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Will you be ready the next time GOLD hits $1900/oz! Perfect time to look at this Extraordinary Offering! The Most land offered in Scottsdale. . .And. . a gold mine!
The dramatic red buttes of Gold Hill, visible from Scottsdale and Phoenix, rise almost a mile high, to 4700 feet, and with it's imposing rocky outcroppings, studded with stately saguaros, the area has a rich history. When the gold discovery was announced in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1874, it produced a mini-boom in Arizona, and contained some of the richest gold ore in the Southwest US. Historical assays indicate projected gold reserves, proven and possible, at 380,000 tons, at an average of .27 ounces of Gold per ton. It's the closest highly-mineralized area to Scottsdale. Also zoned residential for one home per acre MLS # 4357333
Listed at $ 43 million dollars

Gold Hill featured on CBS 5 in Phoenix! Reporter Katie Baker and cameraman Kraig Stern venture deep into the mountain:
The Arizona Republic just did an indepth story on all the mining and exploration companies looking to capitalize on old mining claims, such as Gold Hill. Check out the story and see what's happening:

Featured by the Arizona Republic newspaper :
Gold Hill featured by the Phoenix Business Journal:
TV Coverage:
ABC 15 and CBS 5

Video Tour :

Approximate property lines of the 117 acre parcel, comprised of six historic patented claims in spectacular mountains of N. Scottsdale. Much of the acreage has not even been touched on Gold Hill.

Executive Summary for Gold Hill:

Gold Hill consists of 6 major patented claims that were consolidated together in 117 acres with fee simple ownership.
The strike at Gold Hill was even covered by the San Francisco Chronicle. After the deposits were discovered in 1874, a British company took ore by burro down the Mexican hat wash, where Desert Mountain is today, to the Town of Cave Creek, then to Prescott by wagon, San Francisco by rail, and to England by ship for smelting. The town of Cave Creek was started in 1877, three years after the Gold Hill discovery.
The mine has never been worked on a large scale commercially. It was going to be in 1890 but there was a global depression and the mining company cancelled their plans. (sound familiar?)
Sage Gold of Toronto spent several years starting in 2007, drilling almost 2 miles of test cores and they agreed with earlier studies by a company called Pro Met, that there are about 380,000 tons of proven, possible and probable ore at an average of .27 troy ounces of gold per ton. Using a conservative estimate, if gold were $ 1,500 an ounce, each ton would be worth $ 360 minus extraction costs, which could amount to $ 50 a ton or more. Gold, of course, has broken through the $ 1900 an ounce threshold in August, 2011.
Note: SEDAR documents indicate that in March 2008, Sage Gold of Toronto exercised an option to earn a 50% undivided interest in the mineral rights of Gold Hill. Subsequently, this agreement was cancelled when Sage Gold signed an agreement on 1/14/10, relinquishing any future interest/profits generated from the Gold Hill Mine. They have no current or future involvement or interest in this property.
While land owned by the luxury golf and resort community of Desert Mountain surrounds Gold Hill, there is a perpetual access agreement filed with Maricopa County. First part of the access is on a US Forest Service Road.
How big a mine can this be? The Apex Rule says you can follow the ore veins wherever they go, even under someone else's land. Based, however, on the current ore projections, Gold Hill is an excellent candidate for a small to medium-sized mining operation. It would never rival huge mining operations, such as Hecla Mining's two underground mines in Idaho, that chew through a million tons of ore a year.
Basic permitting needed to start, according to the Arizona Dept. of Mineral Resources, should be easy and quick to get, but as you move up the milling process, for example using Flotation Mills and requiring chemicals such as cyanide, the degree of difficulty for permitting goes up. The former geologist for Sage Gold, who knows the property well, believes in the project and feels you can make money on it today. Sage tried to exercise an option to purchase 50% of Gold Hill but could not come to terms with the owners, who then decided to put it on the market.
Experts have theorized that the mining of Gold Hill, ideally, would be hard-rock mining, with the ore concentrated on-site and transported for smelting.
The video tour on youtube.com is an excellent overview of the property. It can be accessed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qIt_gwKaVI Links to other documents are below.
In addition to mining potential, this land is zoned R-43, for homes on one-acre, by the City of Scottsdale. As an interesting point, after a mine is played out, there are a number of other uses for them around the country such as archival storage, security installations, underground or partially-underground Green housing, radon treatments, solar and wind farms, parks and preserves.
The sellers are sensitive to the need for due diligence on the buyers part and are willing to grant an extended close of escrow for that purpose, as long as the results are shared with them and filed as a mineral report with the Arizona Dept. of Mineral Resources. They may also be open to a lease-purchase option if the stated conditions are acceptable.

