Hail all. I was recently up in Madoc to try & search some of the fluorite mines. So here is a short summary of the sites i was able to to visit & their accessibility. I visited these sites on August 2009.

Site: Bailey Mine
Mine Status: Still Remains (dumps remain but are heavily overgrown, shaft is still there but fenced in)
Accessibility Issues: No Trespassing & collecting (owners not fond of collectors)
Risks at Site: Open Shaft (deep shaft, can fall into easily if not careful)

Site: Perry Lake Mine
Mine Status: Mostly Gone (dumps are heavily overgrown, buildings are gone, shaft is covered up by cement cap,)
Accessibility Issues: None ( most of the mine is gone & now there are cottages there, but there is a small section that is accessible near the covered up shaft across the street that has some dump material which is heavily overgrown)
Risk at Site: Shaft hole (the cement cap over the shaft has a large pipe in it and you can get your foot stuck into it, or loose something, its only about half a foot in diameter)

Site: Perry Mine
Mine Status: Gone (nothing left, cottages in its place, some dump material along the ATV trail & some cement ruins still left)
Accessibility issues: None (most of the mine is gone, along the trail there is some dump rock but that is all. Most of it is on the property of the cottage owner)
Risks at Site: None

Site: Mcilroy Mine
Mine Status: Mostly Gone (the shaft is filled in, and some of the open cuts are also. There are some cuts still left behind the dumps but not much. There is a small dump still left.)
Accessibility Issues: Minor (the dump is near private property)
Risks at Site: None

So here you have it, some fluorite mines. If any rockhound out there has visited other fluorite mines in the area i would encourage it that you mention it in this blog for future purposes. Also please mention a date when you visited the site. If any of you find the status of any of the mines i listed above changed please mention it here, knowledge will empower us all.

Looking forward to more Madoc mines info.

Michal.

In order to leave comments to this blog post, you must be registered