Silver Mining & Smelting Cerro Gordo Ore - Exploring an Abandoned Silver Mine & Refining Rich Ore

hey guys my name is Jason with Mount Baker Mining  and metals and on today's video I'm going to do a   follow-up to a video I did about six months ago  where I went down and saw Brent Underwood and   Sarah Gordo and we went down into his underground  workings and mined some of this really super high   grade lead silver ore now if you're new to the  channel or if you want to review that video I'll   put it right after this shot so you can get caught  up but if you've seen it already or you just want   to jump ahead and figure out how much silver and  lead is in this ore I'll put a time stamp up here   in the corner so you can jump ahead hey guys my  name is Jason with Mount Baker Mining and metals   and on today's video we're back here at the Cerro  Gordo Ghost Town we're getting ready to go down   into the Union mine and grab some ore okay Brent  tell us where we're at and what we're doing we are   at the union mine here at Cerro Gordo and this is  the reason we're all here really this is the main   mine at Cerro Gordo and Sarah Gordo back in the  1860s and 1870s was the largest silver mine in   California and so this hole that's just through  these doors goes 900 feet straight down and off   of every 200 feet or so there's branches and in  total there's about 30 miles of Mines underneath   Cerro Gordo um and today we're going to try to go  to the 400 level and then actually a little bit   further beyond that down in or shoot to attempt to  get at this wall of Galena that some of the miners   Left Behind uh the difficulty with that is right  now we're sitting at what we call the zero level   the ground so we are going to go 400 feet down  and to do that we're going to use a hoist that uh   you know it's the original chef of the 1860s the  Hoist might be from the 1910s when they upgraded   it but uh if we go behind this uh official  security rope yeah this is it this is the   page uh as you can see directly below this is 900  foot drop and so this moves a little bit because   it's being suspended by this cable so today this  cable is uh our Lifeline so this goes up it goes   over to the Hoist over there that slowly lowers us  down and so this would have been where the miners   were coming and going even back in the 1860s uh  these days this is the only way to enter the Union   mine here at Cerro Gordo so there's no outside  portals anymore there were back in the day but   they've all collapsed and so if you want to get  down to any of the levels this is your ticket   um and I guess we'll go over here I'll show you  kind of where the Hoist is this is this is the   kind of conductors chair here so when this gets  going today the guy running it will be sitting   here um we've added this hydraulic system after  the fact to assist with kind of the whole process   he will be looking for two or three things so  the dial up there is levels of the mind so 86   means 86 feet underground 200 200 feet down  400 where we're going 400 feet down 550 700   Etc the 900 is the lowest level and so what  you'll be doing is kind of low enters down   watching that dial to get a vague idea of where  we are when it gets close we have this pointer   here that on the cable when it's exactly flush  with the level we've spray painted the cable oh   yeah so you'll be looking to line up the pointer  with the spray paint um and we will have radio   communications hopefully the whole way down  it's not a guarantee sometimes it comes and   goes we have to use flashlights but our hope is  today there'll be an operator here there'll be   a relay man over by the hole to relay any radio  communications that they can't hear because once   this thing gets going uh and if you're watching  at home you might want to turn down the volume but   wow yeah and so when he's running the Hoist he  won't necessarily be able to hear some radio   communications so that's what we're gonna do  and so this this hoist house was you know this   is where all that can happen back in the day sure  and over time different things happened where the   original voice theater would have been steam you  know because the main mining Arrow was in 1860s   1870s they didn't get power to Sarah Roberto  till about 1916. um and so the original steam   points was mounted there uh later they got this  Ingersoll Rand air compressor wow this would have   been used for you know the infamous Rock drills  and all the Machinery that they might have had   um but the crazy thing to me is whenever I look  at this all this I've had had a couple of mules   you know all right up that crazy Road and some  of it sure you you could build it in place and   some of those cats you know like half of that  wheel is cast and so that's thousands of pounds   that they had to get up um but  they're we are kind of like   going through today the lineage of Sarah Gordo  I guess because we're going down the original   Shaft the most Infamous and famous mine shaft  in California for a while yeah and hopefully   retrieving or that they left behind and uh see  if we can get some silver out of it yeah well   you're kind of I mean very literally walking in  the footsteps of these old miners you're keeping   it alive yeah in 2022. that's what makes you  so exciting for me is that you know people can   talk about the Union money you can read about it  in a book and they can talk about the 400 level   and they'll talk about a stop But like after being  down there now I know exactly what they're talking   about and it makes my experience here much more  Rich you know and much more exciting yeah Brad I'm   excited I'm super excited to go down that hole  today hopefully we can find some Galena and uh   girl get some get some lead and silver out of  it okay this is us going down the big drop here   how far are we going 