container. The boxes were made for the film ..Maybe 2-300 shots per box? 150 +/- boxes.? 5k sounds about right but, that could be a little liberal now as I voice it out. I remember each box weighed around 65lbs. When I went to pick the first one up, I was instantly wondering why they were so dense. It did take 2 trips simply because I did not trust the poor old F-150 to carry it all in one go. XP
42 pounds is insane. Thats something like 18000 dollars depending on purity
@@sulovdeb5142 Back then is was more like $6,500 but a huge score either way. Best day scrapping ...ever.
A dumpster full of x ray film? Holy crap! Can only imagine how much that weighed compared to ordinary paper filling same dumpster. In today's money the 42 lbs of silver is worth $2725 but when you did process it the $
return might have been lower.
A wealth of information.....what a history and science class! You never fail.
Keep giving that knowledge out Brent. Hope all is well and stay warm this winter.
Brent, I’ve watched you from the very beginning. I wanted you to be successful and it looks like you are. I’m so excited about the silver. I wish you could get some minor up there to help you and assess it. Maybe you’ve already done that. I’m so happy and surprised this is great news.😊
This is one of the only channels I follow that I wish the videos were longer. Great content and those silver bullets were awesome! We dont realize or appreciate enough how much work goes into making such simple things.
What a great show, I'm a disabled vet who watches your show, GOD BLESS
Disabled from birth. Nobody cares; God help me if I blurt it out for sympathy.
2/508...retired. God Bless you and keep you well.
Being involved in Risk Management as an investigator I immediately feel uneasy when someone is travelling way underground in an old mine with nobody on the surface to help if something goes awry. When going into these old mines your life really is on the line so please make sure you take all needed precautions to ensure that each trip down into the mine is a safe one.
Grow up and move out of mommy's basement..... and take a bath, whew!
Brent has big ⚾🥎🏀🏐⚽ I can respect that! He is certainly no cowardly lion 🦁
OSHA has rules for confined space entry requiring a person at watch up on top and many other safety measures.
Was I the only one who was happily surprised that Noraly used the term “ MacGyver”.
Made me smile both times she said it.
Noraly was the 80’s TV show watched in the Netherlands or was it a reference from recent movie?
As an American I’m so happy to see inside countries like this. Much respect!
Thank you for the opportunity to win the bullets, greatly appreciate it. Watching the refining process was very interesting.
Also the appreciation of the conditional back in the 1800's and what they did for light down in those tunnels.
It's extremely hard now, imagine how hard back then.
Another awesome video as always, thanks Brent.
I worked underground in the United Keno Hill silver mine in Yukon Territory that had been in operations for 90 years at that time. We were ripping old mining tunnels full of ice for access into some of the old workings. There was a band of galena that we used to pass through every day to and from work that was about a yard wide from the tracks to the back so 8 feet-ish tall. I guess they were saving it for later to bring the percentage of the ore up to what was required of their shipments down south to Cominco or perhaps Tacoma for refining. It's always interesting to me to follow you TH-cam explorers as you pass mine works and equipment. 1975 was a long time ago now.
I love watching your channel, I frequently go to Knotts Berry farm and talk about Cerro Gordo around the panning for gold section and the blacksmith. I remind people that everything made of metal comes from the ground and someone had to get it out and refine it and make it into something we can use. Mr. Knott would have loved you Brent
I agree. Assay the huge tailings pile. Just maybe there might be something of value in that huge pile that could fund your renovation project.
As a miner, I want to congradulate you on this basic primer presentation. Gold is the money of kings because it is a representation of human (sometimes slave) energy expended. Not many people get that aspect.
18+ only please
That’s what the old timer said in “Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”
Been stacking for years and I've never seen a video like this.
