The U.S. has over 500,000 abandoned gold and silver mines. The majority of these are located on federal land (BLM) in Arizona, Nevada, and California. Many have significant concentrations of gold and other precious metals in above-ground piles of ore and tailings. Gold Vault Capital, LLC (GVC) is the Fund’s GP. It has assembled a database of over 50,000 abandoned mines in the Southwest U.S., of which 2,500 have so far been identified as prime candidates for development. GVC currently owns placer claims to 32 abandoned gold and silver mines in N.W. Nevada, and has identified over 1,000 sites which, based on high-quality, government-conducted assays, have concentrations exceeding 0.42 gold-equivalent oz/ton. This is over 6 times the Fund’s minimum cutoff of 0.065 oz/ton.
So why can’t someone just go out there, remove the gold ore piles, and refine them into gold?
Out of 500,000 abandoned mines, how do you find the ones with commercially viable concentrations of gold in the ore piles on the surface?
The sites need to have adequate roads, access to rail transport, and other infrastructure to enable cost-effective removal and transport of the surface ore to refineries.
The surface ore may not be removed without obtaining costly environmental and other permits, which require both expert knowledge and significant capital investment.
We have spent years and invested considerable capital on researching thousands of potential sites in the Southwestern U.S. We have identified a number of abandoned mines that meet our criteria:
High gold and silver concentrations in surface ore piles, supported by historical records and preliminary assays and testing.
Favorable attributes for obtaining environmental permits.
No nearby residents or businesses that could slow down the permitting process.
Existing roads that can be upgraded for heavy truck traffic at a reasonable cost.
Close to a rail spur (50 miles or less).
We have developed an in-house team of experts in mining, finance, and legal to implement our gold reclamation projects. The leader of our prospecting team has 40 years’ experience in the gold mining industry in Northern Nevada.
To begin our process, we first select a potential abandoned mine site through screening our extensive historical database based on our rigid selection criteria. Our prospecting team then scouts the site through drone video surveillance and manual sampling of the ore piles. The samples are then sent to an independent lab for assay.
If the gold concentrations meet our standards, we then proceed to more detailed sampling to support an independent appraisal by a qualified geologist. We then create a development plan, obtain the necessary permits, and implement the project to transform the ore piles into refined gold.