400 feet down 400 feet  down yep so look for some lead and a little   bit of silver yes okay well we'll let you guys  know when we hit the 400 level fast does this   thing go this is at the top speed right here yeah  so we so sometimes you get to the 700 foot level   it takes about 40 minutes and so if we're going  to 400 might probably be about 15-20 minutes okay   and what I find is interesting is as we're going  down you'll see uh different timbering being used   and different uh things that I'll kind of point  out along the way so right here this is our water   pipe that we put in so the only known water source  of Cerro Gordo is at the 700 foot level okay and   so we ran 700 foot of new pecs all the way up and  then we tried to insulate it so it wouldn't freeze   in the winter at least down to the 200 level where  there's air flowing in oh um and so that's what   you're seeing here next to it is some of the old  conduit for some of the wiring when they wired it   down there that no longer works and this was all  done in the 1860s 70s yeah uh yeah exactly 1860s   70s and then we're running down these these wooden  rails here go all the way down and yep the cage   kind of has these Forks that keep you from  spinning so we're passing right now is this is   the 86 level so this is the first level um down  you can see there's a little bit of a stop here   um and then it goes up you can kind of see  where the it went off to the left right over   there oh yeah and so that's the 86 level and the  next left I love after this is gonna be the 200.   you attack loud and clear we were  pretty pretty close on it yeah   um yeah stuff like this hand team stuff  I think it's crazy just oh yeah kind of   chops they had to do to put in this timbering  basically using what they had yeah and a lot   of the wood came from kind of around here  yeah until they ran out of it yeah and so and so with the with the 86 level it's probably  fine yes it's probably fine with the 86 level   have you been and explored that at all or is  that yeah you have okay most levels here have   done pretty good exploration I saw the knight at  the 86 level once oh did you yeah just for fun   seems like that's something to  do as you see like here like the   the extra tape isn't really fluttering at all  see it's not just standing still oh yeah when   we get down to the 200 you'll see it like  really start moving because there's that   Omega is an outside portal in it's collapsed since  but there's obviously still enough room for the   air to get around the collapse and do some air  movement and so uh that is what will happen down   a little bit further okay and that's kind of  the last opening to the outside as you go down   there's the 200 level or preview so now it's  all collapsed but or collapsed enough where   a human can get through and the 200 level  is uh is like I said it's boarded fully up   um because there was a the most deadly clap  that Sarah will happen to the 200 level or   like 30 miners overstoked something the  ceiling fell down on them in the 1870s   and that's the story where their bodies were  never recovered Yep they're still there okay   I think we're coming up on the 400 level huh Yep  this is uh we're almost home all right hopefully   not home for too long there it is this is 400.  let me see all right it's got your pass stop um you gotta go up about three feet all right stop hey perfect  driver all right lock it down okay 400 level we're good so uh right now it is   it it's 8 42. uh let's call it 9 30  we'll be back to the cage to check in see you then all right okay I'll let you go first I won't step off right  off the edge here yep so this is us this is   coming to the 400. um the hope is that we fill this bag before yeah it'd  be nice and the 400 is probably one of my favorite   levels uh it goes and it's gonna split we're gonna  go to the left and I'll show you some cool things   but um if people watch the channel I'm always  hunting for The elusive uh Levi jeans oh yeah the   original Levi's yeah and this is the this level  is the only level I ever found a pair torn to   shreds and terrible and they're not worth anything  but uh so I have this 400 level holds a special   place in my heart for that reason alone okay so  you're telling me keep my eyes peeled for jeans   okay we're gonna go mining and clothes shopping  yes vintage clothes vintage clothes shopping   so I I've I struggled a little bit when I was  here last about understanding kind of the the   The Ore veins and the shoots I mean there's no ore  in this in what we're walking through right now do   you have kind of a grasp on why and when well yeah  or like where the stops are and yeah so so for my   I don't know if it's better with that one yeah I  can do either way so from my understanding there's   two main ore deposits in Cerro Gordo there is  the Jefferson chimney which is over that way and   there's a union chimney those over this way and  these were surface there were chippies right so   surface deposit that went down 1100 feet or more  okay huge veins are just pure Galena and so from   what I understood they sank the shaft in between  the two to get access to both of those okay   um but along the way there was also pockets of  Galena throughout and so you can see them just   kind of Meandering occasionally gotcha but  the main order they're going after was the   Jefferson chimney that way and the union  chimney this way and the Jefferson chimney   it's crazy you know like I've roped into it um but  it's just like a pit these days that goes you know   hundreds and hundreds of feet down um and so the  ending of the shafts in both or the drifts both   this way and this way would have been into either  of those chimneys and then I think along the way   they discovered little pockets and so that's we're  gonna go to this little pocket that must