Technical Geological Summary for Gold Hill:
"Gold Hill resembles the look and geology of Butte, Montana" -Geologist C.W. Gabrielson

Some of the earliest professional and scientific observations of the mine were done by C.W. Gabrielson, who was immeasurably impressed with the area. He noted the geology of Gold Hill, located in schist, intruded by a granite porphyry of Proterozoic age, in many ways was similar to that of the prolific ore bodies of Butte, Montana, where mines have been producing thousands of tons of ore for more than a century. Gabrielson had a strong opinion that the vein and ore deposits could run to significant depths, alluding to 5,000 feet depths on rocks of similar structure! In a summary to the then-owner of the mine, Gabrielson concluded many years ago, "you have a good, worth while property. Properly handled, it is destined to become one of the profitable mines in Arizona."

His studies were later used by the ProMet Services, Inc. geologist, Mike Price, who came up with the proven, probable and possible ore amounts of 380,000 tons. This was calculated from mappings of the area and it was broken down thusly: Proven reserves at Gold Hill to be 30,000 tons at 0.27 troy oz per ton of Gold, probable reserves were announced to be 150,000 tons at .27oz/Au/ton and possible reserves of 200,000 tons at .27oz/Au/ton. ProMetServices, Inc. which did exhaustive research on the property quotes "this property does indeed have unusual potential for development together with fortuitous circumstances of convenient location, access (and) clean old workings. (Pro Met documents available on pdf file below)

Toronto's Sage Gold drilled nearly 2 miles of core samples in 2007-2008, and found the vein systems are related to northwest to southeast-trending fault system. The Main East vein structure was found to be linear, vertically-dipping with a strike length of 840 feet exposed from a ridgeline elevation of 4,300 feet to 3,620 above sea level. Sage Gold's webpage on Gold Hill quotes the following information: The Gold Hill property comprises six patented mining claims located in Maricopa County, Arizona and is located in schist intruded by a granite porphyry of Proterozoic age. The mineralized fault structure has a strike length exceeding 4,000 feet and has been delineated by numerous exploratory surface pits, development tunnels, shafts, and adits. The highest grade in the recent 2008 channel samples assays is 31.7 grams of gold per tonne (0.925 ounces per ton) over a width of 1.2 metres and the highest grade grab sample is 54.8 grams of gold per tonne (1.598 ounces per ton) . The following samples represent channel sample assays of greater than 10 grams of gold per tonne over the specified widths. All assays are reported on the Sage web site"

Sage Gold's overview continues: "Sage also completed a thirty three element ICP (induced couple plasma) analysis of the sample material for base metals and trace elements. The geochemical analyses indicate that there is relatively low amount of base metal sulphides and that an average ratio of silver to gold is 3.74. A series of parallel veins trend northwest – southeast and occur within a Proterozoic age porphyritic granite that intrudes a sequence of schists and argillites. Veins are exposed on the surface over a distance in excess of 1.5 kilometres (4,920 feet). The veins are delineated by exploratory pits, tunnels, shafts and adits. Historical workings from the period 1884-1898 resulted in a 90 metres (300 foot) haulageway with three production raises. Several exploratory winzes and underhand stopes were also developed along with four shafts which have since caved in. In the main haulage tunnel, driven within the East vein structure, oriented almost north-south, veins are exposed over a length of 100 metres (328 feet) with the greatest density of quartz veins occurring over a width of about 55 metres (180 feet) The Company has not yet conducted sufficient exploration to define the indicated and inferred mineral resources. As such, the potential quantity and grade disclosed above is conceptual in nature based on sampling of underground workings at the Gold Hill property. The sample results are relevant in that they represent the most recent work conducted on the property. The reserve/resource categories predate NI 43-101 and given that there has been no feasibility study completed on the property these reserve categories should be defined as inferred, indicated and measured mineral resources. Further exploration may not result in the discovery of additional mineral resources."

"All resource estimates quoted herein are based on prior data and reports obtained and prepared by previous operators. The Company has not completed the work necessary to verify the classification of the mineral resource estimates. The Company is not treating the mineral resource estimates as NI 43-101 defined resources verified by a qualified person. The historical estimates should not be relied upon. The Company has not completed a feasibility study and there is no certainty that the Company's planned operations will be economically viable. Sage intends to verify the historical results through an underground sampling program followed by underground drilling to test the lateral and vertical extent of the vein structures."

