Kinsley Mountain Mine

 Upload a photo

The Kinsley mine has a story similar to so many others. First discovered in 1984, it went through a handful of owners before being bought for $3 million by Alta Gold in 1994. Alta Gold put the property into production in 1994. Between 1994 and 1999, the property produced over 138,000 ounces of gold, or roughly 30K ounces per year.

With plenty of gold, the mine was in production and still making money in 1999. But problems and cost overruns at another Alta property caused the company to go broke. One day they were mining gold, the next day everyone lost their job and everything was sold at auction. Its an eerie experience to wander around an existing gold mine with everything except people and equipment. There are shot holes lined up all in a row, just waiting for the explosives to be poured for yet another blast. Today, the lonely wind whistles over the empty blast holes with nothing but a few field mice for company.