have been   too low grade for them from my understanding when  they were first mining here if they didn't have   I can't remember the exact dollar amount if it  wasn't the highest grade or possible they just   leave it oh so much high grade stuff here that  they were just don't worry about that don't   worry about that don't worry about that the pocket  that we're gonna do is like we'll say don't worry   about that we have so much better stuff elsewhere  they've gotten most of that out of here but uh   it's still Galena it's still for Sarah gorgeous  it's still really cool to me yeah absolutely it   was still lead and silver so lead and silver and  so we're still so if to the right would have been   the Jefferson where are you gonna go towards  the union chimney but we're not gonna go to it   because it's also collapsed okay over the years  there was two main eras here there was the um   there was the lead and silver era which would have  been about 1860 to about 1880 and at that point uh   the main veins were gone the the price of silver  plummeted around then and so it wasn't worthwhile   so everybody kind of packed it up and left um  and then around 1910 a guy named L.D Gordon came   and he realized that while everybody was paying  attention to the Gleaner the lead and the silver   no way I was paying attention to the zinc so  he started mining zinc again so if he brought   back this era of prosperity for another like 40  years they were mining uh zinc here so some of   it I think they would go back they obviously went  back down into the Union line and reworked some of   the different levels for sure yeah um and so like  this you know I imagine there's backfilled or you   know just right I want to take this all out on the  skip so there was like let's I'm sure hitting some   old tunnel that we're not using anymore I know  what's interesting to me it's like if you look   over here you'll see these like exit signs yeah  there's no exit over there anymore I think that   was referring to getting to the union chimney  the main ore deposit but since it's collapsed   to get there so sometimes times a lot of times  like here you'll see these exit signs to nothing   which is a bit disorienting yeah don't  follow the signs don't follow the side okay so okay here's where it gets real okay this story  gets very real so this ladder goes like this then   there's about a 10 foot straight thing then  there's an or shoot uh that goes like this to   this wall that has some glue in it in it still  okay um there's also some kind of like you can   see right there yeah right um yeah there's some  here here and I um down there there's more and   then over here okay there used to be some other  like ball box or something you know so it seemed   like sometimes it was important intersection  all right packing it in there's all sorts of uh there we go a little star bit  nice a cross bit stuff around here   obviously that way is no longer yeah  really the way for us but uh yeah   I just like to think about even the timbering  alone that they brought back here there's so much   stuff well I'm like I mean even today I mean look  at that timber that's that's got to be worth like   a hundred dollars you know and there's just and  it's just piled in here and yeah broke up there's   you know if you're if you're at just just for  the timber today right I spent a month just   taking the timbering out and re refinishing it a  little bit yeah I got some pretty good Timber yeah   yeah that's what you should do is self-serogardo  Timber it's an old uh tobacco tin oh nice take   a guess that's Prince Albert it was and  they must it looks like they filled it with   so from what I've been told the old miners would  fill with carbide okay so that way they'd have a   little bit of it so when their lamp would go out  you know oh they could put in and refill it so I   I'm imagining that that's carbide inside the old  tobacco tin if you look there yeah it says like   oh yeah tobacco and pipe  smoke Etc et cetera yeah yeah   those are everywhere uh we'll just  dropped them around oh yeah more of them okay well yeah let's uh let's go down this  ladder uh so it gets very narrow right there okay   um like we're right there at the so what we could  do is I can go back I'll grab that rope from over   there so at least we have something to hold on  to and then I think that's probably the best   method because it's really narrow there then it  drops a straight vertical for like 10 feet then   it's it's much more casual then you're inside  of an old or shoot for the rest of the way but   this first little bit is the most little hairy  part oh and the LA I see the ladder there on   the left now yeah it's over yeah it's kind  of a weird blind thing a little transition   at least we had a rope that way we have something  to hold on is your 10 feet the same as my 10 feet   or is your 10 feet 30 feet for me uh it's it's  tennis we'll find out when I get down there huh   for sure okay that's a good rock that's our Rock  we're this is the type of stuff I usually don't   that's the winner there that's the winning  Roth okay the pipe will keep it in place um this is the stuff I don't show well maybe  this won't make it on the video then so   I'll I'll go first off straighten all this  out sure and then I'll yell when I'm to the   there's a landing down there after you go  down the vertical part there's a landing   um so I'll yell once I get down to the landing  okay cool is this a static rope and stack rope is   it it has a tendency to get tangled around itself  so it's going to be of that sounds like a winner   yeah I'll I'll go down the game plan is we have  a Roto Hammer but if the Roto Hammer doesn't work   in the old school hammer and chisel yeah we'll do  some single jacking so I was looking here at this   Galena and I'm trying to find like the indicator  right