Going Underground in an Abandoned Talc Mine
04800 tons of talc is nothing to sneeze at! That's how much talc was removed from this abandoned mine from 1952 to 1957. Not bad for a small talc mine like this one! To reach this secluded abandoned mine, one must hike two miles through the desert on an old mining road that goes up into the mountains. An off-road vehicle could be taken there, but it would need to be capable of handling the various wash-outs, large rocks and boulders, and other hazards along the route.
The mine features a wooden trestle with ore cart tracks still on it. The ore bin that was underneath the trestle has collapsed. The tracks veer off from the trestle and run along the ground for a short distance before curving back into the darkness of the mine's nearby portal. Once inside, the ore cart tracks split at a three-way junction and lead to several inclined passageways that go up into stopes and open stopes. Of all the crumbling and dangerous talc mines I've explored and documented, this one probably felt the safest probably due to its smaller size and the lack of collapses and other hazards normally seen in abandoned talc mines.
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