ARES 000008 is located in the OUACHITA NATIONAL FOREST – TOWNSHIP 1 SOUTH, RANGE 22 WEST, 5th PM, SECTION 11, SWNE, SENW, CONTAINING 80 ACRES, MORE OR LESS.

The operators will be Stuart Schmitt, 60 Mary's Eagle Trail, Mount Ida, AR 71957, (870) 867-2443, email stu@arcrystalmine.com and Ray McGrew.

The last active mining activity on this lease was conducted by Henry deLinde in the 1970s for a period of about 1 week.  During this time three shallow trenches were dug on the top of the East/West ridge.  The location of the trenches are shown on the map below.

The map below shows the proposed access route to the top of the ridge and pits 1 -3.  The route up the hill was flagged as the route used in  1974 when the area was operational for about a week and starts at the bottom off old FS road J28.  As you can see by the contour lines the slope is gradual with an elevation of 700' at the bottom to about 820' at the top of the ridge.  The route up to the ridge has down trees, scrub hardwood, and small (up to 3") pine trees that will be removed for a 12' path.

 N34 40.017 W93 19.403 887 ft  - Pit #1
 N34 40.040 W93 19.331 887 ft - Pit #2
 N34 40.038 W93 19.239 887 ft  - Pit #3

We plan to hire a dozer and operator to open the access route and clear the scrub trees along the ridge to the East pit #3.  We estimate this will take a day at the most.  The photos below were taken December 6, 2006, and show the scrub trees along the top of the ridge.

Pit #1

Pit #2

Pit #3

We own a John Deere 690A trackhoe which we will be using to conduct the exploration operation.  Our plan is to conduct exploratory trenching around the three old pits starting at the East end around Pit #3 and work our way to Pit #1.  We plan to dig trenches about three feet wide and four to six feet in depth across the ridge (north and south) in the pit areas to help determine the best locations of the mineral deposits.  When the best areas are found we plan to open the pits in an east/west direction along the ridge to a maximum depth  around 25 feet. We plan to back fill the trenches and pits as we proceed to the west along the ridge line.  We plan to use pickup trucks and trailers for haulage.  No explosives will be used. We plan to conduct operations for a period of 1 to 2weeks, reclaim the area, and then remove all equipment while we process the minerals collected.

Henry and I hiked to the lease area in December 2006 and it was not a walk in the park (Trip Report).