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caroline mines coquihalla , is it still accessable?

90K views 72 replies 33 participants last post by  Rifter 
#1 ·
I thought this would be any easy find?

Caroline mines road.. past the gate (its open now!)

but dead ends at a Heli-camp.
Did I miss a trail somewhere?

any one have a route?

thanks

:violin
 
#2 ·
Take the Carolin Mines exit off the Coquihalla Hwy about 10 min past Hope, loop around under the highway and once you get back up facing the highway again you will see a gravel road in front of you heading up the mountain (if I remember correctly there were some ribbons hanging from the trees when I drove by yesterday). Follow this road up and you may have to open a large steel gate, but it should be unlocked (if it is locked then you get to hike from there). You can't miss the mines, they're about 1 - 2 km past this gate and the road runs right into them.

Once up there (might as well stop to check out the collapsed buildings) follow the road to the bottom of the overhead conveyour (you can't miss this) and the entrance to the mine will up around to the right of this (entrance on top of the lower flooded entrance that the conveyour comes out of). You have to climb down the ladder into the shaft and from there you're inside the mine.

Expect to spend a day as there is lots too see and explore both inside and outside the mine. LR
 
#4 ·
if it was bought , they having started doining anything with it yet.... i was just up there. definatly worth the time... bring a damn good flashlight cause 15feet into the mine you cant see your hand in front of your face.... oh and if you keep left once in the mine there is a room full of wat looks like millions of core smples of the mountain.... probably frowned upon but i took myself a lil suvineer ...there quite cool
 
#6 ·
take all the core samples you want!!!! They are normaly recorded and just there if they ever want to take another look at them.

Um, unless you actually work for the company that currently owns the mine and claims, that core is most likely their property (in this case Century Mining), and speaking as a geologist, I wouldn't want every person digging through my drill core. It cost a lot of money to obtain that stuff.

Yes the core is logged and sampled, and yes, new owners will want to look at them and maybe resample them (I've been involved in lots of that).

I'm not sure how many may realize that most of these mines are on Crown granted land or mineral claims that grant surface and/or subsurface rights. Removal of any material from a site without permission would be frowned upon.

Note: I do not work for, or represent, the owners of Carolin.
 
#7 ·
If you want core samples from that vincity, just take the FSR up and just before the Aurum no.1 adit, take a left. It goes over the mountain into the Mcmaster drilling zone. They have core sample shacks and that zone is on crown land which would not be part of the Carolin minesite.
 
#8 · (Edited)
If they don't have a active minning or placer lease then they don't acutually own anything but the mineral tenure. That makes them not responsable for previous work at the site as well. Am I correct?There was drilling activity in the mine in about 2004 at this site. I don't think they have any legal resposability for this site. For example I own the tenures for the old mine at silver river and clear creek hotsprings. If someone wants to use or take material from that area and say build a road with it there is not much I can do about it. If someone wants to gold pan on my gold claim (gold pan not sluice) I can't do anything. If someone enters the adit and gets killed...to bad not my problem unless I created the adit. If I had a lease and they wanted that material I could charge them a fee because I have to pay the goverment a fee for material removal. . I also have to follow the mine act and etc. etc.. As far as I can tell by the little bit of reasearch I did on this site it is the goverments problem and they might go after the prevous owners, or new for the clean up. So the area is free to explore for now as best as I can tell. If people want to remove rocks and what I think, but can't really say, are old cores then so be it. Just don't bring any ore, rocks or cores from another area to the site. They might be rich in gold and create a bre-x frennzy.
 
#10 ·
alpestrine said:
If they don't have a active minning or placer lease then they don't acutually own anything but the mineral tenure. That makes them not responsable for previous work at the site as well. Am I correct?There was drilling activity in the mine in about 2004 at this site. I don't think they have any legal resposability for this site.For example I own the tenures for the old mine at silver river and clear creek hotsprings. If someone wants to use or take material from that area and say build a road with it there is not much I can do about it. If someone wants to gold pan on my gold claim (gold pan not sluice) I can't do anything. If someone enters the adit and gets killed...to bad not my problem unless I created the adit. If I had a lease and they wanted that material I could charge them a fee because I have to pay the goverment a fee for material removal. . I also have to follow the mine act and etc. etc.. As far as I can tell by the little bit of reasearch I did on this site it is the goverments problem and they might go after the prevous owners, or new for the clean up. So the area is free to explore for now as best as I can tell. If people want to remove rocks and what I think, but can't really say, are old cores then so be it. Just don't bring any ore, rocks or cores from another area to the site. They might be rich in gold and create a bre-x frennzy. [/B]
You could be right on the legal responsility (or lack thereof). I don't know the full ins and outs of the Mines Act. Perhaps its worth a little research.:read

I guess my point was that if the current owners acquired the property in a business deal, they are acquiring an asset. I would consider drill core as part of that asset as it is a historical record of previous exploration, much like any printed report or map. It is extremely valuable, especially in light of the current reporting disclosure required in the post-Bre-X world.

