Monday, 4th February 2008 (2230 views)

Strong market prices and the growing worldwide demand for gold could lead to the re-opening of one of California's most productive gold mines.

According to reports in the state, high gold prices have prompted Emgold to follow the trend set in Alaska and Nevada and look at re-opening an old mine in search of fresh resources.

The mine it has chosen, the Sacramento Bee reports, is the Idaho-Maryland mine in Grassy Valley, which was the second-most productive underground mine in California's history, yielding 2.38 million ounces of gold since its discovery in 1851.

It has been closed for 52 years but Emgold estimates there is between three million and five million ounces of gold remaining. And, with modern mining techniques, deposits that were previously thought to difficult to reach can be extracted.

"The best place to look for gold is an old gold mine," said Emgold mining engineer David Watkinson.

He added that as part of Emgold's proposal, a ceramics plant would be built near the mine to recycle mining byproducts into tiles for sale.

A local vote on the proposal is expected in the autumn.

 

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