Silver really should be so much more. What a great video. Ty sir
I am in awe of your devotion to this project. I've loved seeing the progress, from the initial scoping, to the road rebuilds with the amazing neighbor, to the audiobook session, and all of it inbetween.. I'm loving the silver bullet idea, even if just for the lore aspect. Definitely approve =D
This really put into perspective the labor behind the silver. I know that there are better ways, more efficient ways, and all of that. But there was the LONG discovery trail that lead up to them existing. They all started somewhere. And these hard labor endeavors are what lead to them becoming commonplace. I respect and admire the many years of blood, sweat, and tears put into it all. Thank you for showing the whole process and explaining it out for us.
It amazes me how much you have learned sense you've been there. Good job. Thank you for taking us along with you on your amazing journey.
Merry Christmas! Stoked for this episode!
Great to see you back. That's for showing all the steps of silver mining. I enjoyed learning about it. Hope you have a lovely Christmas 🎄🎁🎄
This is probably the best video I’ve seen in a long time! Super informative and also interesting.
Thank you for this!!
Merry Christmas everyone!!!
THANK YOU ! I really
enjoyed going with you and seeing your 1 OZ of your silver from earth there since creation. Too CooL
When the mine was at it's peak the economies of scale and higher-grade ore would have multiplied the profit. There are many semi-dormant mines which are only reopened when prices are high, then closed again when it's no longer worth working. A small gold mine near me was re-opened in the 80's by a couple people which has produced enough for the two owners working it to live fairly well.
The real incentive is that there's always the chance you'll find a rich pocket or vein which will make you exceedingly wealthy in a very short time. The odds of that are tiny, but it only takes once.
fricken love this stuff! dropping a comment with my like to show my appreciation. hope you're well brent! happy holidays to you & yours
Another fascinating video, I really appreciate the time and effort you put into these episodes.
I work at an underground gold mine in Nevada. On a good day we get close to 2000 ounces of gold out of it. average day is probably around 1200 ounces. Crazy to see how these old mines were run without heavy equipment!
Yes, but what are the costs involved?
Have you watched the British channels where they explore old iron mines in Wales and the south of England. They discover things like candles and discuss mining in complete darkness to save the candles.
I cannot believe you go this deep into the earth solo like this. Seriously terrifying. You must have some massive stones fella.
I enjoyed your day of producing an ounce of silver from ore you personally mined out of the ground. I enjoy history, mining, and geology, and your videos have the magic combination.
I am also aware of the hazards of mining and refining lead. My step father, worked at the Trail Smelter (still going 100 plus years), and in later years, suffered from heavy metal poisoning.
Earlier in my life, I was also involved in molding lead fishing lures, but quit, when I started experiencing early symptoms of muscle pain and cramping. The problem resolved over a couple of years, and when I was tested for heavy metals 20 years later, the laboratory reported no abnormal accumulations.
I am 81, and remember the Hunt brothers escapade just as if it happened yesterday. I have a coin collection with lots of silver coins, and it was a temptation to sell them off, but I decided that the historical and numismatic value of the coins, made keeping them as coins, a better long term investment.
Merry Christmas
Me and a buddy collected a few lbs. of lead from the shooting range. We melted it down in the back yard and scraped off the copper jackets. We both had headaches the next day. No more playing with lead for me.
@@Jeff-jg7jhprobably a smart move. But like you said…Lead is an important metal
Lack of environmental protection during those 100 years plus caused untold damage to people, animals and fish in N/E Washington. Soil was removed around Northport, WA and people are restricted from eating certain amounts of fish coming from the Columbia River.
@@larryminton2670 Yeah, there are numerous maps, showing the areas of radioactive contamination from the testing done in Las Vegas. Lots of downwind contamination. There is also the contamination from Hanford to consider.
Another priceless video! Thank you. We’ve been watching you for four years! We always learn so much and find it so entertaining. We’re too old to get out and do what you’re doing but watching you is the next best thing. 👍 Happy Holidays, Brent!
No matter what, i always enjoy the adventures to union mine. Such a cool place
Base level, being grateful for the things we have and the hard labor we don't have to do ourselves, thank you!
Should call your new old plow truck "SUNSHINE" it suits it awesome Brent.😊
I really enjoy how the sound changes when you get into the mine shaft. It is both oppressive and very soothing 😊
As a sparky from Australia it scares me at 6:05 there is steel conduit and cotton cable in the background. Obviously disconnected these days but imagine back in the days when that mine was used, the risk of fire from the electrical and the slow means of getting out really puts things into perspective.