Despite their years of drilling, Sage Gold never filed a formal mineral report with the Arizona Department of Minerals. The report is not legally required. Sage preferred to keep the findings to themselves. However, after the drilling program, Sage Gold announced that they wanted to enter into a partnership on the property with the current owners. The two parties were never able to reach a mutually-satisfactory agreement.

Photo of Gold Hill from near Gold Hill Spring. You can see the relative size of the mountain when compared with the vehicles near one of the main tunnels. Note the fault line straight above the vehicles, where the gold vein appears. The tunnel makes a 45 degree turn along this fault like. A number of the original 6 patented claims have never been actively worked, just enought to fine gold and demonstrate the requirements for patenting. From the location where this photo was taken, near Gold Hill Spring, early miners had run pipes down from the spring to a concrete water trough.

The stunning desert and mountainous areas of Gold Hill, less than 3 miles from a paved road, afford sweeping panoramas and even city lights!. For future potential, Gold Hill's 117 acres are also zoned for residential hillside development with homes on 1 acre parcels. It's a very remote and quiet site.

The Road: In the following photos, you'll see the gated road from Tonto Hills which comes up over the saddle (above), and continues down to the mine property. Mine owners have a perpetual access easement across this private property. (see document button below)

(Above) Portions of U.S. Forest Service Road # 3209, an extension of Old Mine Road, takes you up to the mine gate. (see below)

The Trip There

In this aerial overview of the route to the mine, it begins with Old Mine Road in Tonto Hills which becomes Tonto National Forest road # 3209. The arrow marks a locked access gate to the mine (seen in the photo above), which continues over the rise and winds down to the property. Total distance from paved Cave Creek Road to the farthest tunnel entrance is 3.8 miles.

Gold Hill has been the mine that few knew about, despite the fact that it's easily seen from North Scottsdale and Carefree. The road to the mine is gated, the entrance locked. The former Carefree Enterprise Magazine declared that it was "almost impossible to find more than a brief mention of the once famous mine in the libraries of Phoenix." It was said that the area was initially mined by an English company, who took the gold ore out by mule and ox teams down the Mexican Hat wash to Cave Creek, then by wagon train to Prescott. According to the Carefree Enterprise,, trains then hauled the ore to San Francisco, to be carried overseas to English smelters. The main ore zone was mined heavily between 1884 and 1898, by workers who lacked modern mining equipment and knowledge. Operating under great difficulties, these early-day operators sank four shafts. Dumps on the site are minimal as everything mined was sent to "recovery."

A rare day where snow fell above Gold Hill in the Scottsdale mountains Looking up an ore chute from an upper level coming down to the main tunnel. A treasure trove of mineral data (photos below) was found in the cargo container with carefully organized and categorized boxes of core samples. Many more are stacked around the area. Extensive assay work and drilling was done in 2008. More details below and you can also access pdf files of the assay reports by scrolling down

(above left) Leftover core samples from extensive drilling and assay program conducted by Canadian mining company Sage Gold. In a news release dated November 6, 2008, Sage said they completed 19 diamond drill holes totaling 9,048 ft. on the Gold Hill site. They also drilled and explored another vein, the Old Coup Vein, which they said paralleled the main ore vein.

A glimpse of life at Gold Hill was offered by the developer of Tonto Hills, Emmett Graham, who frequently explored the area. "There were ruins for a blacksmith shop, bunkhouse and a boarding house near the tunnel," he said. Newspaper reports from March of 1935, a time of heavier mining activity at Gold Hill, indicates a cyanide plant was added to the 25-ton stamp mill. Owners had spent $ 40,000 rehabilitating the mill, putting in roads and increasing production. "Some of the ore is being shipped direct to the smelter," the article states, "but the greater part is going through the mill." Ten men were employed at the time, with the mine superintendent, R.B. Van Buskirk, who was formerly mine superintendent for the Andes Copper Mining Company in Potrerillos, Chile, South America.

(Above) Main tunnel entrance, which branches off to the right and intersects up and down vertical shafts, pictured below

After watching the short video tour on youtube.com, be sure to hit the "Back" button on your browser. For better resolution, when watching the video, please click on the "480p" at the bottom of the screen. Slight pauses in the running of the program may be normal. Thank you!

