Famous Placer Gold Mine For Sale in Sierra County, California

• Renowned gold producer: Famous for concentrations of large nuggets and coarse gold
• Up to 4 miles of unmined, gold-bearing Tertiary Channels on property, 150,000 oz. plus placer gold potential - including 11,000 oz 43-101- compliant resource already identified - per geologists' estimates
• Low per oz. mining cost projected
• Turn-key project: Permits & $175,000 Reclamation Bonds in place
• Extensive Infrastructure: Minimal initial capital investment required
• Placer and Quartz processing mills onsite
• 200,000 ounces historical gold production; largest gold nugget 201 oz.
• Exceptional lode gold-in-quartz potential
• Approximately 1,700 acres: patented mineral rights and unpatented placer & quartz mining claims
• High-grade Alleghany/Downieville Mining District
• Ready to Operate!

Location and Access

• The Ruby Mine is situated in Sierra County, California, between Alleghany and Downieville in the northern segment of California's Mother Lode Gold Belt. The mine facilities are at an elevation between 4,700 feet and 5,300 feet above sea level.
• The Alleghany District is the most famous high-grade gold district in California, and might now be considered the most attractive part of the Mother Lode for gold exploration and mining in northern California.
• Access is excellent, with a paved, county-maintained road to the property: 1 hour to Grass Valley, 2.5 hours to Sacramento International Airport. 3 hours to Reno, Nevada.

Description

• The Ruby Mine offers an exceptional opportunity and outstanding value. Geological studies conclude that up to 4 miles of gold-bearing Tertiary Channels remain unmined within the Ruby. Channels like these can run over 100,000 ounces to the mile, so the 150,000 ounce placer gold resource potential estimates are conservative. 11,000 ounces of 43-101 compliant placer resources are currently identified.
• Hosting an advanced and well-developed infrastructure, the Ruby Mine is permitted for underground gold mining, placer milling and disposal of tailings. Both placer and lode processing plants are onsite. The Ruby has an approved reclamation plan, and over $175,000 of financial assurances are in place and current.

• The Ruby is particularly attractive owing to:
(a) the small initial capital investment required;
(b) the short time to production and profitability;
(c) the low production cost per ounce of gold.

• It is anticipated that the gold resource will significantly increase as mining and development progress.
• The Ruby Mine presents the exciting opportunity to go placer mining in some of the richest ancient river channels in the world, without spending the millions of dollars and years of time typically required to develop and permit a project to the point where mining can begin. The Ruby is a turn-key project with well-defined and readily-accessible gold ore bodies where the capital can be focused toward near term production right from the outset.

Geology

• The famous "Great Blue Lead" Tertiary River System extends the length of the Ruby Mine, with a 2nd branch -- the Bald Mountain Extension -- being found on the eastern side of the property. Ore shoots along the high-grade gold producing Quartz Vein structures associated with the Melones Fault -- which also extends the length of the Ruby -- contributed to the renowned richness of the Ruby's Channels and to the exceptional coarseness of the placer and the unusual quantities of large gold nuggets recovered.
• Archive of maps and reports and other information is available. Indepth geological studies of the Ruby Mine and surrounding area conclude that miles of Tertiary River Channels remain unmined within the Ruby Mine property. Historically such channels have been very profitable to mine, with grades often running 0.2 ounces per ton.
• Looking to the future, the Ruby also has a substantial quartz gold potential that has barely been touched. As noted in the Summary Geological Report:
• "Mother Lode gold quartz veins also exist in the Ruby Mine adjacent to the placer gold deposits and are thought to be the source of the large gold nuggets recovered from the placer channels, as the quartz veins eroded and deposited gold into the streams. These veins had limited production of approximately 1,625 ounces of gold and are another attractive exploration target. An example is the 'Line of Coarse Gold' in the Old Ruby Workings. This was a quartz vein about 400 feet in length associated with concentrations of large placer nuggets that was noted and documented on the Ruby Mine maps in the 1890's. The 201 ounce nugget was recovered at the upstream end of this structure. There are six known vein systems in the workings of the Ruby Mine."

History

• Alleghany is the most famous high-grade gold district in California and the Ruby Mine is among the District's best-known placer gold producers. In 1939, the California State Mineralogist stated that the Ruby Mine "was the most productive drift placer in the state."
• The Ruby Tunnel was portaled in 1880, and the Ruby soon became one of the district's most productive underground placer drift mines. Historical gold production from the Ruby is estimated to be around 200,000 ounces. That number increases to around 400,000 oz. when one includes the adjacent properties.
• The Ruby Mine is renowned for the large nuggets it has produced. In the late 1930's into the 1940's, the Ruby produced almost 1,000 ounces of nuggets 3 oz and larger out of somewhat over 50,000 oz of placer gold mined. These nuggets are on display at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History and constitute what is probably the finest collection of large gold placer nuggets in the world.