Earned a subscriber with this 3 part series. A lot of other people dont go back and look at all of the stuff that I wish they would. Everytime I was interested in something laying around or what was behind something, you would go look or double back later. You didnt leave anything unturned. Love it!
Thank you. Yes, I try to be thorough because I never know if I'll be the last one to go into a mine (before it collapses or gets sealed up) and I think it is nice to have a record of what was there for the future... I know some people wish I would go faster and just do the exciting highlights, so it is great to hear your perspective to balance that out!
You and Graham certainly covered a lot more ground in there than two other explorers I know who explored it a while back. LOL I still think this is one of the most dangerous abandoned mines due to its massive length, the presence of water interacting with all that pyrite, and the exceptionally high risk of encountering "bad air." Glad you and Graham got to see it for yourselves, though, firsthand. Not many people have seen that mine's interior. I think you are absolutely correct in your write-up underneath the video where you said that the powers-that-be have done a very good job at scrubbing ALL references to this particular mine. For such a modern, massive, recent operation, one would think that there would be a lot more documentation online about this mine. But there isn't. I do believe that this entire site was considered a Superfund clean-up site and was reclaimed by the government not too long ago. Weren't there large signs in the general area of this mine saying that? Maybe there is a lot of groundwater contamination going on in that mine, so all references to the mine have been conveniently eliminated to keep things under wraps. Who knows? It's definitely one of the biggest mines and one a lot of people don't get to see. Like I said, I'm glad you and Graham got to see it for yourselves. Nice video documentation, Justin!
Thank you very much. We certainly didn’t cover all of this mine, but we were down there for many hours and so we got a fairly good sense of it, I believe. I am very glad that we got a chance to see this one as well as I didn’t know if I ever would and it certainly is unique… I have heard that the mine is likely to be dynamited shut in the relatively near future. The Army Corps of Engineers had a sign nearby advertising their involvement in this site, but there were scant details and that was the extent of the signage that we saw. As you observed yourself, there is nothing to be found online and so I can only make an educated guess as to which other agencies are involved or whether or not this mine has achieved Superfund status. Yes, we did encounter a pocket of low oxygen in this mine. It wasn’t life threatening, but it does seem to be an issue with this particular mine. Considering the scale of the mine and how deeply underground one gets, I suppose that isn’t particularly shocking. I remember this being a rather featureless mine when we were walking around for hours, but when one’s experience is condensed down to short video, it becomes much more interesting because the highlights stand out.
Did you folks post a video on this mine? I was certain that someone did but I couldn't remember who. I just remembered those barrels with the platform in between that resembled a raft. When I first saw it I was trying to picture a grunt miner being told to paddle back in the mine for some un-needed peice of equipment, a hazing if you will. I do know that there are a few explorers who would attempt the silliness... I am glad you are still documenting.
If a place vanishes like that, you can be sure someone did a scrub job. There's stuff like this all over WW2 Europe (time frame) that are actively kept offline and people caught in their vicinity escorted off premises because there's various dangerous artifacts and or sensitive matters to hide. South East France, a small mine is laden with unexploded German ordinance and twice now it's been concrete sealed. I assume it's too dangerous to move it, so they just left it and simply hide its presence.
The walls were coated with sprayed concrete, kinda like they do backyard pools. It's a simple and efficient (and most important, easy to repair) method to make a multitude of elements cohesive. Rocks, metal, wood, what have you, become more than the sum of their parts after being sprayed with (usually 5 cm of it, someone correct me if i'm wrong) this material. Goes by the name of Shotcrete, if it's wet mix or Gunite if it's dry mix.
that rounded device hooked to the cord, is a float with a switch inside, for a sump pump. Lower it into a hole, and when it floats up it switches the sump on till down towards the bottom.
I was living up that way until about 2010. I stumbled upon the buildings with all the core samples up in the canyon around 2004. I don't go in mines, my sense of danger trumps my sense of adventure in that respect. Kudos to you guys. Anyway what I found then was a building and cores in much better shape then what I saw in your video. There was a desk inside the larger building with some old paper work. The bill I found was dated 1985. I guessed at the time that that was about the time they did the coring's. I went up there again about 2008 and at that time the road up the canyon had a cable gate across it and a no trespassing sign hung on it a few hundred feet east of the buildings. We took a little hike up there and it did not really look like much work if any had been done. I am a little confused why you hiked to the shovel when it sits right off the road to the mountain peak? Was the mine you explored in the video the shaft near the sheds with the cores or was it the one a little north of that? I don't know anymore about this place then what I stumbled on while wandering around up there. I have not mentioned the district name because you haven't, I don't know why you haven't but I will leave it at that. If you really want to know more about this area hang out in town at the hotel coffee shop or bar. Lots of old miners around who more likely then not know something about it, and what's going on with it now, they love to talk. You also might stumble on to something at the little museum on the main street or the local library.
Wow... Born and raised in Nevada out by old Delamar and Pioche in Lincoln County. I loved exploring those areas but actually going into a mine scares the heck out of me. Im so glad you've made videos and recorded these places. Thank you!!
Haha, yes, the rocket ship was pretty unique... I was pleasantly surprised to see that the workshop was still stocked and ready to go as well. Normally, as you well know, places like that have been ransacked. I guess not too many people were keen on making the hike down and back out!
Great video! In most large mines, at some time or other, there were accidents as mining is inherently risky. Likely is, a few fatalities over the years. Sometimes, you may bump into them, still down there. They may help you or they may want you to go away, or they may want to have you stay for company. Lets see!
Those first ones aren't collapses those are fill-ins so people don't go in the mine. You can tell by how fine the ruble is compared to the chunky rocks on the actual cave in later in the video.
Don't disturb stagnant water in mines, especially mines that have sulfide ores. H2S is water-soluble, and will liberate from water if disturbed. A safe concentration may become life-threatening in short order. My instinct says that the drift you explored at the end of the video was an access and/or haulage drift for a SLOS or longhole-stoped vein area. I know that this mine used some form of open stoping based on Frank's old video. The remote-controlled LHDs you found the manual for would have been used to muck out the draw points at the bottom of the stope. We use similar equipment in the New Lead Belt in Missouri for pillar-extraction operations. Could you email me the mine name and coordinates? I may be able to dig up a bit more information. I've encountered several significant modern mines with near to no documentation, Higdon and Viburnum No. 27 among them. I don't believe it's intentional, just a natural consequence of a mine worked in a remote area with no major incidents.
