#54 Exploring Redbird and Remac mines with Willy

[@jacobfrayer3836]

Willy seems like a cool guy, he makes a good co-explorer. Great video Frank! Thanks

[@exploringabandonedmines]

Yeah he is fun!

[@joshfuder3077]

Thanks Jacob!

[@clairenewton755]

Hi Frank, I'm a geologist and I really enjoy watching your channel. I've done a little exploring some hard-rock goldmines here in New Zealand (Coromandel area), and plan on doing a bit more soon. I just thought I'd point out a couple of geological things which might be useful for you. It looks like all of the mines I've seen you explore so far are hydrothermally deposited mineral reefs. These are basically old fault planes (why the stopes are generally so planar) which had a lot of hot mineralised water flowing through them (generally upward). Over 10's to 100's of thousands of years, minerals were deposited due to hot fluids boiling, cooling, or mixing with other fluids. The most common minerals to be deposited are quartz, sulfides (this is usually the important bit), calcite, potassium feldspar, and clays. Gold and silver are often deposited on the sulfides themselves (sulfide layers are normally dark grey or black, but often turn rusty when oxidised as iron is a very common component in sulfides), or sometimes on their own, which in rare cases are actually visible in the rock - these are generally bonanza grade deposits. There were (and are still) some awesome bonanza grade deposits near where I live in NZ, eg like the 4500 lbs of ore from one single blast, one night in the Waiotahi mine, which yielded nearly 2000 lbs of gold bulllion... yikes! Anyways, those reefs which have been been stoped out (and make for some freaky exploring) basically grew by continued fault movement over the thousands of years, eg the fault would move, opening up a gap which the hot mineralised hydrothermal water would race up for a couple of thousand years, dumping sulfides, precious metals, etc. Then there would be another small earthquake, which would often smash up the minerals in the fault plane, and open more space, and the process would keep going again. Eventually some massively thick veins were left behind. You might notice a lot of the stoped out areas are pretty black, this is sulfides. The stope in the mine in this video looks like it was pretty much all sulfides. This and the fact that there is a lot of zinc (zinc sulfide = sphalerite) indicates it was probably deposited pretty deep, likely about 8-10 km down (or more). I would bet that there is a lot of lead and copper (as sulfides) along with the zinc too, as well as iron (pyrite is fricken everywhere), these sulfides can form veins which are almost 100% sulfides in some deeper deposited reefs. The rocks which host this deposit have since been uplifted as the rocky mountains were pushed up. It is this same tectonic activity which likely produced the fault planes and earthquakes which gave a space for the mineral deposits. I don't think there was any volcanic activity associated with the mineral deposits in the Canadian Rockies (different story further south in Colorado etc.), all it took were some hot rocks, water, and some big cracks in the rock, plus a few earthquakes to help things along. Mineral deposits are not generally deposited directly from magma (with some very rare exceptions), it's mostly all about hot water and big cracks in the rock with these sorts of deposits :) Magmas do directly supply the hot mineralised fluids responsible for some deposits though, which sometimes form in the country rock around the margins of magmatic intrusions. These are usually called skarn or porphyry deposits, and generally form in sort of cylindrical aureole around the intrusion. There are quite a few these further south, down in the States. Anyway, please keep up the great work! You go in some places where I'd be like f*** no! lol. You have a very rational view of safety though, which is great to see (so many irrationally risk averse people today), but still, you are one ballsy bastard lol!

[@exploringabandonedmines]

Thanks for the awesome post.........I have pinned it so it will stay on top!

[@clairenewton755]

@@exploringabandonedmines Aww thanks, it's my pleasure. Thank you working so hard to produce these videos, it's crazy impressive the efforts you go to get into and around these mines. I really appreciate it :)

[@drexel937]

@@clairenewton755 Nice Post: I have been researching Mining using Franks Videos and Google, your post is totally off-the-chain!

[@johnizitchiforalongtime]

Getting to the CORE of the mines. Det cord, boxes and ladders, oh my. Quite unique. They took a lot of country rock out of here. How much ore was taken. On to better mines. Listen to that echo, huge ballroom. Down and out, cool.

[@TheMrShinagami]

Thank you for another awesome video. the 2 week break will give me a chance to finish your back catalogue. Stay safe on your adventures Frank, we don't want to lose you.

