Gold Ore Sample

This ore sample is from the Ivanhoe Mine, one of the mines south-east of Twentynine Palms, CA in the New Dale Mining District. Much of the local gold-bearing rock is composed of quartz veins with very small amounts of gold. With few exceptions, the effort needed to extract the gold and the lack of water and other resources made mining in the area economically unprofitable. The Ivanhoe's 215 foot shaft had 1,000 feet of horizontal workings. The average grade of the Ivanhoe Mine’s gold ore averaged $15 - $20 per ton ($545 per ton today). Very few of the over 300 mine sites were profitable.

L 10, W 4, D 2 cm
Joshua Tree National Park, JOTR 1325