Hi all!

This tungsten mine is amazing because it’s a sprawling modern mine. It’s also an old mine from the early 1900s. It was the site of an ICBM Deep Basing experiment during the cold war. And we even found a volcanic vent to climb into and explore. I’ve visited the mine on a couple of occasions and there’s always something new to see.




Abby Normal

A bucket list mine, for sure. If it wasn't a two day drive away, I'd have been by now!

Posted by Cherokee A bucket list mine, for sure. If it wasn't a two day drive away, I'd have been by now!

If you do make it down, you need to hit Delamar as well. It's another amazing mine. The real problem is that you could easily spend a week at each one and not see everything. A good problem to have! Let me know if you decide to head down this direction.

Abby

That's super cool! Are volcanic vents like that common or is it a rare thing? How do they form?

Posted by Aran That's super cool! Are volcanic vents like that common or is it a rare thing? How do they form?

I suspect they are somewhat frequent, although this is the only mine where we have come across one. This vent was close to 100 feet underground. When I've watched documentaries about volcanoes, they often show clips of vents. All that said, it was really neat to get inside. One thing I didn't mention in the video was that if you tapped on the "curtains" they would ring like an out-of-tune bell. I wonder if it's because of a high iron content?

Lava tubes are reasonably common. I've explored one outside of Flagstaff and I've heard of them in Hawaii.

If it weren't for Tony's keen eyesight, we would have walked right past it. I'm not sure how many other explorers, if any, have found their way into the vent.

Abby Normal

If I can find a responsible agency willing to take them, would you be willing to recover the ICBM-related paperwork from the site sometime, so the material can be both preserved and historically interpreted?


/-/oolie