[@exploringabandonedmines]

Thank we promise you some great shows when we get back!

[@exploringabandonedmines]

We are off to what will probably be our most exciting mine exploration yet! We are going up to Anyox. This is one of the biggest underground Copper mines ever and it has sat untouched since it closed in 1935. A very hard place to get to. There are no roads, We are getting permission to go to an abandoned ghost town called Kitsault and taking our boat from there to Anyox. All this is private and off limits to the public. There have been tours to the public but nobody has been underground and documented this massive mine and we are doing it! Anyox has a website anyox.com and Kitsault has some stuff on the web as well. I have a satellite beacon and you can follow it at share.garmin.com/FrankSchlichting see you when we get home!

[@greenteambc]

How was driving to CHatham? Lol That is where the jail and prison jam is made for all of Ontario. #ClaimToFame

[@oxskirra]

the colors in the rock are great. cameras dont do justice for the views. thank you for the adventure frank. looking forward to the next show. be safe.

[@exploringabandonedmines]

We have some much better cameras coming soon the footage should be much better!

[@barbararobinson7980]

Great footage and commentary as always Frank. I enjoy the aerial shots and scenery as much as the journey through the mine. The banter between you and Willy made me laugh. Sounds like you’ve got an amazing week coming up so I look forward to seeing the episode you put together from your visit to Anyox. As always appreciate all the time you put in to filming, documenting and sharing this with the public.

[@exploringabandonedmines]

Thank Barb. I just got back it really was awesome. The biggest smelter in the whole British Commonwealth in a really isolated location. There is no end the the history there!

[@CutthroatMcRage]

all your vids are great Frank … Thanks Man :)

[@jeffd6540]

Nice to see more of this mine. Great comment below here as well.

[@exploringabandonedmines]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@mayzo7439]

another awesome adventure thanks Frank .look for Sasquatch 👍

[@debmartens6723]

My dad designed the bridge and was the mine manager when the Annex was developed. I wish he was alive to see this video!

[@Rambogner]

Can't wait till next week Frank!

[@BrodyKaneNorth]

Awesome! Glad you did this one!

[@DaleDuffy]

"Want me to film you doing it?"...lol....great vid, Frank....!

[@exploringabandonedmines]

Classic

[@handlead]

Easily my favorite channel on KZbin. Greetings from Georgia USA gang!

[@exploringabandonedmines]

thanks!

[@BestBuddies.]

your videos just keep getting better Frank I really look forward to Thursdays to watch them.. Cant wait for the new one you talked about sounds cool gonna check the link out now.

[@exploringabandonedmines]

Thanks........we think so too!

[@bobbybackpain]

1st. love your channel Frank!! stay safe

[@BIGBADWOOD]

Another great video ... Thanks !

[@kennybohey5906]

Hey Frank, The Things you do are so Incredibly Awesome and the Fricking Beautiful Scenery and "EVERYTHING ELSE'...Thank You as Always 4 the Adventure...See Yaw, KennyB123Fly P.S. ( Great Drone Flying, & People Below should Already Know "U R Bigfoot"!

[@Lalunabreeze]

Wow, lots of ways to go.

[@ADITADDICTS]

Willy says " I'm color blind and even I can see that's red!" Lmfao!!! that was good shit right there!! Huge mine that one is!

[@exploringabandonedmines]

Willy is a lot of fun to go exploring with!

[@ADITADDICTS]

Exploring Abandoned Mines In BC Omg sounds like it! He reminds me of a Canadian Paul! haha!!

[@tinytattoomike7943]

Willy says go for it I'll hold the camera 🎥

[@kennethcrowther2277]

Hi Frank. Love your work man. I'm a kiwi living in Australia, but in NZ there are some pretty amazing old (big) abandoned gold mines that would be amazing to explore. Some are old and probably unexplored for many years. I've always wanted to go in or find someone's exploration footage, but alas....none to be found. Anyway my question is, when are you going to try descending that mega vertical shaft at Remac?? That I would love to see, as with all your videos. Many thanks again.

[@exploringabandonedmines]

I have been down as far as you can go to the water. The shaft is dangerous because of loose material. I may go back and check out a few more places I haven't checked out in there.

[@kennethcrowther2277]

@@exploringabandonedmines no worries. Thanks Frank. I look forward to it.