Thank you very much for the details. It is really great to have you guys that actually are miners sharing your expertise. Yes, the water in there was some of the most unpleasant looking stagnant water I have ever seen... The next video should give you a much clearer picture of how they were mining in this abandoned mine as we finally get into the areas where they actually extracted the ore from. I'm still impressed by the capabilities of the remote controlled LHDs. I sent you a private message with the details (what little I know) of the mine...
TVR Exploring I just emailed you back. Found more than I expected after going through some online services I recently discovered, then plugging that information into Google.
Literally finished reading a novel yesterday wherein the bad guys used hydrogen sulphide to kill people by disturbing water where it was in solution. Id never heard of it before. And here i am today reading about it on youtube purely by random chance....
One of the only mines we ran into low oxygen in. The direction that was flooded went for miles and connected to the original old workings, I know one of the guys who managed it and he showed me the maps. They actually consider that an exploratory project
Yes, we hit bad air in there too. A pocket of low oxygen near the top of a raise. It’s funny, I have been exploring mines for years and never hit bad air. This season, I’ve hit four mines with low oxygen. You blew my mind with the revelation about the exploratory project… Given the scale of this mine, that is just unreal. It must have been fascinating to see the maps as it is hard to get your mind around the extent of the underground workings otherwise. Were we correct in that the flooded section continued down deep underwater or did it level out and would theoretically have been accessible? I had my waders in my pack… It would have been interesting to see the old workings.
I am really diggin your videos. I just ran into them tonight. I have subscribed so I can watch all of them this winter. I really appreciate your efforts. Greetings from Ody Slim
It's crazy to see all the equipment that is left behind. I'm guessing that it wasn't cost effective to remove it even though some things look like they would have been very expensive. I wonder what the last days of the mine were like and what the miners did.
Thank you. I was thinking there would be one more video on this mine, but after editing this one, I think it will take two more videos to cover it... It definitely is a unique mine. Bring a gas meter if you explore this one though because we, and everyone else I know that has explored it, has hit pockets of low oxygen. Oh, and lots of batteries, food and water as well. You're going to be underground for a while!
The luxury of big tunnels of modern mines :) Should have rode your dirtbike down there! I bet that incline was a major killer coming back up! Interesting pools towards the end, just crap that has gathered for years down there, washed out of other tunnels etc. Red stuff is real bad, usually sulphuric acid, but I think you made a wise choice of abandoning that last tunnel, sulphur in the air is not good, I maybe wrong but I am sure someone said that it's a sign of low oxygen too, so best avoid it. Great video, the bigger tunnels are a nightmare to light up aren't they! Looking forward to part 2 (and others)
Ha, the dirt bike would have been real handy down there! The hike back out sucked and, as you'll see in the upcoming video, the drifts in the next section are LONG. Probably would be hell on our lungs though with all of the dust that it would have kicked up in the mine. Most of this mine was covered in a thick, powdery dust. I've got an oxygen meter and a hydrogen sulfide meter and so I have more to rely on than just my sense of smell, but I really wasn't feeling that section where I turned back and you know that I'm usually up for almost anything underground. Oh, and, yes, I had a hell of a time trying to throw enough light inside of this mine to make for a decent video. It didn't help that the rock inside of the mine was such a dark color either.
I've seen at least one other large dual-tunnel mine in exploration videos and I think that one had intact signage indicating one tunnel in, one out, so it's likely the same in this one! That squeeze-bulb might've been for filling batteries with distilled water. Dang big place, thanks for checking it out!
Ah, thank you for sharing that. The "one out and one in" was just speculation on our part and so it is good to get some sort of additional support for that idea. It's an absolutely enormous place! This first video is practically nothing of this mine...
You're welcome! I figure it makes good sense when there's a high enough volume to support the cost of a second tunnel, plus it allows for near-constant traffic with minimal risk of collision! I theorize those periodic air-doors may have been kept open when trucks were cycling through, as it might reduce air-friction (maybe even stir up less dust? Well, maybe if they kept the floors wetted down). Was cool to see that one pipe still performing its function passively at that one pool!
Thank you very much. We come to Nevada 2-3 times each season and will make at least one more visit this year. Local knowledge is the best and is always appreciated. Which part of Nevada do you live in?
The large volume of the tunnels also would make airflow fluctuate so having rings with this type of material really does make a difference further in the mine
@10:34 That was the holy grail for the RF repeater system including operation simplex/duplex frequencies. The page I saw was a block dia. of a 4 chl. demux. system. If I could scan that page, it would reveal tremendous information on who was in that overblown hole! EE comm specialist here.
Yes, the page of interest is showing a 4 inputted (radio) receiver with a single amplified RF output. In other words, shown was a block diagram of a 4 channel handheld repeater system of undetermined input/output power and frequency(s) that would have been used for communicating via radio within the mine itself. Again, I cannot determine the input/output frequencies or input/output power levels from the schematic shown in the video version which could help to determine the nominal operating distance within the mine itself. Of course, it would have to be e-match compatible for blasting operations or turned off during blasting would be my guess.
The coating on the rings and the floor we used to render in our mine. It was to increase airflow as the rings believe it or not create resistance to air as it passes through the tunnels. Also evem more so if there is alot of cribbing either side or above the rings.
That's very interesting... Thank you for sharing that. The physics behind the rings creating resistance to the air is hard for me to get my mind around, but I am continually impressed by human ingenuity and someone else's ability to figure that out.
Dam, you sure had me talking, no, yelling, at my tablet on this one...... THEN TURN AROUND AND GET YOUR ASS OUT ! 😊 Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍
David Micheletti Likely a gold mine, yes. It would require millions in rehabilitation work to reopen, but the hardest part - the development work - is already complete.
You know, guys, I really don't know what they mined here. We could find absolutely no information on the history of this mine, which is just staggering when you consider how massive it is. Given the size, I would have guessed that they were mining some sort of industrial metal that has to be mined on a large scale to be profitable. However, Headframe Hunters is a miner and he would know much better than I would.
