Currahee Mine, Gainesville, Hall County, Georgia, USAi

Regional Level Types
Currahee Mine	Mine
Gainesville	- not defined -
Hall County	County
Georgia	State
USA	Country

The Currahee mine is situated on the Southern Railway about six miles northeast of Gainesville. Regular mining has been conducted in the past on an auriferous quartz vein a short distance west of the railway line and prospect work has also been done on a vein on the Thompson tract, a body of land lying on the opposite side of the railway. The last mentioned vein has been exposed in several shallow cuts or shafts; the deepest, about thirty-five feet in depth, situated in a small ravine, gives the best exposure of the vein. As seen here it has a northeast strike and a nearly vertical dip with an average thickness of about two and a half feet. This vein is quite clearly defined and consists of massive· quartz containing considerable amounts of pyrite and galena. An assay, however, of a sample taken from an ore pile of a number of tons taken from the vein in sinking the shaft yielded only $0.40 of gold per ton. In addition to work on this vein some prospect work has been done on another vein on the Thompson tract.

Immediately west of the railway considerable mining has been done in past years on a vein known as vein No. 5. This vein has been exploited for several hundred yards by shafts open cuts and tunnels. No work has been done on vein No. 5 for a number of years and little opportunity was afforded to draw conclusions concerning its character. A sample taken for assay from an ore pile at the mouth of one of the shafts known as the Lilly shaft, yielded $5.79 per ton. A sample from an ore pile of a number of tons at the mouth of an open cut and tunnel near the old mill site and immediately adjacent to the Gainesville public road yielded no gold. Whether or not this ore was from vein No. 5 can not be definitely stated, but from the difference in direction between the tunnel and the strike of vein No.5 it is probable that it came from a vein that is an offshoot from vein No.5 or a cross vein. In appearance the ore here was almost identical with that of the vein on the Thompson tract previously described.

In addition to the Lilly shaft, above mentioned, two shafts, known as the Roberts and the Hayden shafts, were sunk to a depth of about two hundred and a hundred and forty feet respectively. These shafts located approximately sixty feet apart are stated to be connected by a drift at a hundred-foot level. About seven years ago the Currahee Mining and Milling Company erected a milling and cyanide plant at the mine. This plant was operated for a year and has since been destroyed by fire. It was not learned what success attended the operations.