Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

BTW: Saline Road is a county road and as such, is maintained by Inyo County. They grade it with some regularity, but I don't know how often. It should be in reasonably good shape as we have not had significant (any??) rain for quite some time. I would expect to endure washboard as others have indicated. The road that splits off towards the springs is not maintained by the county.

 

Definitely stop and spend time at the mines along the way and enjoy them while you can. Over the last 10 years I’ve notice the gradual collapse of structures, vandalism and things disappearing. Not sure there will be much left to see in 20 years.

 

yeh..Inyo County road graders! I caught up to a road grader, thought if i tailgated him he'd pull over and let me pass. sucked a lot of dust. Road Grader either did not know I was there, or, did not give a Bat's ass that i was. Airborne dust was fine, very fine. Road surface was a very, very fine, fluffy dust with occasional hidden rocks dredged up by the blade. Inyo county Road Graders go slow. Seemed like forever being 'stuck' behind the Grader. Grader finally veered to the right to grade into a side drainage. The road was in very reasonably good shape thereafter.

 

I've not had the pleasure of following a grader but I've driven SVR after they've done their job. Seems like they uncover the rocks. So it can be washboard with a few less rocks or freshly graded and more rocks.

 

For what it's worth (not much): In Nebraska there was a research project involving washboard roads: a trench was dug perpendicular to the ripples. At 7 feet deep the washboard pattern was still visible in the side of the trench. A large portion of NE soil is clay consisting of fine particles, at least similar to the make-up of a lot of roads; washboards are ubiquitous and impossible to remove.

I tried to find a paper or the NE study w/o success, so you can treat this as BS.

 

Somewhere in a file cabinet someplace I have a copy of a 1963 article from Scientific American on research into washboard generation. The results have been replicated a number of times by other researchers I believe. Bottom line is washboard will form fairly quickly on most any loose surface unless speeds are kept ridiculously low (like less than 5 mph).

Speed doesn't dramatically change much about the washboard formation but weight on the tire does change the period/length of the washboard with heavier weights generating longer length washboard which tends to be more jarring.

Oiling the dirt road will slow the formation. A great example of that being the road out to the Briggs Mine in Panamint Valley which was regularly oiled from what I usually saw and was also usually smooth as glass.

Put enough mass into the equation and you can get washboard in almost anything. Steel railroad rails actually get washboard in them (called "rough rails") following discontinuities in the track such as after switches.

So yes you can blade the washboard away but it will form again quite quickly as soon as people drive over it. And you really can't slow down enough to prevent its formation.

 

Its graded every 6 months now for the last two and a half years. You were lucky if it was graded once a year before that

 

Sadly here is another reason to keep speeds down while traveling in the park.

 

I'd rather have the washboards. I've cut a bunch of tire on broken rocks after roads were regraded.

 

I'd rather have a cut sidewall over dealing with all of the torn sheet metal and busted hood latch hook from as a result of countless miles driven over washboard

 

My understanding is that formation starts with just one bump (which tends to support the oiling theory for slowing them down-keeps the soil compact). What I've heard is a small hole forms which causes the wheel to drop and pop out. The initial ridge is formed and the cycle repeats. I'm actually watching them form on the main road through the city. There's a broken pipe on the road which has created a pothole (they know about it but just haven't gotten to fixing it). Washboard will form even in asphalt. It's the bus lane and right about where vehicle wheels are. Should happen pretty quick

 

Inyo Register
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
MINING COMPANY SET TO BEGIN OPERATING THIS YEAR
Bush Mining Company reps outline operations, economic benefit
By Terrance Vestal
Managing Editor

At its virtual meeting last week, the Inyo County Board of Supervisors heard a presentation from representatives of Bush Management Company, which owns the Radcliffe and Keystone mines, on the company’s general plans.

John Hagestad, the owner of the company, and Charles McLaughlin, a company partner, gave an overview of planned operations as well as the economic benefits Inyo County could see as a result of those operations.

The Radcliffe Mine is a 1,750-acre complex of patented and unpatented mining claims about 25 miles east of Trona, according to Bush Management. Keystone Mine is an underground gold mine that has been intermittently worked since 1940, which is located in Goler Wash on the western flank of the Panamint Mountains. Bush Management Company acquired the mine in 2015 and ownership and use of this claim is overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.

McLaughlin began the presentation by pointing out that Bush Management is one of Inyo County’s largest property tax payers and “we hope soon to be one of your larger employers.”

He said the company is planning to put both of its mines into production later this year and into next year.

Hagestad said “we’re trying to be good community citizens and com- munity partners and just wanted to let you know what our goals and objectives are and hopefully they’re mutual to yours as well.”

McLaughlin said both of the mines, which Bush Management acquired over the last several years, are fully permitted and both of them are prior operating.

