Page 159 - The Geology and Ore Deposits of Sierra County, New Mexico - Bulletin 10

MINING DISTRICTS 157
north. It has been opened by 400 feet or more of underground workings, which are now either caved or filled with water. Some stoping has been done on this vein, but the amount is not known. The vein at the surface is a 4-foot fracture zone in andesite, through which small stringers of quartz are irregularly distrib- uted. The dump from these workings is said to consist of 6,000 to 7,000 tons, over 50 per cent of which will pass a 10-mesh opening without further crushing. According to small-scale tests, these fines contain nearly all of the gold and assay $5 per ton. In 1932 this dump was under lease, and the operators were engaged in installing a second-hand Plat-0 table, upon which, they said, laboratory tests indicated that a concentrate worth $100 per ton in free gold and sulfides could be made.
The Ready Pay vein is located in Ready Pay Gulch. Near the south end it is on the west sidehill below the Sherman vein, but about half way to the head of the canyon it crosses the creek bed and then continues up the slope on the east side. The main shaft, old millsite, boiler house and campsite are located in the canyon. The plant is completely dismantled and the shaft is caved, and the mine workings could not be entered. From the surface, however, it could be seen that the vein is a fractured zone in andesite breccia, varying from 10 to 15 feet in width, and that this zone is traversed in all directions by stringers of min- eralized quartz. The ore is said to occur within the vein in shoots, one of which was 400 feet long on the levels. Hard lumps of bornite up to 2 inches in diameter were said to,have been found in the vein, which would average $110 in value per ton.
Operations on the property were discontinued in 1908. The plant at that time consisted of a steam-driven hoist and a 30- ton amalgamation and concentration plant. The ore was ground in two Huntington mills and then treated on two plates and two Wilfley tables. The plant handled 24 tons per day for six months, during which time the full width of the vein was mined and treated. The mill heads ran $8 a ton and the tails $2.50, re- sulting in a saving of about $5.50 a ton. The ratio of concentra- tion was about 12 into 1, and the concentrate assayed about $66 per ton. The direct cost of producing a ton of concentrate is given as $23.50, of which labor accounted for $19.50 and fuel $4.00.
WICKS VEIN
The original discovery of placer gold is said to have been made in Wicks Gulch late in 1877. Wicks Gulch heads in a drainage basin of very small area on the southeast slope of the Animas Hills, and in a short time the source of the placer gold had been located in the Wicks vein, which can be traced along a dike from the highway leading into Hillsboro from Hot Springs, through to the south slope of Black Peak, where it dis- appears under the basalt capping of that hill. It is probable