Anyway, this probably a little dry of a topic.;)
 
#11 ·
I seen the core samples that you were talking about. They were in a pile and all the boxes were rotted away on a short drift of to the side. There were also 2 shacks that were burnt down and cores scattered all over at the start of the mine. Looks like any new cores were taken away and warehoused or put in a drive and plugged. This mine sure had some big stopes and most of the system looks very stable. Good drainage but the crushing level is flooded. Some of the shoring is starting to rott however. Found a nice peice of arsenopyrite on the road. Lots and lots of greenstone and large quartz veins. There was a abandoned dirt bike on a lower level by a large stope and the area smelt like gas. DON"T SMOKE. Didn't go to the McMaster zone but I am aware that the area has been heavily explored and will be again explored this year. Probably should leave these cores alone as they were relogged in 1989. If you want a more intersting system to explore the Emancipation mine is worth your time. Be extremely careful as there is covered ore chutes and winzes that have rotten timbers covering them. Some of the stopes have pilars and rotted shoring as well. Watch were you step and try not to trigger anything. There is one drive in this system that enconters a ore body that was never mined. Look for a massive milky quartz that covers almost the entire walls. Anyways awsome area with lots to explore.
 
#12 ·
The Emancipation mine is pretty cool to check out. It's a lot older than even the Aurum site.

There's a cool site in the Siwash Creek Valley past spider peak as well, it's down near the Siwash t-junction. It's from the late 1800's and has a derilect stamp mill on the site. I was thikning of heading back to that site this summer and checking it out.
 
#16 ·
Official BC reports date back to 1910, but some of the workings around that area are older, some adits around the Hope area are supposedly from the 1850's. So some of the Emancipation workings could be as old as that, but the official records werent filed until the KVR made it's way through there.
 
#17 ·
The rails are steel but still old. Operated from 1916-1941. The stopes with rotted timber looked and are dangerous.I stayed out of these areas. I had a hole watch outside while I explored this one. While exploring I watch where I step, moved slow and kept quite. I was surprised to see quad and dirt bike tracks at the idaho mine. Guess people don't understand that noise could trigger a colapse. Not to metion they produce carbon monoxide and can lead to explosive atomspheres if it leaks fuel. And the real scary part is if you don't pay attention you could drop into some deep stopes.
 
#19 ·
iroc22 said:
Yeah the Idaho adit is very dark inside too, I dont think the headlights of an ATV would be adequate enough
Very dark vs ? :D Most of the mines around here have bends fairly close to the entrance, so after the first turn, you can't see your hand in front of your face! The Canex on the other hand is pretty neat as it goes straight in for about 1000' and turns. When coming back to that intersection, you can see light on the wall! Gets me everytime, think it's someone else wandering in!
 
#20 ·
alpestrine said:
I was surprised to see quad and dirt bike tracks at the idaho mine. Guess people don't understand that noise could trigger a colapse.

Guess I shouldn't mention driving my pickup around in the upper shafts at the Caroline Mines eh? That was more to even see if it could be done and yeah, you can fit a small pickup in it... I wish I had pics, maybe Mike or Cam may still have them. I lost a lot of mine pics when my folk's computer died last year, hence the reason for me forking out the money on a laptop (among other reasons).
 
#22 ·
anybody have an idea how old a mine would be that has wood rails with small stips of metal on the top? it is off the coquahalla and is very scarry inside, walls have lots of clay and there is lots of seeping (sp?) i found a container of grease that was part wood part metal and the label read, "horse drawn carriage axle grease" this was located right by the rope and pulley and bucket above a shaft. and yes, i left it all there for someone else to see and appreciate
 
#26 ·
i was just wondering if the gate would still be unlocked.. i read earlier in the thread that its like a 2km hike from the gate.. but if you can get a truck past it then it wouldnt be that bad.. i was just wondering how deep the snow would be past the gate and if a truck could actually make it around this time of year??
 
#28 ·
Fordthunder, unless you got a sled you'd get stuck before you get over the plow pile to the access road. Found a good video so you can see what it is like to go in during the summer: http://www.bcbuggy.com/MPG/Client/ClientCM1.php. And yes, there is snow in there as late as May/.June.
 
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