Pine Creek and Tungsten Mining

[rlown]

Thought this was interesting..

[youtube_vid]<iframe width="1333" height="687" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5BSDrocE6u4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/youtube_vid]

[austex]

WOW thx. I never knew how big an operation it was.

[Gazelle]

That was awesome thank you!

[wildhiker]

Very educational. My impression is that this mine no longer operates. Is that true? If so, when did it shut down?
-Phil

[Tom_H]

Very interesting. Thanks! Still used in drill bits. Disappearing in light bulbs. The Pentagon has been looking at tungsten for use in a kinetic energy warhead. It's so hard and has such a high melting temperature that a tungsten rod launched on an ICBM could hit a target with as much (kinetic) energy as a small nuke, yet leave no radioactive fallout. The warhead nickname is The Rod of God.

[markskor]

Very educational. My impression is that this mine no longer operates. Is that true? If so, when did it shut down?
-Phil

PINE CREEK MINE
The Pine Creek mine began its history in the early 1900s when tungsten was discovered high on the flank of Wheeler Ridge, a few miles above Bishop. It wasn't mined on a large scale until the 1910s. This tungsten mine was one of the major producers in the United States through WWII. The mine continued its operation through the 1990s and the mill ceased production in 2000. However, the mill is set and ready to go back into production should the need for tungsten or the prices rise.
http://www.ripleysghosttowns.com/pinecreekmine.html

[gary c.]

There is a pretty long thread about the mine over on the Rock Creek site so I shared the video link there as well. Some of you might be interested in some of the history and pictures so here is a link.

http://www.rockcreeklake.com/board/index.php?topic=55.0

[Dave_Ayers]

Good stuff. Doing the north Italy Pass loop (JMT, up Mono Creek, etc.) involves a few miles walk down the old mining road (bulldozer crushed talus) and through the mine. Did that in the 70's when the mine was operating. The flat areas below the mine (the filled in flat areas seen in this photo below) used to be leach ponds with odd greenish colorings. I imagine those areas are well contaminated with various chemicals.

IMG_1919r.jpg

I do wish they would remove the old rusting debris near the trails and rock climbing area.

The geology of that general area is pretty cool with all the criss-crossing dikes and veins.

IMG_1887r.jpg

IMG_1901r.jpg

IMG_1907r.jpg

[fishmonger]

The video in the first post seems to be gone from Youtube. I found this one - likely the same thing?

I had no idea about the scale of that mine and where the actual action takes place (2.5 miles in and a mile up from the entrance inside the mountain)