Excelsior is a scam. The mine is worthless. I suggest you read the judgment in the Federal Court case against McFarland. Based on expert testimony from the Federal Government and independent experts, it was concluded the mine has no value of any kind. McFarland and Helmer used it as a vehicle for their pump and dump, just as Alto did before the SEC suspended Alto for fraud. Both Alto, and McFarland, remain under active SEC investigation.
And your belief that because this equipment is available means people are secretly sneaking on to Federal land and illegally mining is ridiculous. Some "weekend warriors" are running legal mines on their own land. Not on unleased Federal land. And there are no roads or old railroads to Excelsior. It is surrounded by newly designated Federal and State wilderness land. What you describe is absolutely impossible, both logistically and economically. The idea that illegal amateur miners could somehow high-grade the ore in the closed mine (which cannot even be entered) and haul it out in a 4X4 (how much ore do you think a Ford Explorer can haul in an area without roads?) to some unknown processing facility (which does not exist) is fantasy at its finest.
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