right like you know some sometimes there   will be a bake Zone where that when the hot  fluids came up you can see within three feet of   but it doesn't look like there's hardly it's just  little Blobs of Galena yeah it's not it's not very   easily you know identified so I think imagine  when they see something this ignore it all   because then what's that worth nothing yeah yeah  nothing exactly to then they're like oh here's a   little bit right so they just I just called her  good and kept moving but I guess you know you   could also argue that because they had this little  show here and so they did this little right wins   you know shaft down trying to follow the source  yep and I think I found it so when we get down   there you'll see it's a pretty big uh it's a  pretty good working since we get down there okay   okay we came down a ladder we got down Brent's 10  feet which she said uh it's probably actually 20   feet and now uh and now we're going down and you  look down uh oh yeah oh yeah so we're going down   that and speaking of timbering work that's some  pretty I mean imagine the guy that had to build   this box that's beautiful work so we're gonna go  down this box uh I was gonna call it 30 feet might   be 50 feet um and then right at the end of this  is the Galena that we're going after oh cool so   again I'll go I'll kind of show us the way I'll  do the classic oh boy there goes all our tools   I I can't grab you to do the work but the miners  did back in the day so I'll yell when I'm done   okay cool so is this it looks like this was the  man way and that's over there was the ore yeah   I believe so yeah because I've walked up that too  and I think this was the man way and over here uh   there's still a ladder in that one too actually  oh really um but if you look over there too they   had a shortcut in there and when we get down to  there there's this huge shoot that goes down to   the next level the Mind goes all the way to the  550 level oh yeah there's a lot of sub levels   too that'll be interesting to check out okay cool  yeah we'll go down there all right and here we go [Music] okay Brent says he's down so now it's my turn  unfortunately I don't think I can film this and   climb at the same time so I'll check in with you  at the bottom let's see that's kind of what I was   hoping to get at today yeah um I just saw some  on the ground um you can see from my previous   exempts you get some out but down there is where  it kind of gets real interesting oh yeah so that   goes down to the 550 foot level of the mine there  is a ladder off to the right to get there but it's   very sketchy and broken in a lot of places okay  um but I imagine here we hopefully will have   enough to get some if we take out some there over  there looks like some decent stuff yeah [Music]   uh still some stuff on the ground from last time  and so uh is this where you got the ORF that uh   half of the stuff that I bought to you yeah okay  here nice but like that that looks really nice   and shiny yeah a lot of good Galena there so  I just don't don't screw with these Timbers we   should be fine I know we're over there yeah yeah  yeah so what uh what are your impressions of the   mineralization I guess I think it's great I think  yeah I mean there's there's obviously this massive   Galena you got here yep and that's obviously  where the silver and the letter are going to   be running I still I still can't figure out like  is this this is this is obviously one of those   little pockets you were talking about earlier  um but where does it run I mean is it running   is it is it is it right and why didn't they  chase it maybe you're right this is just like   some of their uh this is this is okay stuff but  just leave it for now right or do you think that   they are chasing down this that could be yeah  that very well could be chasing straight down   um or up but maybe from before there's also  the sub level right below us too right below   this wooden we're on a wooden platform we  should also sketch okay so right under us   there's some workings yes a bunch of workers  that go back oh is there glean in those   I don't know there's a lot of dynamite boxes I was  more interested in oh okay it's down there okay   yeah this so it's interesting because the stuff  here like this isn't it's much more mixed than   I've seen in other places other places you only  see the Galena you know here it looks to be   in like all sorts of weird rock um and so yeah  hopefully we can collect enough to do a sample   or something yeah and uh if we if we forget  the out is uh oh out that way okay very clear   yeah cool well yeah let's uh let's see what  we can knock off here I don't I mean it's   obviously not going to take very much to get  50 pounds yeah so so tools look at this got   a hammer got a harness just in case but there we  go it's the thing you're throwing down all those uh-huh [Music] there we go cool we're set   well looks like there's a beauty right there just  ready to fall off just pop that guy off yeah see   what happens you want me to film for you yeah sure  why not but I can do double double duty all right   so what do you think just try to take that whole  piece yeah I think yeah and we can once we get   it off we can always hydrate it up a little bit  if there's hit off all the weights yeah foreign first off oh yeah I need to reassess my strategy yeah is it   getting a little Letty over there  a little Letty but more like hard [Music] and I'd love for this whole piece to kind of  fall yeah that would be nice but it seems like   it's pretty well on there and it appears my  last time down here I was drilling here here so some of the stuff in there is like  really high yeah good looking staff the old miners are just rolling over and they're  great I know they're so yeah so upset with us   right now what's this guy