Among the mines that have attracted unusual attention in this county
during the past year, the Ibex Mine stands prominently in the front
rank. It is located 3½ miles from Ibex Station, on the line of the A. &
P. R. R., and not over 11 miles north from The Needles. The Ibex
property is in the Ibex Mining District, and consists of seven claims,
which were located in 1888, now owned by residents of Riverside and San
Bernardino. The principal claim is called the Ibex. The vein strikes
east and west, dipping at an angle of 45°. Two shafts, one 60 feet and
one 52 feet, had been sunk at the time this information was obtained. At
the bottom of the 52-foot shaft a drift 38 feet in length has been run
on the vein. Surface cuts and trenches are quite numerous on the several
claims, and a large amount of quartz containing gold had been exposed.
Free gold could be seen in considerable quantity in some of the porous
quartz. The quartz is thoroughly crystalline, showing many cavities as a
result of the decomposition and leaching out of the sulphuretted
minerals it originally contained. These cavities are all lined with
minute quartz crystals, which have been deposited evidently since the
removal of the sulphides. Rock of this description is full of gold,
seemingly. It is so loose in texture that careless handling shakes out
the golden grains. John Anderson, of San Bernardino, one of the owners,
volunteered the information that from 2 to 4 feet of this rock sampled
$100 to $150 per ton. The owners had determined the latter part of April
to ship this free-milling ore to The Needles, where a mill was being
constructed. Some of the quartz from the lowest workings contains small
crystals of pyrite and chalcopyrite, but it would still be classed as an
ore susceptible of free amalgamation. The Ibex property had a promising
look in the spring of 1892. Its further development will be looked to
with great interest by all interested in desert mines.