A report from Terlingua - and Shafter and Laos and the legal crossing at
Boquillas.
It is a stretch, of course, to talk about a mine on a caving remailer.
Shame, shame -------
I have been in and out of the Shafter workings since the 60s (last time two
years ago), and this operation is an excellent one. Actually a no-brainer.
I don't think there is anything "secret" about what I am about to say. It is
general knowledge in the mining industry.
Goldfields (South African company) had invested a huge amount in core drilling
back in the 80s, proving up more mineable silver in the ground than has ever
been produced in total from the Shafter mine in the past. They showed that
the ore body (which dived deeper toward the north at the limit of the old
workings) leveled out still farther to the north, and that neither depth nor
water seepage into the mine would be unmanageable. Then Goldfields made an
executive decision to close all they mining ventures in North America,
regardless of value. My understanding is that the environmental hassles were
just not worth it to them.
Other mining companies looked at taking over Shafter, and it was almost
reopened before this, but venture capital dried up. The ore was there, but
the development money was not.
There are about 150 folks employed at the mine today, many living in Marfa or
Alpine (especially if they have school-age kids). 8-10 years is a reasonable
estimate for the current operations, but the price of silver, the general
economy, and other variations make it unpredictable. And once underground,
they might find more they can economically obtain.
"Ore", is not just like beauty in the eye of the beholder, but is an economic
term. There is more silver in the ground, but if it cannot be mined at a
profit, it is not "ore". For example, when I was first in graduate school,
you had to have copper in excess of 4% to have copper ore. Now they are
mining copper ore deposits that have only a few tenths of a percent copper in
them.
Of more pertinent Texas Caving note, Terry Bolger just spent a few days
visiting his old stomping grounds in the Big Bend. Stayed with us in
Terlingua, drank a bit of beer, and we told each other various stories from
times gone by. Floated some future dreams and ideas. We did not, however,
find anything of caving significance to mention on this forum. Some of you
may remember that while he was getting his Pilled-Higher-and Deeper from Texas
Tech (in agronomy), he was at the frontiers of Lech, the first into the
Chandelier Ballroom. Tromped around the Guads, helped take my daughter into
her first significant vertical cave at age 14 (Hell Below) and did some
significant exploration in Mexico, just south of the border.
Terry has appeared at various NSS conventions while working in Australia,
caving there and in Thailand, and the last 5 years working and caving in Laos.
Terry is a great friend to cavers and contributed significantly to our visits
to Laos in 2011 and 2112. He spent a couple of days in Carlsbad ridge walking
with Belskis on his way to the Big Bend.
Boquillas Crossing
April 10th 2013 was a test day for the opening of the legal crossing at
Boquillas. Many things needed to be ironed out, perfected, check and
re-checked. About a hundred people crossed into Mexico - mostly newsmen,
officials, and local Terlingua residents, many who have been working for this
for quite a while!
The decision to really go ahead with this was not made until late Monday
afternoon (36 hours before the actual opening).
Many political and cultural entities were involved in pulling together for this
little town. Everyone of them needs to be congratulated: The Mexican
Government, The Park Service, Homeland Security, the State of Coahuila, the
Protected Area of the Sierra del Carmen, among so many others. This was just
fantastic.
Some things to keep in mind:
The crossing is open Wednesday through Sunday 9 to 5:30.
You miss the last boat on Sunday, you are stuck until Wednesday morn.
You need a valid passport or passport card
When you get to Mexico there are immigration officers who will ask you to fill
out a short visa application.
Just remember to turn it back into them before you leave town at the end of
your visit.
You cannot bring alcohol back.
This is not an importation port; that means nothing can be brought back to this
side for resale.
There is a $200 purchase limit on goods brought back to the US for personal
use.
You cannot bring clothing, food etc. to the people of Mexico through this port
(the Mexican Government has issued this).
Restaurants are open, bars, etc.
There are children selling trinkets, some women with textiles for sale, horse
rides and truck rides up from the river. Remember to tip your boatman
You can Go visit now. It's safe, clean and very, very ready for you!!! The
tacos are hot and the cervesa is cold. But it is not your path to caving in
Mexico.
LInk:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Border-crossing-point-gets-put-back-on-the-map-4425193.php?cmpid=twitter#photo-4451888
DirtDoc
----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Loving" <lovingi...@gmail.com>
To: "Gill Edigar" <gi...@att.net>
Cc: "Cavers Texas" <texascavers@texascavers.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 8:43:52 AM
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Fort Stanton Cave
Article in the Presidio Paper about drilling for silver by the Candaiand in
Brewster County. They are down 500 feet and still going. Driving those huge
trucks around and getting out tons of silver ore. Interesting article.
On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 10:34 PM, Gill Edigar < gi...@att.net > wrote:
>>>>----- Forwarded Message ---->
From: Lee H. Skinner < skin...@thuntek.net >
To: SWR Mailing List < s...@caver.net >
Sent: Tue, April 9, 2013 2:59:00 PM
Subject: [SWR] Fort Stanton Cave mapping continues
Today's Ruidoso News has a great article about surveying in Fort Stanton Cave:
http://tinyurl.com/c4nnwfa
Two photos (click to enlarge) are included.
Lee Skinner
--
Charlie Loving