doing what are you  doing down here at the framing hammer laughs there you go oh yeah there you go we definitely do something with that maybe cut  off some of the waste stuff on the side sure [Music] oh yeah that's a good piece yeah jumping at you now foreign anything in that orange Rusty oh yeah there  we go that's the winner yeah look at there   that's what we want adding up that yeah I  know we're gonna be retired before too long yeah can I give it an action you  want to get in there sure I'll get   in there yeah I'll do the double uh  yeah watch me hit my Knuckles just yeah you took all the good stuff yep that's a  good piece I like that yeah good looking stuff oh that's there we go that's heavy  there's a nice one that's a good stuff   here we go that's a good  piece that's the winner there don't worry it down here oh yeah oh buddy there we go and there's  some so that's where there's like really   fine grain stuff here and they're like  bigger coarser crystals right I don't know   take it off take it all well that's  a good piece oh yeah look at that wow it's just kind of yeah oh we'll  clean some of it up too I think   looks like right at the edge there  see right there right here and right   right where the hammer is that oh  it seems to be a decent piece there oh wow as far as Aesthetics that  looks yeah really cool you see that it is [Music] nothing like lead to start a little  lead in the morning start your day   see what I can just kind of yeah if I can  get into that yeah all right here we go that sounds pretty hard let's go  up yeah you were you've been in   here already yeah I've been trying to get  in there the drill marks and Hammer yeah you're definitely making progress  it's going in somewhere yeah they're jammed in there pretty good I mean it's going a quarter no quarter of an  inch every two hits you're making progress yeah maybe I should make it a hole I thought  yeah it's getting ready to load here [Music] now the old boys did it yeah oh I really want this piece yeah do you  want to try the drill or anything that's   not anything uh sure we can try the drill  I mean it's up to you it's I'm tired so It's hammer drill or just drill huh oh you've been yeah [Music] that's our strategy here I was wondering if we start taking out  the bottom you know yeah that might work oh it wants to because all this stuff is soft down here yeah I don't know if that piece is going yeah well well that was fun mining how much we got down  here yeah three things they break off the yeah   just kind of yeah you can whatever we don't want  [Music] here's some Mad Dash back to the yeah back   to the lift boy this is a little bit more weight  this time so you've got you've got easily 50 in   your pack right yeah at least probably and I've  got I don't know 20 in my pockets yeah good yeah here we go okay you want me to come right  behind you or you want to wait till you're up   we kind of like coming up close behind  you let me uh yeah let me do that   all right we got our bag we're up back on the  400 level above that sub level we're running   back to the hoist to tell Scotty we're doing fine  grab the tools Brent's packing some weight there so we'll get this back up above might do a  little bit of exploration while we're down here   after we get this stuff to the skip see how it goes I don't  know if you've seen any but   the minor at least here seem to do a lot of ducks  as graffiti Ducks yeah like quack quack Ducks yeah   uh no I've never seen or heard about  that before yeah or something oh yeah 1935 have you seen uh like anybody  any names you recognize like   belshaw or no I didn't see any of those guys yeah   um because you got any Roy that seems to put his  name everywhere oh yeah he had a habitual tagger oh yeah oh yeah those look like old like cattle  brands almost or something yeah [Music]   Black Death yeah perfect that's interesting to see all the dates what  is that ghost ghost oh somebody bending over   I see I got it now it took me a minute  to get get oriented with that drawing I've taken this also somebody  reversed it which is oh yeah   um and this says like 550. oh you lay down to the  550 over there yeah since it's just like and then   it's so confusing because then it says like  exit and then out that way Ed Chapman yeah Truman yeah I think but you go  down this and it was just caved   yeah very present let me go anywhere  huh I'd say this must have been zinc   era out because he'd say 1933 out oh  yeah it's like they're oh there we go   a duck yeah so these are all like around the mind  all over them like dozens of ducks huh that's   gotta be a Cerro Gordo thing or they're signifying  to like Duck oh that could be foreign [Music] yeah why why there why go up yeah   yeah I'm baffled by the by the out yeah you  know so there's like we're in an intersection   of four-way intersection and none of these go  anywhere no they all go to caves Cadence huh so right right out this way out that  way so the the tune you're thinking   the chimneys used to be one of the main  ways out for the for the miners and then [Music] this is this area was where I found the Levi they're like  here really that's a big moment for me what what   was someone taking their pants off here for  I don't know what's going on here oh gloves so you just found some old Levi's I actually knows  right here I remember now because you can see kind   of see hey I left some of the remnants oh it kind  of yeah some of the scraps of the and you said   well I sure last time you contacted Levi's about  yeah their archive jeans or whatever they they can   date them for me and then there's a guy named Brit  Eaton who all he does is explores my swirl genes   and he knows the guy that pulled a bunch of pairs  original jeans out here back in the day oh um and   he has his big bag that says Sarah Gordon it's uh  pantalones and she says from