[@RailPreserver2K]

I'm at Niagara falls Canada and I went behind the falls and one of the tunnels looked like an abandoned mine but it's gated off

[@ar-gaming9014]

Would you post pics to your channel maybe some one will cut it open for an adventure lol

[@scottcol23]

I wonder if they used the Axe like a maul to drive wedges into stalls and of course the other side was handy to use as a wedge to break off veins of ore/rock. but who knows?

[@exploringabandonedmines]

I don't think axes were used by the miners just the timber men.

[@BY504A]

Can't wait until the next adventure! Sure hope that you come back to this mine and show some more of its hidden gems. Do you ever run across any bears when out exploring in these woods? Take care!

[@exploringabandonedmines]

Yes we see a lot of black bears, not too many Grizzlies they tend to stick to the higher altitudes.

[@terracethornhill]

I'd love to see you explore the mines around Stewart BC, I've heard some of them are quite extensive.

[@exploringabandonedmines]

We are going to Anyox next week it is only about 50 miles south of Steward. We also would like to get in to some mines in Steward but need a chopper!

[@terracethornhill]

Nice! Looking forward to seeing that. Be safe.

[@MooseKnuckleMike]

.... my butthole puckered big time when you guys were on that ledge toward the end. Just insane bud!

[@ar-gaming9014]

Cant wait to see you descend the ladder make sure you get your tetnnis shot updated lol

[@JAY61ish]

that steel rung ladder is just like the ladders used in Cornwall uk many years ago

[@grandprismatic]

I somehow missed this one, no time like cramming it in before work starts

[@scarumanga]

A friend told me about this portal a few years ago, said there is a locomotive you can see across a stope but can't get to.

[@odysseytecharts8144]

Great video, Frank! How do miners define how mine levels stress numbered?

[@exploringabandonedmines]

Depends on how far below the surface or sometimes sea level

[@mbt808]

I know you probably get asked this a lot, and I'm unsure if you've maybe talked about it in one of the videos(i could've missed it, theres so much), but you talk about the dangers of exploring these mines and how generally unsafe it is to go without experience/being prepared, but that had me wondering, what was the biggest close call you've had while exploring these mines yourself?

[@exploringabandonedmines]

We all take risks every day. Many of us have a car and jump in every day never thinking we could be killed, smoke drink or whatever. So exploring mines is like everything else in life, there are risks but if you understand the dangers is is not all that dangerous. So first I would never go into an abandoned coal mine or any mine with out a lot of lights. Most everything else is just common sense and experience. Also you need to stay within your comfort level and not overestimate your abilities.

[@ADITADDICTS]

Exploring Abandoned Mines In BC Damn well said.

[@grandprismatic]

What up Nibbles? Hey bro, dang I missed this one.

[@dingo23451]

That slime on the wall could be the product of Iron bacteria, they feed of the stuff and excrete rust.

[@exploringabandonedmines]

You may be right, makes sense to me.

[@skookumchuckreefer978]

👍🍻

[@Gromitdog1]

Anyone know what all those axes would be used for?

[@exploringabandonedmines]

They might have used them to tap the wedges in for the stulls ,but I don't know why there were so many left behind.

[@ar-gaming9014]

Some people dont agree with me but I would come back with a sawand make small holes through those blocked off areas ive found some cool shit in those areas

[@exploringabandonedmines]

Don't worry it is on the agenda! If you look at the wall it was constructed from the back......I have no idea how they got out of there!

[@Meekerextreme]

Nope, I agree with you...it's rotting anyways might as well explore it and save any goods.

[@harrickvharrick3957]

Scariest vid to date.. first F rejects the idea to try a steel ladder without ropes (not saying he was wrong), next we see him and his companion climb every wooden one they came across and walk every iffy ledge that had an abyss next to it in that whole damn mine.

[@frydaym.8726]

4:16 SNAKE

[@nofoxgiven6315]

*EVER RAN INTO ANY ALIENS IN ANY OF THE MINES,MAY JUST BE AN AMERICAN THING*

[@exploringabandonedmines]

When they show up at the border here the government puts them up in a hotel!

[@scruffy3528]

The average person would have died in there.

[@willyfuder3056]

Average people should probably do something else for fun, I guess.