Days 7-8

Day 7 was the start of something very exciting to us - Eddie was to show us around the Hansonburg Mining District in Soccoro County where he maintains several mining claims. Although we had briefly visited one of the Hansonburg mines about 9 years ago, we didn't have access to anything worthwhile. So, naturally we were giddy at the prospect of being granted an up-close hands-on perspective from a New Mexico insider and all around good guy - lucky us!

The Hansonburg Mining District is located on the west side of the Sierra Oscura Mountains and the northern boundary of the White Sands Missile Range in central New Mexico. The district includes the numerous mines, including the Blanchard, Mex-Tex, Royal Flush, Rose mines and other unnamed prospect pits, cuts and tunnels. Commercial mining for fluorite, barite and lead (galena) has occurred sporadically in the district since the 1880s up until around the late 1950s. Since then, the district has become widely known as a source of fine crystal specimens. Mineralization in the Hansonburg District occurs as veins in steep westerly-dipping fault structures associated with the Rio Grande rift that extends from Mexico, near El Paso, Texas, through New Mexico into central Colorado. Mineralization and silicification occurred in Pennsylvanian-age limestones adjacent to the faults. Veins and mineralized rock often contain substantial open spaces and crystal-lined vugs.

The district is perhaps best known for its unique euhedral blue fluorite crystals that can reach up to 5 cm (~2 in) on a side. Other colors include purple, green and white and colorless with some crystals exhibiting more than one color in zones. A great many other minerals have been produced from the district; some of these include barite, galena, quartz, anglesite, smithsonite, brochantite, crandallite, creedite, cyanotrichite, libethenite, linarite, murdochite, gypsum, chalcopyrite, cerussite, selenite, plumbogummite, pseudomalachite, spangolite, and tsumebite. Nearly all of the mineralized areas in the Hansonburg District are currently under claim by mineral specimen dealers and enthusiasts. For those of you who may not know how claims work, let me offer the following explanation.

According to Federal Regulations (43 CFR 3832.1), any citizen of the United States, a minor who has reached the age of discretion, a corporation, and non-citizens (aliens) who have declared their intention to become a citizen can file a claim on federal land. Once a claim/site is serialized, an annual filing and fee must be made each year to maintain the claim/site. You must either pay the maintenance fee or those claimants having 10 or fewer claims/sites may choose to file the maintenance fee payment waiver certification (small miners waiver). Those who choose to file a small miners waiver, must also perform a certain dollar amount worth of labor or improvements on all placers or lode claims during the assessment year. There are two major types of claims: 1) Patented Mining claim and 2) un-patented mining claim. A patented mining claim is one for which the Federal Government has passed its title to the claimant, making it private land. A person may mine and remove minerals from a mining claim without a mineral patent. However, a mineral patent gives the owner exclusive title to the locateable minerals. It also gives the owner title to the surface and other resources. With a patented claim, one owns the land as well as the minerals. However, since October 1, 1994, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been prohibited by acts of Congress from accepting any new mineral patent applications. This moratorium has been renewed annually through various Interior Appropriations Acts. It is unknown how long this moratorium will continue, but it is most likely to be permanent.

An un-patented mining claim is a particular parcel of Federal land, valuable for a specific mineral deposit or deposits. It is a parcel for which an individual has asserted a right of possession. The right is restricted to the extraction and development of a mineral deposit. The rights granted by a mining claim are valid against a challenge by the United States and other claimants only after the discovery of a valuable mineral deposit. With a un-patented claim, one is essentially leasing the right to extract minerals from the US Government. In this case, no land ownership is conveyed.

Now, what does all this claim mumbo jumbo mean to rockhounds? The bottom line is that all the rocks and minerals on a claim are the private property of the claim owner and to remove them without permission is stealing. To put it into terms any reasonable person should be able to understand: taking a rock or mineral specimen from a claim without permission is no different than a stranger entering your house without consent and taking your television or whatever else he wanted. I'm sure you wouldn't be happy if this happened to you and I can assure you that a claim owner feels the same way and will take whatever action he deems "appropriate" to stop a thief. In the case of Eddie DeLuca, does he look like the sort of fellow whom you'd want to catch you stealing rocks on his claim? NOT!

