One of his friends had 700 feet of small-gauge mine track and a hundred-year-old track bender laying out in his back 40; plus he also wanted to join the team. Perfect.

The settlement did not grant an immediate approval for the project, but it did begin to clear the way for the company to apply for federal permits—a path the Obama administration previously had thwarted.

The Oatman/San Francisco Mining District’s historic gold production of 2.2 million ounces of gold since the 1880s makes this area Arizona’s greatest primary gold producing district.

The lake is at the southern tip of the San Andreas Fault, which has shifting tectonic plates that bring molten material closer to Earth’s surface. The only other part of the US known to have more geothermal brine available is on the fault’s other end in Northern California.

The burning question I needed answered was why didn’t the deposit ever get mined of at least one of the valuable minerals? A couple of reasons have come to light.

Critical minerals are products that the government has designated as critical to our national interest because of both their potential military and industrial applications.