The Monte Cristo mine (No. 58, pl. 30) is on the west side of Porter Wash 4 miles due south of Goodsprings, in the Goodsprings Mining District, in Clark County. The claim was located by William Kennedy in 1907 and thus was the latest to be located among those mines that later became notable sources of production. Shipments were made first by Patrick Clarke in 1908, and it then passed to Douglas Wheaton, who organized the Monte Cristo Consolidated Mining Company. 100 cars of high-grade zinc ore were shipped during the first 10-months of ownership in 1908 and 1909. Under lessee from September 1911, to August 1913, Duncan, Frederickson & Belt shipped 145 cars of hydrozincite calmine-bearing ore, some of it sorted from the dump. There was continuous production through 1919. Since that time there has been but little activity. In 1924 the claim was restaked by P.S. McClanahan and J. W. Wilson. Small tonnages of ore marketed at Jean during 1943-44 are recorded under the name "Combination Lode."

The deposit is uncommonly interesting because only zinc ore was encountered, and it was an exceptionally concentrated body, as one may readily suspect by the size of the workings and the meager dump. The workings developed a shoot of exceptionally pure zinc ore that pitched about 20-degrees SW.

Upon reading the claim markers on the smaller mine across the Porter Wash from the Monte Cristo mine, and researching the names, I found this press release by Silver America, Inc.(based in Reno, NV) titled "Keeno Strike Property, Clark County, Nevada - dated 7-3-2011." Silver America's Keeno Strike Property is located in the Goodsprings/Yellow Pine Mining District, and consists of the historical Monte Cristo mine and Keeno-Mint prospect. The aim of the exploratory work program will be to test a ~1.1 million ounces of Au and ~69.0 million ounces of Ag potential, which would be accessible via open-pit bulk handling methods unavailable to the industry at the time these properties were initially developed. The property's 245 acres lie roughly 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas in Clark County, Nevada, in a mining district that, in addition to containing deposits of copper, cobalt, nickel, zinc and lead, has produced significant quantities of gold and silver. According to a May 2008 report prepared by Mark See, Mining Engineer, when the above gold and silver estimates are combined with those of additional mineral deposits of lead (~130,000 tons), zinc (~115,000 tons) and copper (~13,000 tons), the claims (including Monte Cristo & Yellow Pine) could represent an estimated equivalent gross in situ value in excess of $3 billion.

This property is posted, so enter at your own risk.

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