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Browse Available ListingsHistoric Goldschmidt
20 Acre Lode and 20 acre Placer Claim For Sale
Summary
Location and Access
Sheridan (Ramshorn) District – Madison County, Montana
4WD to adit entrance
High clearance 4WD needed to access road
Contact us for exact coordinates
Description
Geology
The district is composed of ore deposits related to underlying or nearby granitic masses, although some are apparently related to dikes. Ore deposits occur as veins (fissure fillings) and as replacements in limestone. The primary minerals are pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and galena in a gangue of quartz and rarely siderite. Gold and silver occur in the ore.
History
1910 Report - from the Engineering and Mining Journal
The recent strike of silver and gold ore In the property is proving richer than expected. The last car shipped netted the leasers $17,000. The ore runs as high as 600 oz. in silver and $200 in gold to the ton (Mining and Engineering Journal, p. 1227). That was when gold was $20.68 an ounce, so you are looking at around 9.5 ounces per ton.
There is no record of the mine or the family again until 1933 when a newspaper announcement noted that Jake Steiner had purchased the mine and was restoring it for operation. The US Bureau of Mines visited the mine in 1937 and reported the information below:
1937 Report - Gold Lode Mining in the Tobacco Root Mountains - Goldschmidt or Steiner
"The Goldschmidt mine, known variously as the Goldsmith or Steiner, is a group of four claims located 11.6 miles by road from Sheridan. The mine is on Currant Creek, a northerly branch of Ramshorn Creek. The altitude is probably under 7,000 feet. The mine was owned by Jake Steiner and sons of Sheridan.
The vein appears to be in the same limestone formations as the Agitator, with which it corresponds in dip and strike. The ore consists of oxidized quartz lenses and stringers along a bedding-plane fault in limestone. "Manganese pockets" are frequent near the ore.
Active development consists of an adit crosscut and about 300 feet of drifting on the vein. A small underhand stope was down 20 feet in ore. This work is evidently on the downward continuation of a vein indicated by old workings and dumps several hundred feet up the hillside (Lorain pp. 62-63).
Mining
High-grade gold ore was being mined by hand methods and shipped from the lower workings. Ore of less than shipping grade, together with dump ore from the old dumps, was being treated in a small mill.
Milling
Mine or dump ore was dumped on a 2-inch grizzly, the oversize from which ent to a 5- by 7-inch jaw crusher, thence to a small ore bin.
From the bin, ore went to a 10-stamp Straub prospectors mill, thence over a 35- by 90-inch amalgam plate )in two sections), followed by two 33- by 54-inch blanket tables used alternately.
Mill extraction was about 83 percent on $10 to $12 heads. Mill capacity was 12 to 15 tons of oxidized ore in 24 hours. Power was furnished by a McCormick Deering tractor belted to the line shaft (Lorain pp. 63).
If you look at the bottom of the stamp-mill you will find crushed ores from the glory days still in there. All of the original stamps are still there.
In 1993, the claim was assessed and the surveyors noted no less than 8 "dangerous" adits. Likely these were mine openings that were perfectly safe. Regardless, there was a reclamation performed and the mine exists as you see it today. It is possible to enter the mine through the lower entrance as noted above. The current owner has opened the mine and then covered it again for the winter. It would take about 15 minutes to re-open it.
There is a lot going on above ground. Two old cabins sit in various states of decay just off the main road that runs through the camp. The outhouse is in surprisingly good condition. As you work up the hill into the workings there is evidence of a large shaft and a massive amount of tailings and dump piles that show good ore and still need to be crushed. The old mine road passes by at least 2 other closed adits on the way to the old crusher battery. The Crusher is quickly losing its battle with the hillside, but it is still in complete and functional condition. A bit of power and stabilizing and it would be ready to go.
Farther down from the crusher is the lower adit. This is the one that is currently open and the richest of the mines. This is the one you will want to focus on. There are no less than 20,000 tons of tailings on the claim. There are some sections of good, high-grade gold ore. It's all staged up by the crusher. Nothing remains of the shaker tables or plates.
There is a good flow of water that runs though the claim. Below the stamp-mill, the creek flattens out to a perfect place for gold to settle. Everything from the side of the mountain flows down into this creek during the springtime and settles, just waiting for someone to work it. The stream shows some mica and pyrite, indicating that it is heavily mineralized. We've staked a placer claim over the stream. There are no signs of the stream ever being worked. Also, lower on the creek the owner noted several people working placer claims in the summer of 2015.
Beautiful aspens and pines provide all the timber you would ever need to support your mining operation. There is also a lot of downed and fallen timber that can be used for campfires and fuel. The owner stated he worked with the Forest Service in Sheridan, MT and the BLM in Dillon, MT and said they were extremely helpful and could not have been nicer. Sheridan, Montana is a small town of roughly 650 people and a great place to spend your summer.
Additional Information
Survey Notes
This is the main, lower working that has been reopened and then covered back up for the winter. It should take 15 minutes to reopen the mine and get inside. You would be hard-pressed to find a more mineralized mine. Pink Rotochrizite and green malachite.
Description of the rhodochrosite and malachite veins:
Rhodochrosite and malachite are both used for jewelry and highly sought after by specimen collectors. The Goldschmidt mine is simply full of these minerals! Colorado named Rhodochrosite as the state Mineral in 2002 and its Argentina's National Gemstone! The original miners threw all of these minerals away, now they have value. Large thick deep veins of pink and dark red, rich, rhodochrosite are found within the quartz lenses and are actually rich manganese carbonate and calcite. over 150 feet of 2-3 ft thick veins visible. Malachite (Green Quartz and Manganese) results from weathering of copper ores and is often found together with azurite, goethite and calcite. Except for its vibrant green color, the properties of malachite are similar to those of azurite and aggregates of the two minerals occur frequently. Malachite is more common and is typically associated with copper deposits around limestones, the source of the carbonate. The silver and gold deposits are found in close proximity to these veins where the vein turns into the soft black manganese and gray manganese gold clays, it's a step by step representation of how these veins were formed by hydrothermal vein minerals, along with other manganese minerals in low temperature ore deposits carrying the gold and silver and depositing them in pockets in the mines as they cooled. Simply put.... you look for the margins of the these veins for major color changes, as shown in the pictures. That is where you find the gold and silver in this mine, along with following the quartz stringers to the rich pockets. Towards the back of the mine everything changes and you find massive amounts of rich black manganese and quartz, untouched and ready to be pulled out and processed. As the Geologist stated "its a step by step representation of how the gold and silver deposits were formed". Now you know where to find gold in this mine.
Federally Registered Mining Claims ID: MMC230926, MMC231270
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