Gold Rush Expeditions, Inc. is proud to present the Historic Foster Gold Mining Claim. This is a 20 acre lode mining claim for sale exclusively through Gold Rush Expeditions, Inc. The claim is located just outside of Silver City, New Mexico and has been properly staked and marked at all corners. All Gold Rush Expeditions, Inc. claims have been meticulously surveyed, mapped and researched. Field work is completed by our own experienced, well versed Mine Survey Team.

Burro Mountains Mining District – Grant County, New Mexico
You can drive directly to the mine entrance.
Easy 2wd dirt road with the exception of the last ¾ mile. The last ¾ miles require high clearance 4WD less than 50 inches in length.
Contact us for exact coordinates

Somewhat remote turn of the century mine that may have been rehabbed in the early 80’s when the gold prices spiked. Outfitted with a metal ore chute. Original headframe still in place. Shaft appears to be in excellent condition, cribbed with large timbers, manway and ore pass. View clear and unobstructed as far down as lights could show down the shaft. There is a flat of staged ores that are ready to be processed outside the mine. It appears these ores were recently (30-40 years) pulled up and staged to be processed but never shipped off site. These ores show good gold with pyrite and quartz. There is a large reclamation gating system over the shaft and incorporated into the headframe. It would be necessary to get a POO approved to receive a key from the FS/BLM for legal access into the underground workings. Surveyor assessment is that this would be a rich mine that will produce good gold values as evidenced by the ores found on the surface. Mine is in the outer halos of the Tyrone mine which is a porphyry copper deposit. A small team of miners could work this at a reasonable rate of return.

There is a skewed report from 1964-5 that discusses a clean out that was done of the shaft by Lewis Foster. He shipped the muck and returned a good bit of zinc which was considered a strategic mineral at the time. It was still illegal for people to hold gold or gold bars, so Mr. Foster continued his workings but never shipped anything else. Instead the gold ore piled up outside.

Mr. Foster, who continued to work the mine for gold until 1965. He reportedly stated that the gold ban couldn't last forever. Mr. Foster vanished off the site in 1965 and no further information was found. Mr. Foster never saw his return as the Gold act was not repealed until 1974.

The return of gold is very high in the area and ores often average 800-1000 ounces of gold per ton in pockets and lenses. There are documented reports of gold recovery at 2000 ounces to the ton. At todays gold prices, a pocket like that would gross $2.4 Million per ton. An incredible number that would make a millionaire with very little work today.

The Burro Mountains and the adjacent region to the south and west are subdivided into five geologic provinces by two, and probably three, major northwest-trending faults: the Mangas, the Malone, and a fault 2 miles northeast of the Malone fault. (See fig. 30.) Northeast of the Mangas fault the Little Burro Mountains consist of a complex of pre-Cambrian granite, late Cretaceous or early Tertiary monzonitic intrusions, Tertiary volcanic rocks, and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks (Paige, 1916). Southwest of the Mangas fault is the Mangas Valley, which consists of Gila conglomerate of Pliocene and Pleistocene age and more recent sands and gravels. Southwest of the Mangas Valley pre-Cambrian granite constitutes most of the Big Burro Mountains, but it is intruded by the quartz monzonite Tyrone stock and" by dikes of diverse composition. On the southwest side Of the Big Burro Mountains a graben valley occurs between the Malone fault and the fault 2 miles to the northeast. This graben contains Tertiary volcanic rocks overlain by Gila conglomerate, both units dipping steeply northeast. Southwest of the Malone fault pre-Cambrian granite and included schists and quartzites are present. Quaternary sands and gravels and possibly Gila conglomerate occupy the basins south and southeast of the Burro Mountains.[1]

From a 1964 report,

The Foster zinc mine in the NW¼ sec. 26, T. 19 S., R. 16 W. is half a mile northeast of the Bismuth Lode shaft and along the same prominent silicified fault zone. Sphalerite was found on the dump of an old shaft by Lewis Foster, Silver City, in 1940 or 1941. The shaft had been put down for gold, copper, and silver prior to 1900. Foster cleaned out the shaft and shipped at least 16 tons of ore containing 15 per cent zinc in 1950 (L. L. Osmer, Jr., oral communication). The mine has been idle since 1951, and water filling the shaft made it inaccessible in 1961. The shaft is about 80 feet deep, with a 40-foot-long drift to the northeast and stopes above the drift.

The vein at the shaft strikes N. 55° E. and dips 75° NW. A rhyolite dike forms the footwall here but cuts across the vein a short distance northeast of the shaft. The hanging wall is much fractured and kaolin­ized. The vein consists mostly of quartz and pyrite, and considerable iron oxide and hydrous iron oxide occur on the outcrop. Sphalerite was found in the mine only below a narrow kaolin-filled fracture which cuts diagonally across the vein on the 45-foot level, dipping 70° SE. It was plentiful northeast of the shaft where it was concentrated adjacent to rhyolite. Much pyrite was associated with the sphalerite, and above the diagonal fault, small pods of pyrite were observed in the vein up to the 25-foot level.[1]

Access to the Mine: You can drive directly to the mine entrance.
Tailings Present: 1001-9999 tons. Lots of iron and quartz possible galena/zinc and pyrites. 10,000 pounds of separated high grade ore that is staged outside the mine and ready to be shipped out but has not been shipped. This ore ready for shipping shows quartz, pyrites, gold, galena. Claimant could start by processing these staged ores before heading into the underground workings.
Entrance: Shaft is cribbed as far down as surveyors could see. There is a newer reclamation gate that has keyed access.
Mine Cut: Shaft
Depth / Length: Reported as less than 500' - unverified
Minerals in the Mine: Gold, Silver, Pyrite, Zinc
Foot Traffic in the Mine: None
Last Worked: 1970s

Federally Registered Mining Claim ID:NMMC198650