Nice video man! That mine is endless...I wish we could find more info on it, because I still have a lot of questions! Also if anyone here decides to explore this mine; Justin and I did find bad air deep into the mine, definitely bring a gas monitor!
I was stunned at how little information is available on this mine. I don't even know for sure what they mined there! And I have seen conflicting information about when it shut down... Yes, considering how much time we spent down there, it is just unreal that we only saw a tiny fraction of this mine.
The metal reinforcement near the mouth, damn near looks like British shelter construction. :) Funny how some things are universal regardless of where we live.
Hey i live and work in northeastern Nevada. I do a lot of exploring up here also. I’d like to get with you and share locations. I been looking into looking at more different mines.
lots of acid i find Cthulhu down here.....also all that expanded steel sheet so flush with the ceiling around 19 min mark.....How does it get flushed up so tight against walls? THanks ahead
Well, the gas meter should alert before a situation with bad air becomes potentially fatal. I've been in hundreds of abandoned mines now and only ever had alerts triggered for low oxygen levels, but those were never serious enough to necessitate turning around - just something to keep an eye on. Coal mines are where you really need to watch for air issues.
The powdery stuff on the ground is silt, comes with the territory when there's flooding. That room was likely flooded in the past (usually above 10 cm of water for that thickness and even spread).
Shopping cart's story "Let's go drinking in the old mine!" "Sure but how will we get our beer down there, it's too heave." "Let's just use a shopping part" "ok" *gets past first collapse* *sees second collapse* "ok fuck this we'll just carry the beer".
Oh man... I find myself suuuuuper curious what’s at that platform at the top of the raise over the rocket ship air tank... 🚀 it would be sweet to go up there with a drill and some pitons or something...
This must have been in operation until more recent times judging by some of the stuff left lying around - 70's 80's or even 90's. I can't believe a mine this modern and big wouldn't have not had blueprints of their workings on file with some agencies somewhere. Like Bearu of Mines or whatever.
So I think there's only a few miles of tunnels above the water table in this mine. So it's not big mine now. And that's not a blower above those adits. It's a trommel.
The Blue "Drip-shaped" thing, with a piece of electric wire sticking out in the top, is a "Level regulator" for pumps, probably from the company ITT Flygt, or nowadays, XYLEM.
What a huge mine! Where did they dispose of the waste rock? It had to be a mountain. I'd almost swear that I've seen this mine before and Benson wrote that Frank and Paul explored it but it seems that Shango066 had a video of it. I could be wrong, have been before. What I remember most was the two barrels with the platform in the middle at 6:27. It looks like someone made a Rube Goldberg raft that wasn't exceptionally sea worthy. I've started going through Shango066 videos again to see if I'm right or just old and senile. Something else I need to check on relates to the shopping cart missing it's wheels. I'm scoping out Ebay to see if someone is offering those wheels for sale as an artifact of a real mine, you know like they do with the wheels stolen off the ore carts. ;-) In the immortal words of P.T.Barnum; 'a sucker born every minute'. This is really fascinating and I really appreciate your persistence in recording it but it's not as romantic as the mines circa 1930s or there abouts and before. The first objects conspicuous in their absence is 'ore cart tracks'. No matter what else is missing, you can always picture rust colored carts filled with ore rumbling along those tracks either pushed or guided by grizzled, dust covered miners. They seem to add the human element. I know that there is an abundance of artifacts in this mine but I don't know anyone who would be showing off a 3E electric fuse panel as a relic absconded from a mine. I'll be watching for the next installment. Thanks much, Justin.
Oh, you know me. I definitely have far more of a soft spot for the older mines as well! As you said so well, one struggles to get excited about fuse panel as opposed to ore carts and rail. Still, it is good to mix things up from time to time with a modern behemoth like this mine. Yes, I know that shango066 visited this mine. I’m not sure if he posted a video of it though. And, yes, Frank and Paul also explored this mine and they definitely did post videos. Ha, I don’t know what the deal was with that raft… Like I always say, you see some really interesting things in abandoned mines (like shopping carts missing their wheels).
I hope you didn't get the idea that this mine was not of great interest because it was! I wouldn't have wanted you to not visit it. I just share the more romantic longing to imagine the activity at the older mines. I could have been wrong about who posted the video, I was just sure someone did. It seemed to me there was some other room that had something resembling a small scale crusher but again, I could be wrong. I'll wait anxiously for the next installment.
I watched a lot of your videos and being the first to comment it's going to be great.......time to watch the break room table had a plad jacket looks like it belonged to the guy on abandoned mines the guy with the long beard, I sas him in this mine, even recognized the chain hook on the tool room work bench,
Second, LOL! Worth saying this channel is one of the little known gems of TH-cam, just like some of the recent mines on here. All the videos are great, but the recent ones have been awesome, just got in from work so time for a coffee and put my feet up while checking out another quality video, many thanks!
smileypete, I very much appreciate you saying that... Steadily improving the videos and learning new techniques and tools is something I try very hard to do. Man, I look back at the editing and filming in some of my early videos and cringe! But whatever, I still documented what was there. I'm glad I could improve your coffee break!
Did you find name on this mine and do some research? It be interesting to know when this mine started production and why It closed and last property owners. My guess this was probably a silver or gold production mine
It could... There are still a lot of valuable minerals down there (including zinc, which was the primary focus of this mine). The mine closed down due to a period of low zinc prices rather than because they ran out of zinc.
They're both Coast products... The handheld light is the HP550 and the helmet light is the HL8R. The headlamp is great for everything except filming. I discovered the hard way that the LEDs that unit uses create a flickering effect on video.
Yes, that is an unusual arrangement and, as you alluded to, you saw the big downside of this design when we hit the flooded section. Normally, we would expect to see a shaft in a situation where the ore is deep underground. I suppose that with the volume of material that was coming out of this mine, that they didn't think a shaft would be efficient enough?
TVR Exploring It's a depth thing. With modern equipment, anything less than about 1300ft deep is considered more economic to work with decline ramps like these than a vertical shaft. Shafts are incredibly expensive and often dangerous to sink. Declines are much easier and safer. Decline mines are a bit strange compared to the old way of doing things. I have a line on one east of Kansas City, just need to find and contact the owner.