They gave me a charge reading your comment, especially since it was current.
@@captng
Now *that* is shocking!
Merry Christmas Brent! Things are coming into place more and more every day my friend! Looking forward to what next year brings and adventures to live. Keep moving forward with your dreams, hard work pays off in many ways!
Thanks for all your hard work and dedication to make this video and teach process of refining Silver.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 🙏
I am never describing the process of oxides rolling off in a cupel as anything other than oxide zoomies ever again, thank you. 🤣🤣
Brent, these journalistic and historical videos FAAAR outshines that silver. Seriiously. Everybody watching your videos are already enjoying something greater than that silver piece. May as well auction a wooden nickel instead of silver and have the same effect. Looking forward to when the hotel gets wrapped, windowed and contractors can work inside, stay inside safely, comfortably regardless of the weather outside. Gonna be fun!
Amazing that he could do all these processes on such a small scele ...
the mining related videos you make are the best and im glad you made something with the silver at the end
Thank you for the hard work and dedication you put into this tutorial. Merry Christmas ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
So glad & relieved to see you using a 'breather' while mining, especially working alone.
16:35 in Cornish tin and copper mines breaking up the ore on the surface by hand used to be done by wives and daughters of the miners, known as 'Bal Maidens' (Bal being the Cornish word for mine).
They would wear thick layered dresses and hooded hats similar to a nun's whimple. These traditional clothes are an early example of PPE; they were designed to protect the wearer against flying rock shrapnel caused by the breaking rock.
I don’t like commenting on videos, but to see how much you have conquered your fears is inspiring to me. Watching in earlier videos how is 30 foot shaft would shake. To now scaring down your mineshaft over 900 feet.
You have the courage of a lion just be safe, brother we need you
Brent you never cease to amaze us. Thank you!!! ❤
Absolutely fascinating! You never cease to amaze me! Thanks for sharing all your knowledge and adventures!
Such a unique video showing the journey from the very start to the very end. Unmatched. After all, how many people have the ability to do this whole process on their own land. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Nice job explaining and exploring the efforts to create what you can do yourself. As you have explained, that is why it is so hazardous and adventurous back in the times when these mines were active. Silver may be a precious metal, but I think it is because of the precious lives that were lost during those days as well. Enjoyed this a lot, so keep it up.
Hands down, my favourite TH-cam channel. And all my others are vanlife and carnivore content.❤
For 23:19 USD That's a load of work - Merry Christmas Brent
A great and educational video. Hey Brother, fist rule of mine safety - never go in a mine ALONE! You should also look into a remote Lift control and call system - climbing back up that shaft can take it out of ya. Merry Christmas!🎅
That's why he has internet way down below. He knows what he is doing.
Great video!! I am a silver stacker. I love Silver in every way. I’m a bit addicted to collecting it. I must say but over the past 15 years I’ve accumulated quite a lot, which will turn into a good retirement eventually!! Thank you for showing all the hard work that goes into producing this wonderful, beautiful precious metal!!!!!!!!!
I've been calling you for the past four and a half years. I still enjoy it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's Eve another One bites the dust huh. Bless you and have a great day
Great video Brent! I had no idea how much went into mining silver. Very educational to see. Hope you have a Merry Christmas out there! Looking forward to your next one.
I bought a couple of silver coins from Amazon and they were counterfeit. They told me to send them back but i said they are illegal.
It’s amazing that Brent can make an ounce of silver for less than it sells for. That mine is very productive. I’d like to volunteer.
@@patfromamboy There are a lot of costs he didn't mention, so the way I see it, It's over $50.00 per ounce all-inclusive of the actual costs.
@@mpetty9947 exactly right. Especially if the property costs and overhead were included. I’m wondering how they got the ore out of the ground. The little elevator can’t be how they removed thousands of tons of ore. I’ve seen horizontal shafts that exit out of the mine but only a few. Were there horizontal exits at every level of the mine? There was a lot of rock removed and I haven’t seen an episode on just that topic.
