Emerging from the depths of the Drumlummon Mine Tuesday, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer marveled at what he had just witnessed.
"To stand with the mining engineers and they say there isn't any vein anywhere in the world — not in Russia, Africa or South America — that contains more gold and silver per ton is amazing," Schweitzer said. "Either one would be remarkable in its own right, but to have them both together?
"This is the mine that built Carroll College and the Cathedral, and the ore body has been rediscovered."
E.g., the "Charly" vein -
Charly is about 7 feet wide and generally runs parallel to the Drumlummon vein, where Thomas Cruse and subsequent miners removed up to $50 million in gold and silver from the mine in the late 1800s, when the Drumlummon Mine was the largest underground gold producer in the state. Legal battles and the flooding of the mine's lower levels ended exploration and excavation 50 years ago, until recently - start of working it again -
Drilled core samples from the main shaft based on the rock formations, and they showed about an ounce of gold and almost 23 ounces of silver per ton of rock in certain areas.
So the company started removing water from the mine and tunneling downward at an angle they thought would intersect the Charly vein.
After tunneling in more than 500 feet, 800 feet below the surface, they reached the vein -
"The vein starts over here," he points toward a black streak on the rock wall, "and it really runs hot," he finishes with a broad grin. "It's showing three ounces of gold and 55 ounces of silver per ton."
A 1-ton boulder is about 12½ cubic feet.
"it's really exciting to find something like this, but it's also scary because of the complexity of the vein, and the multiple generations running through it will give us a challenge."
Samples of the Charly vein show that in places it has up to seven ounces of gold and 200 ounces of silver per ton of rock, with an average of three ounces of gold and 55 ounces of silver.
That amount of metal is known in the mining community as "jewelry rock," noted the state Department of Environmental Quality.
A soil scientist, said he's also impressed that the water being treated is coming out with a pH level around 7, which is neutral.
Other mines in Montana have run into trouble with acidic water.
The mine is named after the parish in Ireland where Cruse was born.
"This mine will be good for the community of Helena, which has waited 100 years for this to happen,"
Drumlummon Mine oldtimers explored the 29 miles of workings, shafts etc. eye balled the visible gold and followed it - hand cobbed it, chipped and blasted into honeycomb Au maze - that made Marysville and millionaires -
Miners left their mark up and down the mine shafts - oldtime miners signed sooty signatures on the walls, probably using carbon flames from their headlamps - Fatso Haley was here in 1925 - So was Jack Smigaj and Jim Obernford - B. O'Conell drew a face in 1912 - Smitty -- not the one who's here today -- left his mark on March 11, 1917 -
The No. 1 Shaft Station is a 30-by-60 foot wide room with a 50 foot tall ceiling full of stopes.
The stopes were made when miners blasted upward so the ore would fall down, making it more easily shipped out in ore cars. Along with the upward stopes, shafts here drop down 1,200 feet to the 1,600-foot mine level.
The Drumlummon Vein intersects the No. 1 Shaft Room, north to south, horizontally at the 400-foot level. The Castletown Vein branches out toward the northeast at the 600- foot level. We're 1,100 feet inside the mine.
The No. 1 Shaft Station is a 30-by-60 foot wide room with a 50 foot tall ceiling full of stopes. The stopes were made when miners blasted upward so the ore would fall down, making it more easily shipped out in ore cars.
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