About the interior of the mine's main shaft: As you enter the main shaft, it goes straight into the mountain several hundred feet and deadends. Just before the end, there is a tunnel that goes off to the right (see photo above)
As you proceed down that tunnel, it curves gently to the left and you come to a number of ore chutes coming down from above, and a bridge of thick timbers. (see photo above, left)
There's a very deep vertical shaft under the bridge, and upon crossing the bridge, there is a large intersection cave, which has vertical shafts going down approximately 150 feet, and also vertical shafts going up, with fairly-recently assembled wooden ladders. You'll see a panorama to the left that shows the height of this "stack" of intersecting tunnels. There is evidence of railroad tracks in the tunnel at some time, but the rails and ties have been removed. Note the blue ribbon on the wall (photo left). This is a marker and assay point where the entire mine was mapped by Sage Gold.
When hiking up the mountain, you'll see deep open vertical shafts which have been covered over with thick wire screen to prevent accidental falls. Early history accounts mention a number of vertical shafts from the top, which may have been caved in.

There's a cold breeze coming out the main shaft indicating quite a depth of tunnels. Air in the main shaft seems good, although air quality below has not been determined. It's interesting to note in old newspaper accounts, one story from the Phoenix Daily Herald, July 3, 1894 edition "Four of the men employed at the Portmanteau Mine at Gold Hill, operated by Superintendant Frank Nicholson, arrived from that camp and will remain to celebrate the Fourth of July. Work has been suspended in the meantime for the reason that the air in the lower levels have become foul and will be purified during the suspension. The main shaft is down 250 feet and shows a good body of ore all the way down. Another prospect shaft is down 50 feet which will cut the vein at about a hundred feet."

This is one of the few published references about life at the camp in those days. The Phoenix Daily Herald reported that there are a number of rich properties in the Cave Creek district but they "only await capital to develop them."   In a published newspaper article in November of 1934, Alfred Lewis wrote "George McManus has encountered a rich vein of ore near Gold Hill. The vein is reported to be from two to five inches wide. He is installing a small mill and plans to reduce the ore as he develops the property."



In addition to the mineral wealth, other potential use of the land is possible as Gold Hill is zoned for Hillside residential development, R-43, on 1 acre parcels and is under the jurisdiction of the City of Scottsdale. Property goes up over the ridge on the left side of the photo.

Looking to the South from Gold Hill has Carefree's Black Mountain in the distance and Mexican Hat wash in the foreground

What are people saying about GOLD?

Billionaire Thomas Kaplan, who owns $ 2 billion in gold holdings, is quoted in The Wall Street Journal saying "I feel the only asset I have confidence in, is Gold"

Kaplan on Supply and Demand: "Gold miners are struggling to make major discoveries and it takes years to bring new finds into production. If people want to stock up on gold in a hurry, it will be hard to ramp up production enough to satisfy them."

"You've got a perfect storm with no apparent solution," he said. "If the world does well, gold will be fine. If the world doesn't do well, gold will also do fine … but a lot of other things could collapse."



Main tunnel of Gold Hill which penetrates the mountain and turns slightly to the right, with extensive upper and lower vertical shafts. Gold Hill Spring, (above right photo), where the group of trees lies up the hill, to the West of the main shaft. Miners had put in a pipe from the springs to fill the water trough. Gold Hill Spring is identified on USGS maps of the Tonto Forest.

(above left) Mexican Hat Wash near the bottom of the photo marks the original burro path which miners used in the 1800s.
(above, right) Deep inside the mine, Russ Lyon Sotheby's International agent Preston Westmoreland, in a photo taken by Arizona Republic real estate reporter Peter Corbett, who did a story on Gold Hill. Scroll down for a link to the story.

Portion of the vein above the main tunnel.   (above right) Sage Gold from Toronto drilling almost two miles of core samples on Gold Hill

Arrastra Mill, similar to one originally used at Gold Hill. These devices have been documented as early as 5 BC. Heavy coarse rocks with chains or cables on them, are slowly pulled around the circle by burro, mule or oxen, usually for 15 hours a day. Ore is thrown into the circle to be slowly crushed by the rocks. Most of the mines in the Cave Creek District originally used these crude devices to get the gold. This arrastra is preserved as one of the Mining Exhibits at the Cave Creek Museum and was discovered completely covered with silt. Most arrastras are never found in one piece, since gold hunters will tear them apart to look for bits of gold stuck in crevices! The Arrastra at Gold Hill no longer exists, having been partially washed away in the bottom of Old Coupe canyon, so named for an old car wreck that lies in the bottom. Another rich vein was found nearby and a tunnel was dug, angling toward the main vein. See more photos below of the "Old Coup" shaft, the wrecked auto and spectacular Old Coupe Canyon and Mexican Hat Wash

