The Union Keystone mine is an underground placer mine located in the mother lode region near La Porte California. The mine consists of 1,120 acres of contiguous unpatented underground placer claims in the Gibsonville mining district. The average elevation is 5,500 feet. The mine has good access by way of surface roads.

The claims overlie more than two miles of unmined tertiary gravel channels known as the Bellevue Channel, Bellevue Back Channel, or Blue Lead Channel. The historic Union Drift Tunnel, the Melones Fault and a World War 1 chrome tunnel are located on the property. Very large 90 to 100 ounce nuggets and consistent gold made this one of the richest paying mines in the region in the late 1800s.

On and adjacent to the property, the front channel was mined by hydraulic and drift methods and produced over 1.1 million ounces of gold. The Keystone mine was a hydraulic operation adjacent to the portal of the Union tunnel and the Union Consolidated was a drift mine that in 1867 was paying an ounce of gold a day per hand and was working between 20 and 30 men. In 1882 two large documented nuggets of 100 and 50 ounces were found.

A reasonable estimation of the unmined basal gravel underlying the Bingham claims is therefore about 2,210,000 cubic yards.  This is considered to be a minimum figure because other unrecognized channels may occur on the property.

A 1911 report shows that drift mines that mined the lower gravels averaged from $2 a yard up to $29 a yard. At that time, the gold price was $20.67 so those values equate to average grades of 0.097 ounces/yard up to 1.40 ounces/yard.  At a gold price of $1300 per ounce, the recovered gold value per yard could range from $126 per yard to $1,800 per yard. Even assuming a conservative case of $100 per yard, the Bingham claims could contain up to $200 million or more in gold.

The owner is asking $2,225,000 USD for the claims or will consider a joint venture partner.

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Union Keystone Mine #L2105

fax 208 265 5377

underground tertiary gravel

proposed drill locations

tertiary gravel channels and Union Keystone Mine location