Yes! I was not happy with the performance of our lights inside of this mine. Granted, this was something of an exceptional situation given the size of the areas we were trying to light up. However, I have noticed that in abandoned mines where the rock inside is very dark, that the light from my handheld flashlight and my helmet light just seems to be swallowed up. I'm somewhat picky about lights though as I really need an adjustable focus light for filming and I really, really prefer to have a rechargeable light rather than spending a fortune on batteries. Any suggestions?
I wouldn't know what the best one is, but HID flashlights are the brightest you can have. I Think 85Watts is the highest, You will probably get anywhere between 6,000 to 7,500 lumens. You will literally light up the entire mine to where its like daylight. The 85Watt HID flashlights put the highest power LED to shame.
A drift is a generic term to describe the horizontal workings in an underground mine... In other words, the tunnels made through the rock. Miners will argue that a "tunnel" has to have an opening at both ends to be called a tunnel (like a railroad). However, most people that are not miners simply call the drifts "tunnels" and anyone can understand what they are talking about.
Thank you. There are actually a fair number of mines in the Area 51 sector. Without permission though, it is impossible to visit them. Wouldn't that be great though? They must be in pristine condition.
You guys should grab some of the weird liquids you come across and maybe find someplace to test them to see if there are any sketchy chemicals in there.
I'd be quite interested to see the results, but we're already very heavily weighted down with gear and so bringing testing equipment along often doesn't make the cut.
Thanks again for another upload. Wish you uploaded twice a week. I look forward to these like girls look forward to game of thrones. Do you have a Patreon channel or how can I donate?
Thank you very much! Haha, I'd love to be able to upload twice a week, but I have a hard enough time visiting the mines and editing and uploading one video a week... Although, as I am getting into a comfortable rhythm, I may occasionally publish a smaller video in between the normal posting schedule. Not all of the mines we visit give us enough to have decent videos either. So, sometimes, we have to go out on several trips before getting good material. I did not have a Patreon account this afternoon, but upon your extremely appreciated and generous comment, I have set one up. It still needs some work, but the link is here: patreon.com/TVRExploring
Man, I love it that you're contributing anything at all! Seriously. You're my first one and I can't even begin to tell you how much that is appreciated. No matter what, you're going to have the top slot at TVR Exploring... Which part of South Africa do you live in? I visited in 2008 and I know that South Africa has its problems, but I really liked it.
TVR Exploring all good man. Yeah, I'm in Johannesburg, capital city. But often go out to the rural areas as our family has a small game ranch which is part of the Kruger National Park now.
I think you kind of answered your own question by using "seemingly." It's either A) not valuable to begin with or B) the cost/effort and associated difficulties of removing/relocating it outweigh the marginal benefits of doing so. Just my guess, but maybe someone who's worked in mines will stumble upon your comment and enlighten us.
Earned a subscriber with this 3 part series. A lot of other people dont go back and look at all of the stuff that I wish they would. Everytime I was interested in something laying around or what was behind something, you would go look or double back later. You didnt leave anything unturned. Love it!
Thank you. Yes, I try to be thorough because I never know if I'll be the last one to go into a mine (before it collapses or gets sealed up) and I think it is nice to have a record of what was there for the future... I know some people wish I would go faster and just do the exciting highlights, so it is great to hear your perspective to balance that out!
Thanks for sharing. I enjoy all of your videos. That sink without any plumbing was perfect for the waterless hand cleaner.
Thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying them... Haha, I missed the waterless sink and waterless hand cleaner!
You and Graham certainly covered a lot more ground in there than two other explorers I know who explored it a while back. LOL I still think this is one of the most dangerous abandoned mines due to its massive length, the presence of water interacting with all that pyrite, and the exceptionally high risk of encountering "bad air." Glad you and Graham got to see it for yourselves, though, firsthand. Not many people have seen that mine's interior. I think you are absolutely correct in your write-up underneath the video where you said that the powers-that-be have done a very good job at scrubbing ALL references to this particular mine. For such a modern, massive, recent operation, one would think that there would be a lot more documentation online about this mine. But there isn't. I do believe that this entire site was considered a Superfund clean-up site and was reclaimed by the government not too long ago. Weren't there large signs in the general area of this mine saying that? Maybe there is a lot of groundwater contamination going on in that mine, so all references to the mine have been conveniently eliminated to keep things under wraps. Who knows? It's definitely one of the biggest mines and one a lot of people don't get to see. Like I said, I'm glad you and Graham got to see it for yourselves. Nice video documentation, Justin!
Thank you very much. We certainly didn’t cover all of this mine, but we were down there for many hours and so we got a fairly good sense of it, I believe. I am very glad that we got a chance to see this one as well as I didn’t know if I ever would and it certainly is unique… I have heard that the mine is likely to be dynamited shut in the relatively near future. The Army Corps of Engineers had a sign nearby advertising their involvement in this site, but there were scant details and that was the extent of the signage that we saw. As you observed yourself, there is nothing to be found online and so I can only make an educated guess as to which other agencies are involved or whether or not this mine has achieved Superfund status. Yes, we did encounter a pocket of low oxygen in this mine. It wasn’t life threatening, but it does seem to be an issue with this particular mine. Considering the scale of the mine and how deeply underground one gets, I suppose that isn’t particularly shocking. I remember this being a rather featureless mine when we were walking around for hours, but when one’s experience is condensed down to short video, it becomes much more interesting because the highlights stand out.
Did you folks post a video on this mine? I was certain that someone did but I couldn't remember who. I just remembered those barrels with the platform in between that resembled a raft. When I first saw it I was trying to picture a grunt miner being told to paddle back in the mine for some un-needed peice of equipment, a hazing if you will. I do know that there are a few explorers who would attempt the silliness... I am glad you are still documenting.
If a place vanishes like that, you can be sure someone did a scrub job. There's stuff like this all over WW2 Europe (time frame) that are actively kept offline and people caught in their vicinity escorted off premises because there's various dangerous artifacts and or sensitive matters to hide. South East France, a small mine is laden with unexploded German ordinance and twice now it's been concrete sealed. I assume it's too dangerous to move it, so they just left it and simply hide its presence.