the 1870s whoa really   yeah so somebody beat you to it oh my God that's  uh blasting cap right on the end of a oh yeah   so yeah on the old fuse yeah yeah well  if you were to open up one of the caved   workings which which level would it be or where  where around would it be so you're at a 700 foot   level I think I got close to the Jefferson  chimney um and I'd want to push that back a   little further or the Omega tunnel because we  can get that from the surface to your point if   it's easier to get equipment from the surface  oh right if we could push the Omega back if   that goes into the 200 which is a very Infamous  level yeah and you can go just from the outside   and then just drive into the Omega yeah which  would probably be easier to your point getting   equipment yeah well and if you already have um a  hole there that you're just making bigger or yeah yeah more oh yeah oh yeah yeah he looks happy   but it's classed by that way further okay pretty  good kind of Gucci yeah like that clay yeah   get back to the Hoist yeah okay we're on our way  back up we'll look over the edge here there's   where it goes down long ways but we're going up  can you see daylight up there oh yeah look at her there that's that's something all right we're  headed back up we got our Galena yep we're gonna   go do some assays with Brent and then hopefully  I can take some home and make something cool with   it yeah it's a plan all right thanks for coming  down yeah thanks for having me this is this is   awesome this is so much fun for you guys that  can't tell we're in a cage slowly going up uh   from 400 feet down yeah we got to go 400 feet up  at at this fast yeah all right see on the surface almost back almost returning  from the depths of the Earth yeah with our riches [Laughter] whoa sunlight yep almost there we made it [Music] no no but we bought  some Galino which is that's pretty good all right Perfect Look at that nice Beauty okay we made it yay we brought our uh  our Hall with us our dirty stuff here yeah yeah I don't know that might  that might be too good to melt   down huh pretty nice that's a really nice  specimen yeah look it's almost looks like   there's like pyrite in there you see that  oh yeah the yellow that's super cool yeah down to me there we go right there   I don't really think that's sulfur over  there yeah actually uh my guess is that's   probably lead oxide oh because the so the  sulfides have oxidized yeah yeah exactly yeah yeah it's not that whole not a bad haul okay  I've got my ore and I'm headed home I'm out   of here well it was good Happening Here it's a  lot of fun um I think that the Galena is in good   hands yeah so I'm excited to see what we can  do with it I think uh the verdict is still out   what we'll do with it which is exciting we'll  figure out something fun to do but what do you   think there's maybe 50 60 pounds in there I bet  there's there's 50 anyway yeah for sure yeah yeah   maybe 60 70. we'll see we'll see from there and  uh as always doors always open they didn't want   to come back that was fun and we'll get the asset  results so we'll figure out what's the highest uh   quality ore here at Cerro  Gordo yeah that'd be cool we're looking at right now it's a lot like rocks  and so to go from this to uh a lead silver mix   we're pretty exciting so and if you guys have  any suggestions on what I should do with this   lead silver metal that I'm going to make out  of this ore uh let me know leave me a message   leave Brent a message and yeah stay tuned for  his video on uh on the silver smelting yeah   and the essay so all right well I will part ways  with you here the video continues yes so we will   trim this Galina into lead and silver perfect  okay thanks again for having me yeah good time   all right okay I guess if it fits it ships  so I'm going to mail this back to myself   we'll get the let out so here's a quick look  at our stuff and it is really really heavy   but you can see all the Galena in there and  supposedly the research I've done and what I've   heard from Brent and some others is the super  fine-grained Galena is where the most silver is   and the coarser stuff is  more lead so you've got stuff like that down there looks pretty good actually  that whole piece looks pretty darn good   so our first thing we got to do is I got to  get this stuff crushed up and I'm going to   weigh it so we know how much we have to start  with and then that'll tell us the yield when   we're done and what percent lead and silver we  got so let's go get this crushed up we're going   to use one of our 6x10 jaw Crushers here and  I'm going to feed the raw ore down this Hopper   and it crushes down through the Jaws and  this dry Crusher will take about a five and   a half or six inch Rock and crush it down  to half inch minus it'll do between one to   three tons per hour and we have electric  and gasoline versions for remote sites well here it is all crushed up about half inch minus three quarter minus as  you can see it's just a lot of it's just massive   Galena there's not even any waste  in there it's just almost all Galena   and I got it weighed here the bucket weighs 55  pounds hold the bucket and everything weighs   57 I take off two pounds for the bucket but if  anybody's dealt with rocking a bucket before a   full bucket of quartz or like gold ore like I run  sometimes is about 50 pounds this is maybe half of   the scalina and it's the same weight 50 pounds so  it's really really dense stuff really really heavy   here is our very full Crucible now what I've added  here is 30 pounds of the Cerro Gordo ore which is   about half what we need to smelt and then I've  added four parts soda ash and one part silica   sand and I've just put a little cap of borax on  top to help with the oxides absorbing any oxides   that are in there and I'm going to add a bunch of  iron in