Gold Hill is a very interesting place. The mountains are pocketed with mines. You see mineralization everywhere! It’s famous for Silver, Gold, Copper, Lead, Tungsten, and Arsenic. The Arsenic was heavily mined during WWI, to control the insects that were destroying the cotton crop that was needed so badly during the war. Then WWII started another boom, as Tungsten was needed for steel making. Several booms and busts have been here. This leaves an amazing mineral collecting area.
I was anxious to collect here again, and went with my wife’s cousin. He was not much of a collector, but loves to explore. A good match. We started in at the “150 Level” an underground tunnel known for Connellite. I did find some good pieces after pounding the wall for quite awhile. I was also able to find a nice azurite vug in the ore shoot back-fill pile. After a while, we went to the “80 Level” another underground entrance, and I was able to collect some Adamite & Aragonite. I also found some Chalcophanite and Hydrohetaerolite. We then went up to the “Glory Hole” pit and searched around. After a while I found an area where it looks as if someone had been collecting what looks like Cuproaustinite, and Conichalcite. We did not have a lot of time to continue collecting, so I need to return to dig further. A few hours here could produce several flats of good specimens. I was able to get a large amount of Olivenite near this same spot on a previous field trip. Tip, make sure you have enough empty flats and a way to carry them when collecting here!