Description
ANDY MINE
CAMC310646
This Placer claim is located in the famous San Benito, California. And with this claim you will be getting the exclusive mineral rights to 20 acres on an excellent spot located in between 2 of largest, well-known Benitoite mines. Benitoite is a very rare gemstone and also interesting to note is the official state gemstone of California. It has a rare 5 pointed crystal form, and an even rarer 6 pointed form.
Below are samles that were found in the local area:
(On the Left : Benitoite & Neptunite / On the Right: Benitoite)
Benitoite is the only gem of its kind in the world. Discovered near the headwaters of the San Benito river in the coast-range of California 40 miles from the nearest town of coaling. In this area, tachie Indians were the earliest known inhabitants who were driven out by Mexican ranchers followed by homesteaders in the 1880’s.
Below are some of the picturesque views of the area on the drive in from Panoche Road to New Idria Road. The New Idria Road is a county maintained road. You will see the rolling hills from New Idria Road.
Griswold Hills is a recreational area maintained by the BLM and has free day use.
On the road in you will pass the old mine with new tailings along with the start of the New Idria town and mill.
IDRIA MINING DISTRICT, SAN BENITO COUNTY, CA
Geography
Structurally, the county shows two mountain piles of apparently diverse geologic formation, striking northwest and separated by a narrow valley filled with younger formations and detritus. Traversing the valley is the San Andreas Fault Zone, along which fresh movement occurred at the time of the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. On the southwest of this zone, forming the basement of the Gabilan Range and outcropping at places through the whole length of the county, granite and associated schists occur. Associated with these, are several square miles surrounding and including Gabilan Peak, are notable beds of metamorphosed limestones with which, as described particularly farther on, are deposits of barite and dolomite.
Geology
Both Limestone and Dolomite are plentiful in this county, and Dolomite was said to probably be the oldest rock in the county which occurs as part of the undifferentiated Gabilan limestone. Like diamonds, benitoite is double-refractory, meaning it could radiate other colors. Sapphire is less brilliant but bentonite is softer than sapphire and diamonds measuring at 6.5 on the mohrs scale- too soft for engagement rings.
History
San Benito County was created in 1874 from that part of Monterey County lying northeast of the Gabilan Mountains. An adjustment of the eastern boundary with Fresno and Merced Counties in 1887 increased the area of San Benito County to practically the present size and outline. Mission San Juan Bautista was founded in 1794, thrived until 1835, and was restored in 1888. In 1943 the county reached a war-time maximum of $3,528,642 for mineral production. The important products were quicksilver, portland cement, and miscellaneous stone. Other mineral products are antimony, asbestos, asphalt, benitoite, chromite, coal, dolomite, gems, gypsum, lime, limestone, manganese, magnesite, and mineral water.
1901 Roderick Dallas visited Coalinga, then eventually leased land on the east side of town eventually creating an oil company “the Lucille”. After they struck oil at 1000ft, Coalinga grew into a real town.
Rod grub-staked/hired Jim Couch to look for cinnabar or copper or whatever he could find in the mountains nearby. Jim ended up finding a beautiful glade which contained thousands of blue gems weathered out of silica- samples were sent to gem experts thought to only be volcanic glass, it was deemed with no value. But later, was reexamined, and named benitoite, after the surrounding area and river. A shiny, black companion stone, neptunite, can be found in the same white matrix that bentonite is found in. After this discovery, the Dallas Mining Company was born. Roderick Dallas hired men that knew nothing about benitoite, so when they mined for it, thousands of benitoite stones were ruined.
To clean the stone of the white matrix it is found in, benitoite is soaked in hydrochloric acid. Because the process of finding, cleaning, and refining took so long, the Dallas Company went broke, which also led to the plummet of popularity of benitoite.
Access to this claim is not for the faint of heart. From Panoche Road to New Idria Road you would take Clear Creek Road with the last mile being quite steep and rough. There is high clearance so it maybe possible for a 2x2 vehicle with good tires to make it though we really would recommend a 4x4 vehicle. You would have to blaze the trail to the claim for the remaining 2500 feet by bike or foot.A
LEGAL INFORMATION
A mining claim gives the holder the right to mine on mineral-rich land that belongs to the federal government.
Mining claims are a tangible asset and show proof of all interests in minerals in the area. They can be bought, sold or used as collateral, just like any other piece of real estate. A mining claim can be sold, traded, leased, gifted, willed, used as collateral or transferred in part or in its entirety just like any other real property using a quitclaim deed which is a recordable conveyance.
We offer a lifetime guarantee should the BLM take back the land.
As the largest company in the mining industry selling legitimate and valuable historic claims, you can rest assured that you are not only covered with our 100% lifetime money-back guarantee, but you can also rest easy that there is no fine print on any of our claims, telling you will have to deal with any games like being charged phony fees or having to pay inflated “processing” or“transfer” fees.
We'll take care of all the paperwork and arrangements so you can enjoy your claim immediately after payment and we keep you informed through the entire process with confirmations when payment is received, when your paperwork has been mailed out to you.
