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advrider
Super Nomad
Posts: 1847
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Wow good stuff you guys. I would love to see a trip take place to some exploring with the guys that already know the good spots.
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AKgringo
Elite Nomad
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Location: Anchorage, AK (no mas!)
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Have any of you Nomad prospectors have any experience with metal detecting devices in Baja? I have a Gold Bug II, that I never really learned how to
use.
With my hearing loss I have had no luck discriminating between the copious amounts of iron in this area, and background noise. I would at the very
least need to have some good head phones, and an experienced operator to coach me.
I also have one of the Briggs and Stratton powered dry washers in the basement that I have never used. It belonged to my dad, who was a rock hound
and desert explorer.
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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bajaric
Senior Nomad
Posts: 600
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Jack, cool pictures of the old dry washers. Water was always a scarce commodity in the area, as it still is.
And now a little additional historical information.
This took some digging!
This is from the 1908 "The Copper Mining Handbook" by Horace J. Stevens. The Copper Mining Handbook was a journal (actually, a thick book) that
covered the global copper mining industry over several decades. Each edition had a listing of copper mining companies and in the 1908 edition there
was included:
"The Ybarra Gold Mining Company. 132 Market St San Francisco Mine office Calmalli Sur Baja. A. J. Mayer Superintendent. Lands include the
Buenavista San Francisco and other mines carrying auriferous and argentiferous* copper ores. Has steam power and 25 ton mill employing 75 men at last
account."
*ore that contained gold and silver
It is likely that the some of copper ore mined at El Arco in the 1920's made its way to the smelter at Santa Rosalia. Perhaps the breakwater
constructed of copper slag at Santa Rosalia has a little bit of El Arco in it. The gold that was recovered from the copper ore, what there was of it,
ended up in the vaults of the Rothschilds, of France, with some no doubt accruing to the Bank of England after the matte from Santa Rosalia was
delivered to London where it was transformed by fire and electrical currents into pure metallic elements. Dickens described the hellish scene of the
furnaces of London in one of his novels.
AK, the gold bug is known as a very sensitive detector but in areas with a lot of "hot rocks" it is almost useless due to false signals. An entry
level Minelab multi frequency vlf in the $350 range would give you an idea if you want to pursue the hobby and can also be used for detecting on the
beach.
[Edited on 8-10-2021 by bajaric]
[Edited on 8-10-2021 by bajaric]
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David K
Honored Nomad
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In the 1930 AAA guide/ map that Harald sent me is the following about El Arco or as they called it "El Arco Mine":
"...100 men engaged in the mining of gold."
Notice in the upper left, before the point and bay name was changed to 'Rosalillita' (to prevent confusion with the Copper mine town).
[Edited on 8-11-2021 by David K]
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PaulW
Ultra Nomad
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Compare
Atlas image near El Arco
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David K
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Beautiful map! The Old El Camino Real and Baja Divide routes are nice to see, too.
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rzitren
Junior Nomad
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Registered: 2-15-2009
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According to Beto in San Francisquitos, The mining representatives have been talking to him about building a road thru his property. He thinks they
will build it out to the end of the point on the southeast side of the bay and build a pier off the end into the deep water.
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David K
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Quote: Originally posted by rzitren  | | According to Beto in San Francisquitos, The mining representatives have been talking to him about building a road thru his property. He thinks they
will build it out to the end of the point on the southeast side of the bay and build a pier off the end into the deep water. |
I presume this is for the future, giant El Arco copper mine? Hopefully a pier, and road, between Beto's cove and the PSFO resort, will not put dust or
noise into his peaceful cove.
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rts551
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| Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666 | Prior to 1960s, al arco was site of small mining operations, including some placer ops.
Beginning in 1960s, Asarco (and later others) started spending significant $$ on exploration work.
Mining has probably never taken off there because of the remote location and lack of water.
Mining is all talk until they actually start mining,… they may not start large-scale mining at el arco for another 10, 20, 30 years, etc.,
especially if grupo Mexico has better mines to exploit for the next few decades.
According to the 10-Ks, the owner has been buying up lots of land, so maybe they are getting serious about mining. Who knows?
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There is water there. My neighbor drilled the water wells for them 30 years ago.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64476
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| Quote: Originally posted by bajaric | The answer to the question of whether El Arco was a "gold mining town" or a "copper / gold mining town" is really just a question of semantics. They
mined gold there, so it was a gold mining town. The gold that was found at El Arco, from all indications, was a fringe benefit of mining a lot of
copper ore, but it was still gold.
To get an answer as to what exactly they were mining at El Arco in the 1920's-1930's would require finding records of copper and gold production that
were kept by the Federal government of Mexico, for tax purposes. Of course, in 1910 the Federal government of Mexico was overthrown in a revolution.
Thus, there might be a gap in the records from 1910-1920, but after that records should be available. However, traveling to Mexico city and digging
though old tax records to figure out what they were mining at El Arco is not high on my list of priorities.