The walls were coated with sprayed concrete, kinda like they do backyard pools. It's a simple and efficient (and most important, easy to repair) method to make a multitude of elements cohesive. Rocks, metal, wood, what have you, become more than the sum of their parts after being sprayed with (usually 5 cm of it, someone correct me if i'm wrong) this material. Goes by the name of Shotcrete, if it's wet mix or Gunite if it's dry mix.
Thank you.... It was fun exploring with you.......
Thank you for coming along.
that rounded device hooked to the cord, is a float with a switch inside, for a sump pump. Lower it into a hole, and when it floats up it switches the sump on till down towards the bottom.
Ah, gotcha. Thank you for the explanation...
I was living up that way until about 2010. I stumbled upon the buildings with all the core samples up in the canyon around 2004. I don't go in mines, my sense of danger trumps my sense of adventure in that respect. Kudos to you guys.
Anyway what I found then was a building and cores in much better shape then what I saw in your video. There was a desk inside the larger building with some old paper work. The bill I found was dated 1985. I guessed at the time that that was about the time they did the coring's.
I went up there again about 2008 and at that time the road up the canyon had a cable gate across it and a no trespassing sign hung on it a few hundred feet east of the buildings. We took a little hike up there and it did not really look like much work if any had been done.
I am a little confused why you hiked to the shovel when it sits right off the road to the mountain peak?
Was the mine you explored in the video the shaft near the sheds with the cores or was it the one a little north of that?
I don't know anymore about this place then what I stumbled on while wandering around up there. I have not mentioned the district name because you haven't, I don't know why you haven't but I will leave it at that. If you really want to know more about this area hang out in town at the hotel coffee shop or bar. Lots of old miners around who more likely then not know something about it, and what's going on with it now, they love to talk. You also might stumble on to something at the little museum on the main street or the local library.
Wow... Born and raised in Nevada out by old Delamar and Pioche in Lincoln County. I loved exploring those areas but actually going into a mine scares the heck out of me. Im so glad you've made videos and recorded these places. Thank you!!
You've probably come across some good sites while out in the desert...
making my way down the mine
lanterns dimming
getting dark
i think im alone now
dun dun dun dun dun
Nice mooch .good to see the workshops still stocked. Love the rocket ship:)
Haha, yes, the rocket ship was pretty unique... I was pleasantly surprised to see that the workshop was still stocked and ready to go as well. Normally, as you well know, places like that have been ransacked. I guess not too many people were keen on making the hike down and back out!
Great video! In most large mines, at some time or other, there were accidents as mining is inherently risky. Likely is, a few fatalities over the years. Sometimes, you may bump into them, still down there. They may help you or they may want you to go away, or they may want to have you stay for company. Lets see!
We've been in mines where the remains of the miners are still down there buried under tons of rubble. Too dangerous to get them out of there...
Those first ones aren't collapses those are fill-ins so people don't go in the mine. You can tell by how fine the ruble is compared to the chunky rocks on the actual cave in later in the video.
Great stuff guys. This kind of thing is fascinating for me . Keep it up but stay safe.
Don't disturb stagnant water in mines, especially mines that have sulfide ores. H2S is water-soluble, and will liberate from water if disturbed. A safe concentration may become life-threatening in short order.
My instinct says that the drift you explored at the end of the video was an access and/or haulage drift for a SLOS or longhole-stoped vein area. I know that this mine used some form of open stoping based on Frank's old video. The remote-controlled LHDs you found the manual for would have been used to muck out the draw points at the bottom of the stope. We use similar equipment in the New Lead Belt in Missouri for pillar-extraction operations.
Could you email me the mine name and coordinates? I may be able to dig up a bit more information. I've encountered several significant modern mines with near to no documentation, Higdon and Viburnum No. 27 among them. I don't believe it's intentional, just a natural consequence of a mine worked in a remote area with no major incidents.
Thank you very much for the details. It is really great to have you guys that actually are miners sharing your expertise. Yes, the water in there was some of the most unpleasant looking stagnant water I have ever seen... The next video should give you a much clearer picture of how they were mining in this abandoned mine as we finally get into the areas where they actually extracted the ore from. I'm still impressed by the capabilities of the remote controlled LHDs. I sent you a private message with the details (what little I know) of the mine...
TVR Exploring I just emailed you back. Found more than I expected after going through some online services I recently discovered, then plugging that information into Google.
Literally finished reading a novel yesterday wherein the bad guys used hydrogen sulphide to kill people by disturbing water where it was in solution. Id never heard of it before. And here i am today reading about it on youtube purely by random chance....
Headframe Hunters What mines in Missouri? The Bonne Terre?
+Dellacondan: Life is funny that way, isn't it?
One of the only mines we ran into low oxygen in. The direction that was flooded went for miles and connected to the original old workings, I know one of the guys who managed it and he showed me the maps. They actually consider that an exploratory project
Yes, we hit bad air in there too. A pocket of low oxygen near the top of a raise. It’s funny, I have been exploring mines for years and never hit bad air. This season, I’ve hit four mines with low oxygen. You blew my mind with the revelation about the exploratory project… Given the scale of this mine, that is just unreal. It must have been fascinating to see the maps as it is hard to get your mind around the extent of the underground workings otherwise. Were we correct in that the flooded section continued down deep underwater or did it level out and would theoretically have been accessible? I had my waders in my pack… It would have been interesting to see the old workings.
I didn't see any stopes
I am really diggin your videos. I just ran into them tonight. I have subscribed so I can
watch all of them this winter. I really appreciate your efforts. Greetings from Ody Slim
Greetings to you as well, Ody Slim... I appreciate your kind words and I'm glad you're digging the videos. I'll keep them coming.
It's crazy to see all the equipment that is left behind. I'm guessing that it wasn't cost effective to remove it even though some things look like they would have been very expensive. I wonder what the last days of the mine were like and what the miners did.
I've been meaning to visit this mine, I'll have to hit it next time I'm up in that area. Looking forward to your other videos!
Thank you. I was thinking there would be one more video on this mine, but after editing this one, I think it will take two more videos to cover it... It definitely is a unique mine. Bring a gas meter if you explore this one though because we, and everyone else I know that has explored it, has hit pockets of low oxygen. Oh, and lots of batteries, food and water as well. You're going to be underground for a while!