(above left) The old coupe. There is an amazing story about this automobile related in the book "Cave Creek and Carefree, AZ" by Francis Carlson (Encom Press) It says that back in the 1930's, one of the miners was able to get this car up the rugged canyon with the intention of using the engine and transmission to power a jury-rigged ore processing machine. They attached a long machine belt to the car's drive shaft, which was connected to parts of an old washing machine-and created a kind of mechanized ore processor tub. When it finally gave out, the old car was left in the canyon, where the ore vein was named after it, the Old Coupe Vein. (above right) The car has since been battered and tumbled by water rushing down the slot canyon in the occasional storms.
(Photo below left)   Looking up from the Mexican Hat Wash.   (below right) Near the Old Coupe tunnel




(Above) Covered vertical shaft on the upper reaches of Gold Hill. To the South, views of Carefree and the Greater Phoenix area

Resources and Research Links: Require Adobe Reader

This large file contains everything we have, except for the recorded easement. (50 pages), or you can specify the document listed below.

See a letter from the 1960s, where this geologist compares Gold Hill to the geology of Butte, Montana. Good overview of the area, and on the second page, the technical geological history.

Three page letter from 1981. ProMet did geological and metallurgical testing. An excellent overview of Gold Hill and it's potential. First documentation of the possible ore reserves in this letter.

Magazine article on the history of Gold Hill, plus an early map of the area. Carefree Enterprise is no longer published.

Information on some of the latest drilling that was done on Gold Hill by Sage Gold, a Canadian company. They are no longer associated with Gold Hill.

Information from various assay reports and letters on the projected reserves at Gold Hill.

Detailed 8-page overview letter on what it would take to ramp up production and conduct full-scale mining operations at Gold Hill.
Collection of various assay reports from Jacob's Assay Office in Tucson, Iron King Assay in Kingman and others.
Copy of recorded easement for perpetual access to Gold Hill across private land.

"Gold bears the confidence of the world's millions, who value it far above the promises of politicians, far above the unbacked paper issued by governments as money substitutes. It has been that way through all recorded history. There is no reason to believe it will lose the confidence of people in the future."

Oakley R. Bramble
"Gold was not selected arbitrarily by governments to be the monetary standard. Gold had developed for many centuries on the free market as the best money; as the commodity providing the most stable and desirable monetary medium."

Murray N. Rothbard

   After watching the short video tour on youtube.com, be sure to hit the "Back" button on your browser. For better resolution, when watching the video, please click on the "480p" at the bottom of the screen. Slight pauses in the running of the program may be normal. Thanks

Click on the buttons to watch the recent TV news coverage
2011 has seen record high Gold prices, over $ 1900 an ounce! Where are they today?

Sage Gold's Last Overview of the Gold Hill project after extensive drilling in 2007-8. Concentrations found as high as .925 oz/Au per ton!

Are you ready for a tour?   If you like to know more about real estate possibilities at Gold Hill, contact Preston Westmoreland, at Russ Lyon Sotheby's International Realty in Carefree, Arizona. We would be happy to provide prospective buyers with all available assay reports and information. A tour of the property can also be arranged. Please, qualified buyers only. This is not a tourist attraction! Please note that Gold Hill is protected by locked gates and under no circumstances should potential buyers visit the property unless accompanied by the listing agents. Call Preston at 602-377-0060. Don't have much time? Because of the rugged terrain, a flight over Gold Hill can also be easily arranged out of nearby Carefree Skyranch. See a video tour of the property by clicking on the button below.
With the price of gold breaking through the $ 1900 an ounce threshold, amidst a global recession, precious metals remain one of the greatest investments of all time. Look into Gold Hill, the largest mineralized area near Phoenix and Scottsdale. Represented by Russ Lyon Sotheby's, the largest and most successful Sotheby's franchise in the world. Other mines have been used for everything from generating wind and solar power, archival storage, security emplacements, energy-efficient "green" homes, growing mushrooms, even offering radon treatments to people. Thank you.



PAYDIRT! Because you dug a little deeper to the bottom of the shaft, and investigated Gold Hill a little more, here's a nugget for you. Click on the coupon below to open a printable pdf for a Million-Dollar-Off coupon on the price of Gold Hill, redeemable upon acceptance of contract. Limit one per customer!



For further information or to tour these properties, call Preston and Nancy Westmoreland, at Russ Lyon Sotheby's International                                                   Let them find your true Arizona getaway!
email: preston.westmoreland@russlyon.com