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Thursday, July 22, 2004

Silver Found In Manzanos

By Ruben Gonzales
Mountain View Telegraph
    Pay dirt!
    George Ramirez, who has been investigating the myth of a Spanish gold mine next to his Manzano home for the past 18 years, has dug up silver deposit veins 58 feet underground.
    Preliminary tests by an assayer on rocks he found about a week ago show about 740 ounces of silver per ton of rock, Ramirez said. According to The Associated Press, the current cost of an ounce of silver is about $6.50.
    Ramirez and his father have been looking into urban legends about Spanish gold bars hidden underground in the Manzano Land Grant for several years. While gold bars have not been found, Ramirez said the initial 740 ounces per ton already shows a "rich mine" has been unearthed.
    Ramirez could profit greatly with only 10 percent of what he has already found, said Richard Evelleth, senior mining engineer for the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources.
    Although Evelleth said the initial findings could demonstrate that the mining operation "could probably be profitable," he added that Ramirez should probably get at least a dozen or more rock samples tested for silver value to determine the extent of silver wealth in the mine.
    "We still have to get a variety of samples to know what we have throughout the mine," Ramirez said.
    Diggers have unearthed rocks more dense than preliminary samples, Ramirez said. He said the newer samples have "high grade silver" in them.
    "I can't wait to see what we find 16 (more) feet down," he said.
    The legend of Spanish gold, Ramirez said, tells of Spanish miners who hid a wealth of gold bars in a silver mine somewhere in the Manzano Mountains.
    With the discovery of a silver mine, he said, "we have to find the gold bars."
    Ramirez said he also sees a valuable resource in the limestone that is abundant throughout the mine. The limestone that he is digging through could be used for road projects, he said.
    The presence of silver, however, was not immediately apparent.
    "At first we thought the silver was pyrite," Ramirez said.
    Throughout his search for the mine, Ramirez had encountered ore he thought contained only pyrite, which is commonly referred to as "fool's gold." He said he discarded the rocks and continued digging.
    However, when Ramirez used ground-penetrating radar for his current digging project, readings showed something valuable in the ground at the same level the "pyrite" was being dug up.
    That information led him to have the rocks tested, with the results positive for silver.
    For now, the mine is closed for safety reasons— it is currently a narrow hole in the ground with large rocks perched overhead. The digging contractor on the job has the task of getting the mine compliant with safety specifications set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Ramirez said.
    When mining work is complete, the contractor will also rehabilitate the land, he added.
    Ramirez anticipates starting a mining operation within two or three weeks after the safety work is done, and he expects to find the stash of gold bars within six months.
    Ramirez said the treasure belongs to New Mexico.
    He said it should be used to help the state economically, but he added he would like some funds to find their way back to land grant villages that are "hard pressed for money."