What mine is it?
@@hopeofnope8553 TVR doesn't give away location names. I don't either.
Thanks, as always.
The luxury of big tunnels of modern mines :) Should have rode your dirtbike down there! I bet that incline was a major killer coming back up!
Interesting pools towards the end, just crap that has gathered for years down there, washed out of other tunnels etc. Red stuff is real bad, usually sulphuric acid, but I think you made a wise choice of abandoning that last tunnel, sulphur in the air is not good, I maybe wrong but I am sure someone said that it's a sign of low oxygen too, so best avoid it. Great video, the bigger tunnels are a nightmare to light up aren't they! Looking forward to part 2 (and others)
Ha, the dirt bike would have been real handy down there! The hike back out sucked and, as you'll see in the upcoming video, the drifts in the next section are LONG. Probably would be hell on our lungs though with all of the dust that it would have kicked up in the mine. Most of this mine was covered in a thick, powdery dust. I've got an oxygen meter and a hydrogen sulfide meter and so I have more to rely on than just my sense of smell, but I really wasn't feeling that section where I turned back and you know that I'm usually up for almost anything underground. Oh, and, yes, I had a hell of a time trying to throw enough light inside of this mine to make for a decent video. It didn't help that the rock inside of the mine was such a dark color either.
Saw that cart at 2 minutes and immediately wondered if there was a Walmart nearby lol
*Skelegun's cave title pops up*
I've seen at least one other large dual-tunnel mine in exploration videos and I think that one had intact signage indicating one tunnel in, one out, so it's likely the same in this one!
That squeeze-bulb might've been for filling batteries with distilled water.
Dang big place, thanks for checking it out!
Ah, thank you for sharing that. The "one out and one in" was just speculation on our part and so it is good to get some sort of additional support for that idea. It's an absolutely enormous place! This first video is practically nothing of this mine...
You're welcome! I figure it makes good sense when there's a high enough volume to support the cost of a second tunnel, plus it allows for near-constant traffic with minimal risk of collision! I theorize those periodic air-doors may have been kept open when trucks were cycling through, as it might reduce air-friction (maybe even stir up less dust? Well, maybe if they kept the floors wetted down). Was cool to see that one pipe still performing its function passively at that one pool!
5:36 Who's voice is that ?
Great video if your ever in Nevada again let me know. I know of a ton of mines and abandoned etc.
Thank you very much. We come to Nevada 2-3 times each season and will make at least one more visit this year. Local knowledge is the best and is always appreciated. Which part of Nevada do you live in?
The large volume of the tunnels also would make airflow fluctuate so having rings with this type of material really does make a difference further in the mine
@10:34 That was the holy grail for the RF repeater system including operation simplex/duplex frequencies. The page I saw was a block dia. of a 4 chl. demux. system. If I could scan that page, it would reveal tremendous information on who was in that overblown hole! EE comm specialist here.
I wish we'd had you with us!
Yes, the page of interest is showing a 4 inputted (radio) receiver with a single amplified RF output. In other words, shown was a block diagram of a 4 channel handheld repeater system of undetermined input/output power and frequency(s) that would have been used for communicating via radio within the mine itself. Again, I cannot determine the input/output frequencies or input/output power levels from the schematic shown in the video version which could help to determine the nominal operating distance within the mine itself. Of course, it would have to be e-match compatible for blasting operations or turned off during blasting would be my guess.
@@asully3006 Not turned off...we use nonel in place of electric caps now to avoid issues with induced current from RF.
Really cool video have never seen a mine with steel arches
Yes, that's a pretty dramatic feature, to be sure!
The coating on the rings and the floor we used to render in our mine. It was to increase airflow as the rings believe it or not create resistance to air as it passes through the tunnels. Also evem more so if there is alot of cribbing either side or above the rings.
That's very interesting... Thank you for sharing that. The physics behind the rings creating resistance to the air is hard for me to get my mind around, but I am continually impressed by human ingenuity and someone else's ability to figure that out.
What were they mining for ???
I would love to go on a tour with you guys some time
Good company is always welcome.
4:59 All those pipes remind me of the movie the goonies 🤣
Dam, you sure had me talking, no, yelling, at my tablet on this one...... THEN TURN AROUND AND GET YOUR ASS OUT ! 😊
Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍
Haha, sorry to get you yelling... Not planning to head back to this one! Once was enough for us.
Any idea what mining district or county this is in??
The squeeze bulb with the tube I believe is ti blow stone dust out of a drill hole prior to inserting a charge.
Was this a gold mine? It almost looks like they are ready to reopen this mine if they wanted.
Good video as always !
David Micheletti Likely a gold mine, yes. It would require millions in rehabilitation work to reopen, but the hardest part - the development work - is already complete.
You know, guys, I really don't know what they mined here. We could find absolutely no information on the history of this mine, which is just staggering when you consider how massive it is. Given the size, I would have guessed that they were mining some sort of industrial metal that has to be mined on a large scale to be profitable. However, Headframe Hunters is a miner and he would know much better than I would.
TVR Exploring Actually, it was a zinc mine, with secondard lead, silver, and gold mineralization. I turned up some good information.
I am glad I found your post! Thanks!
Nice video man! That mine is endless...I wish we could find more info on it, because I still have a lot of questions!
Also if anyone here decides to explore this mine; Justin and I did find bad air deep into the mine, definitely bring a gas monitor!
I was stunned at how little information is available on this mine. I don't even know for sure what they mined there! And I have seen conflicting information about when it shut down... Yes, considering how much time we spent down there, it is just unreal that we only saw a tiny fraction of this mine.
What part of Nevada is this
The metal reinforcement near the mouth, damn near looks like British shelter construction. :) Funny how some things are universal regardless of where we live.
nice video guys ! cheer from southamerica (:
Thank you. Welcome from South America!
Ah,this is the mine Frank and Paul explored...great video
Thank you. Yes, Frank and Paul visited this one a couple of years before us...
Wher is this mine located
Was this the mine up on Sprucemont?
what is this mine called ? what state is it in ? dose anyone know the location of this mine ??
Is shoppings carts for discounts in mines?
take a look at the chain at 25:48, crazy how it has rusted into that shape
Hey i live and work in northeastern Nevada. I do a lot of exploring up here also. I’d like to get with you and share locations. I been looking into looking at more different mines.