there once it gets up to temperature and   gets molten and they'll important a cone mold  and the lead will go down to the bottom of the   cone mold and I made a video earlier showing  a little bit more of this process and I'll put   a card up in one of these Corners so if you get  interested in a little more detail in the smelting   you can check out that other video okay here's a  quick little run down on our furnace we got our   Crucible in there cable top and walls propane  tank feeds into this little injector here and   I've got a shop vac a little valve to adjust the  flow of air to get the right oxygen propane ratio [Music] thank you all right sure there we go foreign let that cool down and see what we got okay let's tip our cone mold over here foreign there we go the Cerro Gordo lead man it's heavy   we got our scale zeroed there here's our block  we started with right about 30 pounds of ore   and based on the last time I did this we should  get about a two-thirds or maybe a little bit less   and we end up with 19.2 pounds of Cerro Gordo  lead bullion here I guess what you call it   so now I got to do this again I've got about 25  pounds of ore left so I'm going to do the same   process again and then we'll have two lead  pyramids and then we'll get the silver out   oh those are two cones of lead let's get them over  and get them weighed and then we'll get the silver   out all right there's our bucket we got 34.6  pounds of lead and silver alloy and we started   with 55 so that's right about 63 percent metal  from the raw ore all right so now what we're going   to do is we're going to take our two lead pyramids  we're gonna go back over to the big furnace and   I'm going to melt them down back into liquid form  and I'm going to add in about five percent zinc   and these are sacrificial anodes off of boats and  what the zinc does is the lead and the zinc are   are admissible they don't mix like oil and water  and the zinc is less dense so it floats on top so   we'll have a puddle or a you know a pond of liquid  lead and zinc that floats on top and I'm going to   mix that around and the silver and go if there's  any gold in there which I don't think there's much   if any is much more attracted to the zinc than the  lead so as you mix all that molten metal together   the silver gets absorbed into that zinc and then  it all comes up and floats on the top of the lead   Pond that we're going to make in there and then  as it cools down I'm going to slowly cool it down   and the zinc will solidify before the lead and  when I did this earlier I I scooped a bunch of   oxides and a bunch of junk up I'm going to be a  little more patient this time and I'm going to let   that that zinc crust form and solidify really hard  and I've actually heard you can just reach in and   pick it out with pliers and then we can process  the zinc separate to remove the silver and we'll   have our lead bullion that we can pour into bars  or ingots or whatever so let's see how this goes   back over at the big furnace we got our two lead  cones in there with the zinc there's those zinc   anodes and the the big boys if you're going to  do this back in the day they would use about two   percent zinc but I'm going to use a little bit  more because I've got some oxides on there I've   got a little slag I'm going to lose some you know  a scooping the slag off and stuff so I'm going to   use a little bit more just to make sure that  we get all the silver and we have enough zinc foreign foreign foreign guys well here is our zinc crust and man that step  is a pain I don't know I don't know if it's I've   got a little bit of slag or flux on there and it's  it's hard to pull it but it just it didn't I I had   the same problem I did last time I don't know if  I got it on film or not but it's just it's just   hard to get it separated um but now my step is  I'm gonna mix this up with some more flux it's   got mostly zinc and hopefully a huge percentage  of the silver like 99.5 percent of silver should   be in the zinc now I'm going to mix up a bunch  of oxidizer I'm going to oxidize away the zinc   I'm going to oxidize away any lead that's in there  and mix up a borax soda rich flux that'll absorb   all those oxides and then we should be left  with a silver button that we can then cupel   and refine down to pretty darn high percentage  of silver so I've got our zinc crust we got 500   grams of borax I got 500 grams of soda I got  250 grams of potassium nitrate as an oxidizer foreign and I've heard let me know if someone  knows about this I've heard that the   soda ash actually helps oxidize the zinc   and so that's why I put so much of that in  there that now we'll bring our Crucible over put that in there we'll get  it on our smaller furnace   melt it down and pour it into our cone mold thank you that's all the zinc fumes coming off now what I want to do is I want to take  some of our lead and melt it down again   and I bought this little graphite mold but I'm  excited to try these things I want to try and   start pouring some precious metal bars I've got a  silver one ounce bar that I'm gonna try with the   silver we have Cooling in the cone mold right  now but I'm going to try and melt down One of   These Bars maybe I might cut it in half and pour  a few of these ingots here and see how they go   well I don't know if you can see down there but I  just dropped one of our ingots down into that hot   crucible that we just poured or silver zinc  crust out of there's our Ingot molds I just   measured the temperature on them they're  about 350 degrees Fahrenheit the lead is   molten down there so let's see if we can pour  that led in that Ingot mold okay let's try it all right let's see what worked here hey that's pretty cool look at that all right it's still hot let's do another one oh I like that that's fun I don't  really know how long you