[Edited on 5-20-2021 by bajaric] |
Good morning gang,
I am uncertain if the following was shared yet or not. It comes from Margaret Brown Baldwin, describing a mule trip with her father from their home in
Punta Prieta to San Borja the south to Calmallí, one year between 1907 & 1910.
>>> From Mission San Borja we went on to Calmalli, another days’ journey. Calmalli was at one time a large town. We stayed at the home of
Mr. Ybarro and his wife, a very wealthy man who was a good friend of my father. He owned many cattle and ranches and had gold mines at Camp
Aleman and at El Arco. Mr. Ybarro had a fine home and many servants. We had a twelve-course dinner with a new and lovely plate for each
course. This was a thrilling experience, coming from such simple living as we had at Punta Prieta. <<<
See the full article from 1976: https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/1976/october/memories/
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baja-chris
Junior Nomad
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So did they ever break ground on the proposed new open pit copper mine in El Arco? I've not seen any evidence of it.
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bajaric
Senior Nomad
Posts: 600
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El Arco google earth
Grid pattern of drill holes. Depending on what they found the old mining town may someday be a giant hole in the ground.
Check out my book, The Gold of Northern Baja, details and purchase on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Northern-Baja-History-Travel/dp/...
thanks, Ric aka Jens Tobias
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PaulW
Ultra Nomad
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Yes, the GE images for the El Arco area are date 5-18-2023.
Much improved since the last time I looked at the area.
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 17279
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Hot n spicy
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| Quote: Originally posted by bajaric | El Arco google earth
Grid pattern of drill holes. Depending on what they found the old mining town may someday be a giant hole in the ground.
thanks, Ric aka Jens Tobias |
Amlo has been proposing ban of open put mining. Quick google shows grupomexico not doing much in way of sales pitch for el arco.
My guess is that el arco project is unlikely to launch soon.
Good me thinks if project dies, it would ruin a nice part of rural baja…
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64476
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Check out this drone 360° look at El Arco. I see many new buildings since my 2017 visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vivabaja/permalink/139627877...
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 17279
Registered: 9-16-2006
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Seems to be a bad link. Goes to a private FB group. Do you have link to original content?
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64476
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Link is good, but yes, it is to my VivaBaja group.. where I shared the 360° drone view. Here is the source: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069952299292 AirBaja Drone
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bajaric
Senior Nomad
Posts: 600
Registered: 2-2-2015
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| Quote: Originally posted by David K | | Quote: Originally posted by bajaric | The answer to the question of whether El Arco was a "gold mining town" or a "copper / gold mining town" is really just a question of semantics. They
mined gold there, so it was a gold mining town. The gold that was found at El Arco, from all indications, was a fringe benefit of mining a lot of
copper ore, but it was still gold.
To get an answer as to what exactly they were mining at El Arco in the 1920's-1930's would require finding records of copper and gold production that
were kept by the Federal government of Mexico, for tax purposes. Of course, in 1910 the Federal government of Mexico was overthrown in a revolution.
Thus, there might be a gap in the records from 1910-1920, but after that records should be available. However, traveling to Mexico city and digging
though old tax records to figure out what they were mining at El Arco is not high on my list of priorities.
[Edited on 5-20-2021 by bajaric] |
Good morning gang,
I am uncertain if the following was shared yet or not. It comes from Margaret Brown Baldwin, describing a mule trip with her father from their home in
Punta Prieta to San Borja the south to Calmallí, one year between 1907 & 1910.
>>> From Mission San Borja we went on to Calmalli, another days’ journey. Calmalli was at one time a large town. We stayed at the home of
Mr. Ybarro and his wife, a very wealthy man who was a good friend of my father. He owned many cattle and ranches and had gold mines at Camp
Aleman and at El Arco. Mr. Ybarro had a fine home and many servants. We had a twelve-course dinner with a new and lovely plate for each
course. This was a thrilling experience, coming from such simple living as we had at Punta Prieta. <<<
See the full article from 1976: https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/1976/october/memories/ |
In 1907-1910 the town of El Arco did not exist. She was speaking from memory in 1976 and probably lumped El Arco and Calmalli together as so many
have done. In reality they were two separate mining districts: Calmalli was a gold mining district that flourished in the 1880's. By 1910 it was
almost a ghost town. El Arco was a mining center that developed in the 1930's. Most of the mines around El Arco were copper mines, with gold present
in the ore similar to the copper mined on Cedros Island.
For those that were unable to view the facebook video it showed some newer structures and a crowd of people gathered with many pickup trucks parked
nearby. So there seems to be some kind of activity. I believe AMLO has banned new mining concessions, but Grupo Mexico secured the concession for
the El Arco property quite some time ago. The lack of opposition to the project is probably because the area is virtually uninhabited. This is in
contrast to a major gold mining project in Baja Sur that was shut down a few years ago due to protests from the people that depend on the water there.
Mines that process large amounts of ore use a lot of water and this can deplete the aquifers in the area.
Ironic that copper is a necessary component for, among other things, electric vehicles.
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