Brent I’ve been watching your channel since you started it and I’ve been also waiting for you to go on the 200 level, I understand that it’s had a collapse but if you don’t explore that part I feel it’s never going to see another human in that level
I was thinking this too 🤔 There could be so many historical artefacts behind a boarded up section that hasn't been seen since the 1800's
For this to happen, he would have to set up a whole operation with safety crew, etc. Seeing as going to the 400-500 is already pretty dangerous. I can't imagine how dangerous it is going to a place that has already (partly) collapsed
@@mathildevanderham932 I know this but I feel it needs to happen for all the historical artefacts hidden in there
@@ChaseSkylark99 it needs to happen to find the good stuff
Wow talk about coincidence... Earlier today I was pondering (based on your prior videos) how much time and materials it would cost to get an ounce of silver out of Cerro Gordo today. And then several hours later up pops this video! Awesome! (And I'm not just saying that without reason)
Makes me think about the Ghost Train "Blå tåget ("the Blue train") at the Liseberg Amusement park in Gothenburg, from my childhood "Blå tåget" was torn down 1979, but felt exactly like that mine... Not scary, but cozy & fun, in an Addamsy way....
(I thought it was still around but to my surprise i found out it was torn down already in -79.. Guess it means i'm an oooold guy....)
(Liseberg were & still is very classy place, operated by the City, not like e.g. the Battersea funfair, where you did things like shooting down conserve cans with rolled up socks..)
Good material for Silver solder (Refer to WBT..)
All i can say is, I absolutely love watching your videos. Huge thanks for all your efforts!!!
We’re “in” on the drawing for the silver bullets…and as we (my wife and I) discussed with you over lunch in Hurricane this past spring - we are so looking forward to returning to visit when the American Hotel reopens!!!
merry Christmas Brent. Love your videos. always different and always enjoyable. thanks for being you.
This is an informative and educational piece, Brent. I am buying silver as a hedge; seeing what an ounce of silver costs to produce gives me a better understanding of the seller's premium. Hope you and your Cerro Gordo friends have a great holiday.
Why? That's like saying you knowing the cost of producing flour helps you understand the premium charged by a baker on bread and cake.
Considering that the scale effect, countless efficiency methods could reduce the cost, this is like comparing an amateur raising a pig up to get sold as meat (this ends in a big minus) compared to an actual farm that generates profits.
Silver isn’t a very good investment. Its price never holds up. If you’re considering it a hedge, just invest into index funds. You will be a lot better off in the future.
Metals go up during times of inflation. I can't predict the future for sure but I think they will peak soon and then decline. They will never lose all their value but be careful about how much you hold. It never hurts to have a small amount on hand. Gold for example was $614 in 1980 and fell $381 in 1989. What was the difference? Reagan stopped runaway inflation making the dollar stronger against gold. The trend continued and in 2000 it was down to $271. Then 911 happened with government spending going wild so gold has been climbing for the last 23 years.
The silver price is undervalued. The general mining ratio of gold to silver is roughly 1:8. This means that for every 1 ounce of gold mined, approximately 8 ounces of silver are produced. The current gold-to-silver price ratio is approximately 80:1, meaning it takes around 80 ounces of silver to equal the value of 1 ounce of gold. This ratio has remained relatively high compared to historical averages, which are closer to 50-60:1 over the past century.
Yep in previous empires like Rome Greece Egypt, the ratio was around 1-10. Meaning silver should be around 270$ per oz if history repeats
@@demri123 In 1850, the price of gold was approximately $20.67 per ounce in the United States. In 1850, the price of silver was approximately $1.29 per ounce in the United States. This price was tied to the bimetallic standard in place at the time, where both gold and silver were used to back currency. The value was set at a ratio of about 16:1, meaning 16 ounces of silver were equivalent to 1 ounce of gold. Gold stayed around 20 dollars an ounce until the Federal reserve changed it to 35 an ounce.