I'd love to take you up on that. Please email me at TVRExploring@gmail.com.
lots of acid i find Cthulhu down here.....also all that expanded steel sheet so flush with the ceiling around 19 min mark.....How does it get flushed up so tight against walls? THanks ahead
Homer: he said Portal I'm going to play Half-Life!
Marge: I never agreed to that ruuuuule!
I live in Nevada what part of nevada are you at
Did you use a gas analyzer to make sure you didn't get into a pocket of bad air first or while you went in there? That would certainly be a concern.
Well, the gas meter should alert before a situation with bad air becomes potentially fatal. I've been in hundreds of abandoned mines now and only ever had alerts triggered for low oxygen levels, but those were never serious enough to necessitate turning around - just something to keep an eye on. Coal mines are where you really need to watch for air issues.
Zinc, silver or tungsten mine?
There is voice at 5:38...
Yep, good catch.
The powdery stuff on the ground is silt, comes with the territory when there's flooding. That room was likely flooded in the past (usually above 10 cm of water for that thickness and even spread).
Interesting... Thank you for the explanation.
Shopping cart's story "Let's go drinking in the old mine!" "Sure but how will we get our beer down there, it's too heave." "Let's just use a shopping part" "ok" *gets past first collapse* *sees second collapse* "ok fuck this we'll just carry the beer".
Haha, yeah, I'd say that is almost certainly very close to the truth...
This mine looks like something straight out of fallout 4. ☢
Yeah also reminds me of the Outlast II mine
I'm wondering if this is the cave Kenny Veach was referring to in his M cave hike that is a massive cave dark and deep
Oh man... I find myself suuuuuper curious what’s at that platform at the top of the raise over the rocket ship air tank... 🚀 it would be sweet to go up there with a drill and some pitons or something...
This must have been in operation until more recent times judging by some of the stuff left lying around - 70's 80's or even 90's. I can't believe a mine this modern and big wouldn't have not had blueprints of their workings on file with some agencies somewhere. Like Bearu of Mines or whatever.
So I think there's only a few miles of tunnels above the water table in this mine. So it's not big mine now. And that's not a blower above those adits. It's a trommel.
What kinda flashlights?
Thank you 😊
So where is this?
Did they use a tunnelling shield machine?
I don't know.
What light do you use
The Blue "Drip-shaped" thing, with a piece of electric wire sticking out in the top, is a "Level regulator" for pumps, probably from the company ITT Flygt, or nowadays, XYLEM.
Ah, yes, I'm familiar with Xylem. Thank you for identifying that.
I could never do this. I can't imagine what I would find or what i would fear to find
What a huge mine! Where did they dispose of the waste rock? It had to be a mountain. I'd almost swear that I've seen this mine before and Benson wrote that Frank and Paul explored it but it seems that Shango066 had a video of it. I could be wrong, have been before. What I remember most was the two barrels with the platform in the middle at 6:27. It looks like someone made a Rube Goldberg raft that wasn't exceptionally sea worthy. I've started going through Shango066 videos again to see if I'm right or just old and senile. Something else I need to check on relates to the shopping cart missing it's wheels. I'm scoping out Ebay to see if someone is offering those wheels for sale as an artifact of a real mine, you know like they do with the wheels stolen off the ore carts. ;-) In the immortal words of P.T.Barnum; 'a sucker born every minute'.
This is really fascinating and I really appreciate your persistence in recording it but it's not as romantic as the mines circa 1930s or there abouts and before. The first objects conspicuous in their absence is 'ore cart tracks'. No matter what else is missing, you can always picture rust colored carts filled with ore rumbling along those tracks either pushed or guided by grizzled, dust covered miners. They seem to add the human element. I know that there is an abundance of artifacts in this mine but I don't know anyone who would be showing off a 3E electric fuse panel as a relic absconded from a mine. I'll be watching for the next installment. Thanks much, Justin.
Oh, you know me. I definitely have far more of a soft spot for the older mines as well! As you said so well, one struggles to get excited about fuse panel as opposed to ore carts and rail. Still, it is good to mix things up from time to time with a modern behemoth like this mine. Yes, I know that shango066 visited this mine. I’m not sure if he posted a video of it though. And, yes, Frank and Paul also explored this mine and they definitely did post videos. Ha, I don’t know what the deal was with that raft… Like I always say, you see some really interesting things in abandoned mines (like shopping carts missing their wheels).
I hope you didn't get the idea that this mine was not of great interest because it was! I wouldn't have wanted you to not visit it. I just share the more romantic longing to imagine the activity at the older mines. I could have been wrong about who posted the video, I was just sure someone did. It seemed to me there was some other room that had something resembling a small scale crusher but again, I could be wrong. I'll wait anxiously for the next installment.
Oh, no worries. I didn't take it that way at all. I have a greater attachment to the classic rails and ore carts myself...
I watched a lot of your videos and being the first to comment it's going to be great.......time to watch
the break room table had a plad jacket looks like it belonged to the guy on abandoned mines the guy with the long beard, I sas him in this mine, even recognized the chain hook on the tool room work bench,
Second, LOL! Worth saying this channel is one of the little known gems of TH-cam, just like some of the recent mines on here. All the videos are great, but the recent ones have been awesome, just got in from work so time for a coffee and put my feet up while checking out another quality video, many thanks!
Thank you, Donald. Yes, it is interesting to see the things that are left in abandoned mines!
smileypete, I very much appreciate you saying that... Steadily improving the videos and learning new techniques and tools is something I try very hard to do. Man, I look back at the editing and filming in some of my early videos and cringe! But whatever, I still documented what was there. I'm glad I could improve your coffee break!
Did you find name on this mine and do some research? It be interesting to know when this mine started production and why It closed and last property owners. My guess this was probably a silver or gold production mine
Zinc mine with secondary lead, zinc, copper, and gold, shut down in 1993 with a few hundred thousand tons of reserves remaining.
one big mine. Wonder if it will start up again
It could... There are still a lot of valuable minerals down there (including zinc, which was the primary focus of this mine). The mine closed down due to a period of low zinc prices rather than because they ran out of zinc.
