Tungsten: A Treasure of the Sierra Nevada
Tungsten: A Treasure of the Sierra Nevada
Vintage Union Carbine movie about tungsten and the Pine Creek Mine
Tungsten: A Treasure of the Sierra Nevada
Vintage Union Carbine movie about tungsten and the Pine Creek Mine
Once upon a time I use to work there and lived in Round valley ( Rovana )
look for the book "Mine in the Sky" 2nd Ed. by Joseph-M-Kurtak
Mine is closed, the old mill and plant has been scraped down to the earth.
My dad died in that mine Joe bebar
This is awesome! How’d you even get this?
This is great! I always wondered about the mine there. Is it still in operation?
Interesting video
I remember driving through Rovana in 88 or 89, on our way to Pine Creek. Weirdest little backwater I’ve ever seen. Saw a bunch of dirty, half dressed kids standing in the middle of the road right next to town. From a distance I assumed they must’ve been playing a game of catch or something. We get closer, and realize they’re not playing with anything, they’re just standing in the road for no reason. Maybe 15 or 20 kids with dirty faces, some without shirts, some without shoes. We pull up and stop, and after a minute or so some of them slowly turn to face us.
It was like something out of a horror movie… they were all just standing in the middle of the road facing random directions. They react super slowly, and they had the most blank expressions, completely zombified. We finally said screw it and start driving through the crowd at walking speed. The ones that were in our path would wait until the last moment to step aside, still with the blankest, most "special" looks on their faces. We get through the crowd and look back a while later, and see that they’ve all resumed their positions, standing motionless in the road.
I’d seen plenty of grown desert folk that seemed like extras in Deliverance, but this was like Children of the Corn, in the desert. Not sure if there was lead in the water, or bybroducts from someone’s meth lab. Cue the banjo music.
Great Video, I worked underground there from 76 to 82.
The more I learn about this mine the more interesting it is. I worked with a half dozen miners up in Mammoth after the mine closed in the 1980’s, had friends in Rovana. The stories are incredible.
I bought a 1958 Plymouth that was in the mine back in 2016.
Sad to say that we now purchase 80% our tungsten from foreign sources. Perhaps 20% comes from recycling. The following is from a 2012 Forbes article:
"China, which has more than 80% of the world’s supply of tungsten, has sharply curtailed its exports and as of now is a net importer of this precious element. China also shows no signs of loosening the reins on tungsten exports, preferring instead to use its supply for its own manufacturing applications.
Russia has some, but keeps 70% of what it has for domestic use. Tungsten has also been harvested and recycled from existing devices and components, but even those sources have now reached their limits and there’s no new significant supply on the horizon.
Currently, that leaves no more than five mines supplying most of the world’s tungsten outside of China and Russia. (A possible mine in South Korea may have reopened)