Mammoth Mine (Mammoth claim; Mammoth No. 1 claim), Gold Hill, Gold Hill Mining District, Carbonate Mining District, Panamint Mts (Panamint Range), Inyo County, California, USAi

Regional Level Types
Mammoth Mine (Mammoth claim; Mammoth No. 1 claim)	Mine
Gold Hill	Hill
Gold Hill Mining District	Mining District
Carbonate Mining District	Mining District
Panamint Mts (Panamint Range)	Mountain Range
Inyo County	County
California	State
USA	Country

A former talc-soapstone mine located in sec. 18, T22N, R1E, SBM, 5.1 km (3.2 miles) E of Gold Hill (summit), along Galena Canyon, on National Park Service wilderness land (Death Valley National Park/Death Valley Wilderness). MRDS database stated accuracy for this location is 100 meters.

NOTE: The USGS MRDS database file #10235904 references another MRDS file (#10036274). This referenced file is unrelated to this locality and is in error.

The Mammoth Claim Group, located 1-1/2 to 2 miles west from the mouth of Galena Canyon at an elevation of 1,400 feet, consists of the Mammoth and Mammoth No. 1 lode claims, patented 9 July 1963. The first underground exploratory activity here took place in the late 1950s, but actual underground mining operations were not undertaken until ten years later when Kennedy Minerals Company and C. K. Williams and Company initiated development of over 1,600 feet of underground workings. In addition, metal ore bins and other necessary facilities were erected and access roads built.

The new underground workings consisted of a main adit with associated raises connecting sublevels, opening the way for future room-and-pillar mining. A lower adit was projected below the main one in hopes of intersecting the ore body, but it failed to locate any talc. A few other smaller exploratory openings were also made, with total production during the 1960s reaching about 5,000 tons. From 1970 to 1974 the mine was idle, and then, in mid-1975 and early 1976 Pfizer, Inc., which had gained control of the property, sporadically activated the mine by mining and shipping small test loads procured in the vicinity of the old main adit by means of an open cut or pit. About 200 tons of ore have been produced since, with a resulting total surface disturbance to the entire area of 3.75 acres.

The proposed production schedule for the Mammoth Mine called for reopening the area early in 1978 with a force of two to four men. During the first three months of preliminary work necessary before commencing underground open room-and-pillar operations, it was expected that only a minimal production level could be maintained. By mid-1978, however, a production rate of 10,000 to 12,000 tons per year would be anticipated from the six to eight miners employed five days a week. Twenty-five-ton trucks, hauling two loads a day, would transfer the ore to the company's grinding plant at Victorville, California. The production rate of the mine, whose projected life span is at least fourteen years (longer if added reserves are found), is estimated to reach 20,000 tons a year. Reclamation will follow the termination of operations and will involve the rounding off of road cut crests and dumps, the reduction of high retaining banks, and removal of man-made structures.

The Mammoth Mine workings today consist of active open-pit and underground operations. Man-made structures on the access road include two talc bins, consisting of two metal tanks with a wooden framework for a tramway trestle on top, and a small wooden shelter that once housed a compressor. Both structures probably date from the 1960s. An older adit, the second one dug in the 1960s in hopes of intersecting the talc body, with an associated waste dump, is visible east of the metal talc bins and lower in elevation.(Greene, Linda I. (1981): III.A.13.a)(3)(a & b)

Local rocks include Precambrian rocks, undivided, unit 1 (Death Valley).

Workings include unspecified underground openings.

Other Databases

Link to USGS MRDS:	10235904

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References