I've been to the Planet Mine before with Paul Wray, the Yukon miner, Yukon Rock Shop owner and rockhound extrordinaire. I did NOT find the malachite or drusy quartz-coated chrysocolla that I really hope to find, so I contacted Paul to head there again! I also thought it would be a great locality for Daniel to experience and for Daniel to meet Paul! So away we went. An itinerant mining engineer, John, came along with us. Paul knows those back roads and washes very well and has a great pick-up truck to navigate them.
The Planet Mine is a former underground Cu-Fe-Ag-Au mine located about 57 miles north east of Quartzite, AZ. It was discovered in 1863 and straddles a tributary of the Williams River, which was bone dry during our visit. I think it is pretty well always bone dry, unless it picks up runoff during Arizona monsoon season, during the summer.
I did another write-up on the Planet Mine in this same "Recent Activities" section of this website in 2014 so if you go to the Recent Activities index and scroll down, you'll find more information and insight.
Herer are a series of photo's and captions describing our trip which included a trip to the BBC Mine also described earlier this year in these same "Recent Activities". Sorry, the photos are out of order and I don't know how to unscramble them. You'll figure it out!
We checked out several spots on the property and explored one of the adits at wash level. The declined adit must be flooded right to the top during rainy season! You can't tell from the photo but the drift is actually a decline that goes down at at a 10% or so grade. Lots of old stopes and drifts off to the sides of the main decline.
Here is yours truly exploring an old stope with dubious timber support. Secondary copper mineralization is everywhere in the iron-rich rock.
Here is Daniel and me exploring an old open stope. There is interesting mineralization everywhere but not great specimen potential in this particular area.
Daniel located a good-looking seam of malachite in the wall of one stope. We'll go back there some time to see if we can excavate good specimens.
Paul Wray brought a new light to use for photography and that is why the lighting was so good for his underground photo's of Daniel and me. Thanks, Paul!
I finally found a spot near an adit up on the canyon wall that seemed to have some good malachite. The malachite was in green hemispheres in dark matrix, sometimes associated with quartz crystals. This specimen is about 8.0cm across.
Here is a close-up of some of the hemispheres. Field of view is about 3.5cm across.
Another close-up of malachite hemispheres, field of view around 3.0cm across.
The Planet Mine straddles a wash in a steep valley. There are adits, trenches and workings on both sides of the waterless wash and many places to explore. Here is a view of the north side of the wash showing loads of barrel cacti amongst the rocks. Those cacti are about two feet high, or so.
The Planet Mine straddles a wash in a steep valley. There are adits, trenches and workings on both sides of the waterless wash and many places to explore. Here is a view of the north side of the wash showing loads of barrel cacti amongst the rocks. Those cacti are about two feet high, or so.
Much of the "road", between the BBC Mine and the Planet mine is composed of dried up rivers called washes. Sometimes a grader will run through some of the washes to tidy them up for traffic. They can be very rough after a rain storm, which can happen on occasion.
You know that you are close to the Planet Mine, if you encounter wild donkeys grazing. There are quite a few of these beasts in the Planet mine area and they are reputed to be descended from the original donkeys that were used by the miners and pioneers of the Planet Mine back in the 1800s. They just wander around. Must be enough food and water for them each year!
This is what the countryside looks as you approach the Planet Mine. At the BBC Mine, you are surrounded by typical Sonoran desert. The Planet Mine is at a bit higher elevation and, there, you encounter desert grasslands, as well as chollas, saguaro, creosote bushes and other desert plants.
Back in Quartzite, John recommended that we go to "Silly Al's" a local bar/restaurant, for pizza and beer. We did and I was glad of it. The pizza was actually the best pizza that I have had in years. Nice end to a great day! I still have not found the malachite specimen that I need/want for my collection so, hopefully, I'll return to the Planet Mine, one day, to find it! (and maybe Silly Al's)
We drove back to Quartzite via Parker. I never get tired of the scenery in this part of the world. TWe encountered this vista when we were approaching Parker.
There are literally infinite numbers of micro crystals at the Planet Mine. Many cracks and seams have wonderful crystals of malachite. Here is a nice one, field of view around 6mm or so.
Here is another nice spray of malachite crystals. Field of view around 4mm or so.
Paul and then Daniel emerged from one of the adits, squinting in the daylight.