But that isn't what determines price. Simple as that.
The bullion banks determine the price with paper silver (derivatives). Even the huge silver miners are forced to mine gold to survive. Even then, huge companies like Hecla Silver Mining haven't made a profit over the last 2 years (despite the higher silver prices).
@@pl3317 I guess you need to get large quantities for your mining effort - and they may not be getting that out of modern mines, as the easy stuff is probably gone already.
17:33 Silver was also used in black and white photography to make the prints, and also was used in films for x-rays, but when black and white photography and digital x-rays became easily attainable the value of silver plummeted.
Merry Christmas!☃️🎄
Brave man. Fear or no, you did the things, and that's commendable in it's own way.
You've got some huge brass ones buddy. I don't know how anyone would think to go down there by themselves. Awesome video! 11:38 - Those deposits are pretty incredible!
Yep he def has a passion
For comparison, my Grandfather worked, in copper mining,in Michigan at the turn of the last century. He was a teamster, and drove one of the ore wagons from the mine to the railroad. He was paid 2 Double Eagles a month, or $40!
His ore wagons were replaced by 4 wheel drive trucks about 1910. Manufacturer of the truck s was ..... I can't quite remember! I was shown pictures of the teams of horses, and one of the trucks, and I remember the truck best. Manufacturer was a 3 letter name, best I can remember. That was a long time ago. I was the youngest grandchild, and was honored for Pap to reminisce over pictures with me!
Thank You for the unique take on mining history . Merry Christmas !
Merry Christmas abd a Happy Nwe Year!
Damn, I really like this channel. He answers so many questions.
Brent, I just love to watch your videos! Stay safe and warm this winter!
I really like the message, we often take it for granted but every item around us is hard work by someone else. It's good time as any to remember that.
Appreciate seeing the process of producing silver. Thanks for sharing.
What you have is eternal and so very tangible! Congratulations 🎊
I think it’s really awesome!
Depending on the level of natural radioactive isotopes, the lead could be extremely valuable for use in instrumentation for shielding.
I met Lamar Hunt a few times. He turned out ok. He was also one of the founders of the AFL (now the AFC, after merging with the NFL) He also owned the Kansas City Chiefs. I met him in 1996 as we were at the "war room" for another team he owned, the Columbus Crew of MLS. He was also a partial owner of the Chicago Bulls back in the day.
One of the most down to earth people you could meet. The man lived about 5 lives in his life.
I remember the brothers Hunt and the Silver Mania.
We started recycling the silver from the photographic processes in the darkroom.
I was an avid amateur photographer (just a young kid).
My dad developed a method for this - and almost started marketing the machine.
Most people sold their old silverware for a lot of money, and lost heirlooms because of that:
Then it collapsed.
Same for numismatists (coin collectors). Many historic and potentially valuable coins were ignominiously melted for their silver content.
Yes, two friends I went to school with ended up working in the Silver Mines in NWT, at the time.
It collapsed because Hunts brothers over invested in silver on purpose to raise its price, and have succeeded to let it reach 49$ for few minutes. It closed the year at 15,5$/oz. which is the reasonable rate for that year (44 years ago).
@@Cablelib - I simply recalled how it went down. We know the history of those guys money-grab plan. Most of us would probably have been better off, had we never had the Hunt for this red herring.
:)
Silver never holds up . I find it amusing when people say my silver is up 10%. A whole 10%? So you gained about 12 bucks?
Even as a vacation destination you need miners to muck out and make safe any shafts on a tour route.
MERRY CHRISTMAS BRENT! 🎄
Gotta appreciate the people who put in the work just to bring us these precious metals
Wow all those tunnels in the rock took some work to make. Those guys knew how to work. I had family that worked in mining back in those days - can't imagine spending day after day working deep in the earth.
That was a damn interesting historical tidbit about the Hunt brothers. $50 an ounce in 1980!!! Crazy. I had no idea.
Merry Christmas to you and your family. May your troubles be less and your blessings be more and nothing but happiness come through your door. 😊