McLaughlin said about 137 acres of the 1,750 acres of the Radcliffe Mine, while company owned, falls under an Inyo County conditional use permit and associated reclamation plan. The county’s conditional use permit was approved in 2008 and runs through December 2013.

With the Radcliffe Mine, the company has six portal sites that were pre- approved based on the location of the resources that have been identified.

McLaughlin said there was also an associated environmental permit issued, showing that there were no significant issues on the property.

He said all of the mines that have been approved are for underground mining.

The company’s presentation included a number of maps showing portal locations and proposed hauling routes for ore processing.

“So, in summary, we’ve got the two mines that we’re getting ready to put into production,” McLaughlin said. “We wanted to let you know where we stand on that. We’ll be submitting some more plans to the Planning Department in the near future.”

McLaughlin said with the Radcliffe Mine the ore will be crushed and hauled off site or processed on site, which would be allowed under the county zoning.

He said the ore would be crushed and converted into a “doré” material, which is usually produced as part of the mining and refining process, and the company will be using dry stacking for any tailings that exists.

McLaughlin said there is no water that flows under the site and he compared the process to the one that was approved for the Darwin Mine, as far as zoning and approvals that mine received for on-site pro- cessing. The company will be using cyanide to process the ore in tanks

“And so we’ll be submitting that to the Planning Department,” McLaughlin said.

With the Keystone Mine, McLaughlin said, it’s all BLM claims. He said the plan of operations was first approved there in 1981.

He said the BLM plan has been modified three times, each with an updated environmental assessment with the last one issued in September or October of 2018. The last one was issued in the I think it was September, October of 2018.

“The original plan of operations does have a cyanide operation, approved as part of the initial plan of operations,” he said of the Keystone Mine. “But we’re just starting the metallurgical analysis over there. The mine structure is high in the hills. There’s no water around there at all. And that, as you probably know, in that process, it’s the impact on water and other facilities that you have to be very careful about. And we’ll be using that due diligence.”

McLaughlin said the company is looking at using the cyanide process for gold extraction both with and without water but it will most likely end up hauling water into the area. He said the company would have a “tank farm” in the Claire Camp area, which is nearby, and will probably haul 5,000 gallons a day.

He said the company has just started work with the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board on the issue but the hydrology study was completed two years ago.

McLaughlin said the company expects to be employing at Radcliffe 30 to 50 people on shifts, which would depend on the rate of production at the mine. He said their current model shows Bush Management Company will be generating 25,000 ounces a year, out of the 210,000 ounces that the company currently show is its resource there. The company plans on operating in that manner for eight or nine years. With company expectations, it will most likely look at ways to accelerate that production.

“If you increase the production, you end up increasing the number of people you have to have,” he said. “It also increases the flow-through to the state Department of Conservation for the annual payment per ounce that’s generated.”

With a change in property tax assessments based on production resources, McLaughlin said there would most likely be an increase in property taxes collected by Inyo County.

He said the same would hold true at the Keystone Mine.

“So, collectively, we’re probably looking at 50 to 100 people in various categories,” McLaughlin said. “We certainly will be looking for qualified people in Inyo County to join us.”

McLaughlin said the company currently is accruing on both of the mines $30,000 to $40,000 a year in county property taxes, which is expected to increase as each one of the mines gets into production.

He said Bush Management Company wants to be a community partner in Inyo County, especially after the economic hit the county has taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Finally found out how the rocks move on the playa... its the force!






Fyi lippencott is really rough in 3-4 spots but doable







Ended up in Cerro Gordo. Great trip

 

So Radcliffe Mine is near Clair Camp right? Was actually planning on checking out that area in November. I wonder if it's closed off and posted no trespassing or not.

 

Yes Ratcliff is near Clair Camp. The mine may not be accessible but the road will be open to travel.

 

wonder what the future of goler is...

 

The article was confusing in the locations. I got confused when Goler was mentioned. But then the article circled back to Clair Camp and reaffirmed my locations. DVexile or Crom can also verify the locations. Corrections are welcome.

 

Radcliff is near Clair Camp in Pleasant Canyon. Keystone is the one in Goler. Keystone had approval to use water from Sourdough Spring a few years back.

 

Since Death valley.net went away, are there any other informative message boards, etc. that you guys to that have a lot of good info like that site did? Still bummed about it.

 

I used to see a gentleman at the Keystone Mine or in Goler Wash in general who always was dressed in black and open carried a sidearm on his hip. He drove a stock-ish silver 3rd Gen TFR. Sometimes I would see a muzzle of a rifle pocking up from the front passenger seat area. I always thought maybe it was security for the Keystone Mine because this was about the time that there was a lot of surveying going on and what not in the area. One day I asked Rocky who was the caretaker at Ballarat at the time about him, and he said that person was very bad news and had nothing to do with the Keystone Mine.