Page 39 - Vol. 1 Walks In The Black Range - 2nd Edition

the subsurface at the Ready Pay shaft. Minor amounts of placer gold have been mined from the south end of Ready Pay Gulch.”
George Townsend Harley’s 1934 paper “New Mexico State Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Bulletin 10, The Geology and Ore Deposits of Sierra County, New Mexico” is a seminal work on the geology and mining of this area. At page 140 he notes that mining and/or development work was being done at the Ready Pay site during 1931-1933. At page 157 he describes the operations at Ready Pay as:
"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 mineralized 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, resulting in a saving of about $5.50 a ton. The ratio of concentration 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."
In the 1957 Bulletin 39 of the State Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources - “The Metal Resources of New Mexico and Their Economic Features Through 1954” Eugene Carter Anderson notes that (p. 124) “lode mines that operated at intervals during the period 1935-1938 were the...Ready Pay.”
The photographs shown here were taken at the upper and most southerly of the shafts at the site. The photograph on the previous page shows the headframe and equipment (primarily old winches). The photograph at the top of the next page shows the concrete foundation for one of the structures at the site and other items of interest. The photographs on the previous and on the following pages were taken on May 31, 2016.