Lapon Canyon is a gold mining legend yet to come. Twice before this potentially lucrative mine, located in the gold-rich Nevada region, has attracted miners.

At the turn of the century, the first tunnels were driven 200 feet into the mountain. Using the crude tools of the time, the miners found rock rich enough in gold to justify the hard work of extracting it.

At the time, only the richest, most easily mined sites were developed. A bonanza was a site which yielded over one ounce of gold for every ton of rock mined.

Yields had to be high since the miners were only able to successfully extract 50 to 60 per cent of the gold they mined. Therefore, for mines like Lapon Canyon, only the richest ore and easiest to access was hand cobbed from the veins of the two upper tunnels before the miners drifted on.

In the 1930s, more gold was harvested, proving that the rock still yielded wealth. Sluice boxes were built and rock washed and crushed for the gold. A 1936 report shows a grade of 1 ounce of gold per ton of rock. This high grade vein was reported to be 5.1 feet wide and at least 160 feet long.

Please Note: These values have not been confirmed by World Ventures Inc. and are the
subject of a proposed exploration program.

But miners in the 1930s were still limited by their tools, their low extraction rate and the lack of investment funds to probe further into the mountain. After a few years, this second attempt to mine Lapon Canyon was abandoned.

After the Second World War, the history of the mine took a strange turn. The owner of the 3800-acre property established a fifty ton per day mill which processed the discarded rock stockpiled from the earlier mining activities. The remains of the mill are shown at right in a photograph taken in June 2003.

He also drilled a 230 foot horizontal diamond drill hole to intersect a gold vein which he believed was some 400 feet lower than the existing tunnels and close to the mill. The actual value of the sample he extracted is not recorded but he was encouraged enough to follow the drill hole with a tunnel which burrowed more than 230 feet into the mountain.

A five gallon bucket sample of black oxide rock was taken from the end of the tunnel and was assayed. Surviving evidence suggests the assay showed an amazingly rich 20 ounces of gold to the ton, more than 100 times the gold concentration of an average modern gold mine.

Please Note: These values have not been confirmed by World Ventures Inc. and are the
subject of a proposed exploration program.

At that point, the owner closed the newly-dug tunnel. No further mining or exploration was done although many companies tried to reach an agreement with the owner, who stayed on the property until his death. At that point the property was acquired by Donald Potts, who engaged several geologists and had an assessment of the site done

These assessments produced the following: A potential underground deposit of high-grade rock containing approximately 1 ounce per ton located within the underground tunnels; Two potential gold veins, at least one of which is five to six feet wide; and   An estimated potential for one to two million tonnes of lower grade rock, containing a 0.05-ounce of gold per ton, which might be accessed by open pit mining methods.

Please Note: None of these assessments have been substantiated by World Ventures Inc. The company's work program includes exploration of the site to determine the possibility of high grade zones.

"It is the value per ton of ore on this property which has me excited," said World Ventures CEO Ray Carson. It was the possibility of a high grade of rock from an easy-to-extract horizontal tunnel which prompted World Ventures Inc. to obtain an option on the property in June, 2002.

Click Here to view the Lapon Canyon Report Prepared for World Ventures