Good morning everybody. I will find a way to post the pics up after doing the "family" thing today. But I will leave you with these impressions.
WRT the mill/processing plant:
* Rented equipment included a small office trailer, with some serious metal security bars installed over the windows, from Williams Scottsman, Aerial Platform Lift (newer and in working condition), trash dumpster, and a 10'x25' steel storage container, and nice straight fencing with new locks / signage around 100% of the perimeter.
* The building itself was a newer steel structure, very clean, nice doors/locks, newer electrical equipment installed (meters, panels, etc...), the conveyor equipment was nice and clean and appeared to be in working condition. Oh, there was a small guard shack, complete with plastic lounge chair, right near the entrance.
* Tire tracks from light vehicles and heavy equipment were EVERYWHERE and FRESH.
WRT the geotube(s):
* Full of water, positively connected in several spots to process piping; surrounded by a make-shift "wall" of soil that IMO was either used to act as a support levy or to hide the tube from passers-by. You'll see this in pics later this evening.
*WRT the "mine":
This was interesting. The road leading to the mine from the mill had a CAT 988 front end loader parked aside and I could tell they had made a pass or two with a dozer on the road leading to the mine. There was a section that had several car-sized piles of soil placed directly in the middle of the road to cut off access (but I had a 4wd and not afraid to use it). There was also a newer 2ft diameter drain pipe installed at the dried-up creek I had to cross to get around the roadblock. If you look on the Google Map, which is WAY outdated (2006 images) and inaccurate, I wheeled 7 miles back into the hills. Where the mine is supposed to be, there is definitely some activity there, but it's nothing too exciting. Mainly some surface mining, over the size of a half-football field, and a 25ft deep X 40ft long trench scratched out of the side of the hill--with caution/safety fencing installed as per OSHA requirements.
I continued WAY back up into the 1-lane roads, apparently used by hunters (there were deer everywhere) and/or individual prospectors.
Another thing I found interesting is that 7 miles up the road, Barrick has a HUGE operation going on. I think it was a mining/geothermal site because there were double-bottom belly dump trucks running every 2 minutes, and signs about pipelines everywhere.
If I can think of anything else remarkable, I'll share with you all ASAP.