have to wait it's been Maybe 20 seconds oh yeah all right let's see what we got  here this will be our silver foreign that's mostly silver little button here going 70 grams so hopefully a lot of that silver  let's go put it in the cupel in the furnace   we're going to put our button and  the furnace here in this cucal and that's gonna oxidize all the lead  and any zinc that's left in there   and I'll leave this with pure silver take a quick look at our silver here oh it's real close real close see that  kind of rainbow of colors on there it means it's almost done well I'm going to try  and pour the silver right into that Ingot mold   it might be a huge mistake we'll find out the steak is a mistake what happened there I'm not sure what happened  there I had my balls preheated and everything   let's see what happened here now I guess I didn't have it hot enough huh   well I'll try something different all  right new plan I've got my Ingot mold in here except for about 1100  degrees which is really hot   I'm going to take my silver  and melt it in this melt dish   and then pull the Ingot mold pour that in  there and see if I can do it all at once okay how do I do this I need to get that thing out of the furnace foreign okay here we go foreign yeah whoa that was a little bit of a trick  I guess that was okay for my first time huh   I'll show you my Ingot production here okay well here's the moment of truth  let's see if our silver turned out it's hot and then we got a little bar there huh huh  well let me see if I can get it out of there   well let me try and grab the neck here hey there we go look at that uh an ugly little  Cerro Gordo silver bar looks like a little bit   of borax came down with it into the mold which  is unfortunate I really like these for the lead   but I really don't like them for the  silver I think the silver is just too hot so let's try something else all right now  what I'm going to do is I'm going to take   my silver I'm going to remelt it down  in my melting dish and I've got another   little bar mold over here with my propane  torch I'm going to heat it up get it nice   and hot and then I'll just pour the silver  into these little bars see how that works almost 50 came out great this one didn't  turn out so good so I'm going to report him let me get these out of there we go let's do it again [Music] that's going to take a little bit of practice  but I like the concept it works pretty good   all right there's 54 grams of silver  in three little bars Cerro Gordo silver   all right guys well here's the final tally  I've got 46 bars I think a lead that I poured   and I've got our 54 grams of silver up here  so what I'm going to do now is I'm going to   take some punches and I'm going to punch  each one of these with a unique number and   then we'll get them all bundled up and we'll  send them back to Brent and see what he wants   to do with it well let's see if we can get  this to work I've got these little punches and I'm gonna punch along the bottom of the ingots  here it'll say CG for Cerro Gordo and then I'll   number them starting with zero one and then it'll  be Mt for Mount Baker so let's see how this goes make sure I get them in the right order here's C G zero so far so good one um tea there we go our first numbered bar is that one gonna be the most valuable all  right now I've got I've got 45 more to go and there they are I'll stamped from  cg01mt all the way up to CG 46 Mt   and I was so proud of myself I didn't have any  missed stamps except for the third to last one   right there oh I screwed up the T and the m so it  says cg44tm instead of Mt oh man made me so mad   but that is the outlier but all the rest turned  out really really nice now let's go to the silver   well we got our silver bars I'm a little bit  tempted to run them along the bottom the numbers   but it's a nice flat surface that I think is gonna  do better if I punch the numbers on the top let me   know is there a conventional way of punching bars  should I should I label them on the bottom or on   the top I'm going to label these on the top but  let me know if there's a conventional way of doing   it okay let's see how this works these are a lot  harder than the silver foreign oh boy a lot harder oh and I gotta double punch it back up just right there we go oh that top is kind of rounded so it doesn't take the punch very well there's a c let's see if we can get a g in  there I might have to punch him on the bottom foreign so I'm going to do these c g a g for silver and a G again AG zero one there we go an ugly looking cgag01 not bad  for our first bar I guess let's try another one   and there they are there's all three bars  stamped with numbers all right guys well   here's our finished product we got all of our bars  stamped they're numbered they're ready to go back   to Brent so I hope you guys enjoyed this video  be sure to check out Brent's Channel Ghost Town   living for a lot more of Cerro Gordo history and  uh he does a lot of mine exploration stuff which   is really really cool so be sure to check that  out and stay tuned because I got another trip   I'm gonna head down there here in the next couple  months so be sure to subscribe if you want to see   more of mbmm Cerro Gordo collaborations so thanks  again for watching and we'll see on the next video

Channel: mbmmllc

Views: 731,728

Keywords: mbmm, mbmmllc

Id: VKz6ytqOYdg

Length: 72min 14sec (4334 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 17 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/SandmanMK]

Cool video

[u/hollandsilver]

So cool. Love it. Stack on apes

[u/surfaholic15]

Love mt. baker, and Jason is a cool dude. We have used their equipment and worked with him on some stuff.

One of these days I will get to work silver rather than gold lol. A whole different set of challenges.

[u/Prestigious_Food1110]

Nice post