Eddie and Sheryl arrived at the campground early that morning to find Chrissy and I waiting like excited children would for a bus to Disneyland. We followed them out of the campground and drove about 35 minutes west to Bingham where we turned south onto a very dusty unpaved road. We turned a few times and started climbing up a very rocky road. This was major league 4-wheel driving where one wrong move could result in a blown tire, torn-off exhaust system or a 500-ft tumble down a 75-degree rock strewn slope - just the sort of road that'll put hair on your chest, as my Mother used to say about anything that seemed too tough to handle. Despite it's relatively large width and length, our Toyota Tundra managed just fine, although Chrissy had to close here eyes a few times when the huge drop off was on her side. We finally made it to a flattened area that had been cut into the side of the steep slope and parked. Eddie took us on a brief tour, showing us a great variety of rocks and minerals.

Eddie led us to a massive vug that had been recently discovered; it was many feet across and lined on all sides with large dark purple fluorite cubes and other minerals. "Holy Crap", I exclaimed. He explained that a colleague had uncovered the pocket almost by chance and had not yet finished working it, although a great many world-class specimens had so far been recovered. Since it was someone else's find, we left the vug alone, but Chrissy insisted that I turn over my hammer and chisels to her while we were in the area.

After a couple hours of poking around, Eddie told us that it was time to visit the best of his Hansonburg District mines. We carefully drove down to the valley floor and made our way to a rocky road that wound up a very steep slope. It didn't take long before I realized that this road made the other one look like a cakewalk. We had to pick our way through and around sharp rocks, large boulders, deep ruts and washed out areas as we climbed up and up and up. This was one of the most technically challenging driving experiences of my life and I could almost feel my chest getting hairier at every turn of the wheel. Thank goodness our truck has low gear 4-wheel drive because it is not likely we would have made it without it, or at least not without flames shooting out the transmission.

We made it to a small flat area above the mine where we could see for many miles.

I backed down a narrow access road to the mine so our tools would be handy and we wouldn't have to haul our finds very far when we were finished working that day. Chrissy posed in front of heavily fortified tunnel opening. It was clear that Eddie had spent a great deal of time, energy and money constructing a criss cross heavy steel fence/gate at the mine's portal. He told us that keeping poachers out of the mine is not only about stopping them from stealing, but also preventing them from killing themselves on his property. After all, underground collecting is inherently dangerous, and the last thing he wants is for someone to get hurt or killed in his mine - although these fates might cross his mind if he was to catch someone inside who didn't belong.

The mine extends about 150 feet into the Council Springs member of the Madera Formation. The mine has two drifts, forming a "Y". An elongate pillar between the two drifts transverses about half the length of the mine.

The left drift is covered with mineral laden boulders that have dropped from the ceiling, but are yet to be processed and removed.

During the middle of the day, at least half of both drifts are bathed with ample natural light from the large mine opening. Since Chrissy is a bit claustrophobic, this gave her the nerve to enter and hang out inside.

Blue, purple and sometimes green fluorite crystals on a box work of striated bladed barite crystals, with galena and other minerals are prominent on the ceilings and walls of the mine.

Eddie showed me around and I was like a kid in a candy store. After a while, I decided to work a spot where it appeared I'd be able to recover some nice specimens without having to worry too much about having anything drop on my head. Having dug in a few mines in my time, I knew that a cardinal rule for working underground is to NEVER disturb the ceiling because no mineral is worth the risk of getting squashed like a bug.

While Chrissy, Sheryl and Eddie exploited the boulders on the left drift's floor in the light near the opening, I spent the rest of the day working the walls along a side tunnel off the right drift. Eddie would check on me often and help me when I needed it, but I was in heaven pulling out one killer specimen after the next.

We (especially meeeeeeeeeee) had so much fun, we returned to the mine on our 8th day for more of the same. The following specimens are representative of what Chrissy and I brought home.