[Rockhounds] Correction: Mine Rescue Gossan Lead

[Drew]

I accidentally hit the send button while editing. I was talking about the
mine and wanted to include a couple other facts about the area.

Also, I didn't include a cursory warning of, BE CAREFUL and DON'T GO INTO
ABANDONED, UNMAINTAINED MINES!

Like the rest of the mines along the 16 mile (26km) Great Gossan Lead, Iron
Ridge Mine was mined for iron and\or copper in the late 1700's until the
gossan was mined out. Unlike most of the other mines there, this mine
endured well into the 20th century by mining massive reserves of pyrrhotite
for use in production of sulfuric acid. The only other long lasting mine is
named Betty Baker Mine and is on the very Northern end of the Gossan Lead.
Betty Baker ore was also used for sulfuric acid, but it was chiefly pyrite.

Not a lot of contemporary documentation about the mining that went on along
this geologic feature, but if anyone has any information about that area
please share.

Google Satellite View of Pit - https://goo.gl/maps/utVKSaTzBMekcv366
Be sure to pan around a bit, most notably the treatment ponds to the SSW of
the pit.

A 1927 picture of the pit is on mindat,https://www.mindat.org/loc-11508.html

Drew
Wytheville, VA