This is pretty cool but due for my love of horror movies I do not go into any abandoned mines or homes.
What is the light your using???
They're both Coast products... The handheld light is the HP550 and the helmet light is the HL8R. The headlamp is great for everything except filming. I discovered the hard way that the LEDs that unit uses create a flickering effect on video.
Interesting that the main portal runs downhill. Usually they run a couple degrees uphill to facilitate drainage.
Yes, that is an unusual arrangement and, as you alluded to, you saw the big downside of this design when we hit the flooded section. Normally, we would expect to see a shaft in a situation where the ore is deep underground. I suppose that with the volume of material that was coming out of this mine, that they didn't think a shaft would be efficient enough?
TVR Exploring It's a depth thing. With modern equipment, anything less than about 1300ft deep is considered more economic to work with decline ramps like these than a vertical shaft. Shafts are incredibly expensive and often dangerous to sink. Declines are much easier and safer.
Decline mines are a bit strange compared to the old way of doing things. I have a line on one east of Kansas City, just need to find and contact the owner.
What was the weird voice at 5:35 ?
You guys ever thought of getting a HID flashlight?
Yes! I was not happy with the performance of our lights inside of this mine. Granted, this was something of an exceptional situation given the size of the areas we were trying to light up. However, I have noticed that in abandoned mines where the rock inside is very dark, that the light from my handheld flashlight and my helmet light just seems to be swallowed up. I'm somewhat picky about lights though as I really need an adjustable focus light for filming and I really, really prefer to have a rechargeable light rather than spending a fortune on batteries. Any suggestions?
I wouldn't know what the best one is, but HID flashlights are the brightest you can have. I Think 85Watts is the highest, You will probably get anywhere between 6,000 to 7,500 lumens. You will literally light up the entire mine to where its like daylight. The 85Watt HID flashlights put the highest power LED to shame.
that thing your not sure of is a float switch for a sump pump, commonly referred to as bull balls.
Thank you. Ha, I like the name "bulls balls." That's more fun than "float switch."
your welcome , I've installed many of those things. in heavy industry maintenance there's a slang name for everything .
@5:09 Reminds me of the Goonies
Frank and Paul explored this mine. Although they didn't cover nearly as much as you do.
Yes, you're absolutely right. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it had not changed much at all since their visit.
TVR Exploring - I think the 'raft' that was made out of empty drums was sitting in the exact same spot, on the exact same small pool of water.
This reminds me of the Outlast II mine.
man! How do you guys keep from getting lost? I'm lost and haven't even left my chair
We scratched a lot of arrows in the dirt inside of this mine!
Surveyors ragtag would work just dandy! :) Kept me outta trouble many of times.
Lincoln mine?
Can anyone explain to me what the hell is a trolley doing in a mine.
A very fair question...
what is a drift?
A drift is a generic term to describe the horizontal workings in an underground mine... In other words, the tunnels made through the rock. Miners will argue that a "tunnel" has to have an opening at both ends to be called a tunnel (like a railroad). However, most people that are not miners simply call the drifts "tunnels" and anyone can understand what they are talking about.
Ozzsome adventure....
Haha, thank you.
Awesome, Pls explore more videos on Area 51,
Thank you. There are actually a fair number of mines in the Area 51 sector. Without permission though, it is impossible to visit them. Wouldn't that be great though? They must be in pristine condition.
Oh, is it.... 😕
Pretty recent mine indeed.
Can anyone analyze EVP caught at 5.38?
RockOn
THAT! Is platform nine and three quarters
Omg I saw the chains swinging
I am 100% sure, I saw Gollum in here.
19:20 Float switch of a water pump
Thank you.
Hilarious! Who knows how much Uncle Sam $pent to keep this Mine on the down-Low. I wonder how many more massive mines are being erased? Great video!
Thank you! Haha, the manner in which Uncle Sam chooses to allocate resources is a continuing source of wonder and amazement to me, I assure you.
A cpl in utah are this way. I know of one ive seen lights at late late at night but you cant cind any history on why it closed
TVR Exploring more of a waste of money
You guys should grab some of the weird liquids you come across and maybe find someplace to test them to see if there are any sketchy chemicals in there.
I'd be quite interested to see the results, but we're already very heavily weighted down with gear and so bringing testing equipment along often doesn't make the cut.
Thanks again for another upload. Wish you uploaded twice a week. I look forward to these like girls look forward to game of thrones. Do you have a Patreon channel or how can I donate?
Thank you very much! Haha, I'd love to be able to upload twice a week, but I have a hard enough time visiting the mines and editing and uploading one video a week... Although, as I am getting into a comfortable rhythm, I may occasionally publish a smaller video in between the normal posting schedule. Not all of the mines we visit give us enough to have decent videos either. So, sometimes, we have to go out on several trips before getting good material. I did not have a Patreon account this afternoon, but upon your extremely appreciated and generous comment, I have set one up. It still needs some work, but the link is here: patreon.com/TVRExploring
TVR Exploring perfecto. Will sign up this evening my side. I also dont use Patreon but most certainly will now. Thanks again.
TVR Exploring All good. Stoked to be the first 'pledger'. Sorry it's not a lot, but South Africa is like 14 ZAR to 1USD.
Man, I love it that you're contributing anything at all! Seriously. You're my first one and I can't even begin to tell you how much that is appreciated. No matter what, you're going to have the top slot at TVR Exploring... Which part of South Africa do you live in? I visited in 2008 and I know that South Africa has its problems, but I really liked it.
TVR Exploring all good man. Yeah, I'm in Johannesburg, capital city. But often go out to the rural areas as our family has a small game ranch which is part of the Kruger National Park now.
🤩
I'm curious as to why the mine owners/company leave so much seemingly valuable equipment in the mines when they stop the mining...
I think you kind of answered your own question by using "seemingly." It's either A) not valuable to begin with or B) the cost/effort and associated difficulties of removing/relocating it outweigh the marginal benefits of doing so.
Just my guess, but maybe someone who's worked in mines will stumble upon your comment and enlighten us.
My guess is that it’s paid for itself and is of no further use to the company. If they started a new mine elsewhere they would buy new equipment
Either get more light, or adjust the camera for low light situations. My eyes are struggling to see anything.
👍👍👍