I'm going to reveal a secret worth possibly millions upon millions of dollars, one that I've harbored for 40 years, and it's quite probable I'm the only person on earth who knows it.  I'll leave it for you to decide as the story unfolds.

You know what they mean by a 'gold strike'?  Well, I know where there's an iridium strike.

Iridium is from the same group as platinum.  Worth lotsa buckaroonies.  The soil was assayed and it's an official 'strike' in mining terms.  Meaning, worth mega-bucks if extracted properly.

What makes this extra fun is that I don't have a precise location, just a couple of clues long-remembered these 40 long, dry, dusty years later.  But they're good clues, and with the proper research one should be able to find it.

It'll be just like a treasure hunt.
 

 
X marks the spot:

For starters, the rare earths usually hang out together, so it's quite possible that there are trace amounts of all kinds of good things at the site.  I was young at the time, and just there for a lark, so I wasn't paying any attention to the details.  All I really remember is iridium being talked about very excitedly after the assay, so I made an effort to remember the word, along with what I could of the location.

It's way out in the wilds and immediately raises the question, "What's beyond the boonies?"  We're talking off the main road, off that road, off that road, onto a dirt utility road, off the utility road, then hiking into the foothills.  I mean, it's out there.
 

The Story

I was about 20 and a buddy said his brother-in-law and a friend, Bill and Sid, living up in Reno, were into mining and needed some fresh legs to scout out BLM markers in an area they were thinking of mining.  The Bureau of Land Management drove iron markers about 4" across low into the ground at certain locations for surveying purposes.  Back before GPS, it was the only way you could adequately define an area, like to file a mining claim.

Sid was one of those electronic genius types and had invented a means using static electricity and plexiglas sheets to extract certain metals from finely-ground ore.  Each metal has its own static properties and if the plexi sheet can be 'tuned' to that frequency, the iridium particles, in this case, would jump up to the plexi, to be scraped off later when the sheet was full.  Likewise, you could set it to a different frequency, run the crushed ore through it again and this time pull out all of the rhodium or platinum.  Or, more likely, have a long string of plexi sheets.

The "finely" part of "finely-ground" is where the hitch lies.

To encapsulate 150 years of mining history into one short paragraph, there have actually been three "gold rushes" to Nevada and California since gold was originally discovered in 1848.  It wasn't that they discovered more gold and silver later on — it was the extraction processes that suddenly took a quantum leap and made it worth returning and going through the 'tailings'; extracting what the previous miners had missed, and opening new mines that had previously been deemed unworthy.

So yes, it's possible some gnarled old miner stopped off at our site one day and looked things over, but we're talking about metals on a micron level, and that's far beyond field testing abilities.  He would have shrugged and moved on.

What makes the site particularly surreal is that, as you're standing there farther away from civilization than you've ever been before in your life…

…running right down the center of the nearby valley is a bright, shiny set of huge high-tension power lines.  So it's a little jarring.  On the other hand, without them, we'd be missing one of our key reference points.

So off we went.  After we arrived, Bill and Sid went to the strike site for more samples and my buddy and I traipsed around looking for BLM markers.  I found one at the top of the next hill.  The guys noted the number, made markings on a map, and home we went.

We dropped the samples off at a Reno assay lab and got the results the next day.  As I noted, all I remember was the word "iridium" being tossed around in hushed tones, and the general excited agreement that the numbers indicated it was a real and true strike.
 

The Secrecy Factor

In regards to the location's secrecy, there are three aspects in play:

1. It's very possible that the area has been spot-assayed before, just because of its general accessibility and the fact that it's in Nevada, a mineral-rich state.  And it's quite possible that traces of iridium and such were reported, but far under what would be called for to mine it.
    
   But a key element here is that rare metals, be they gold, iridium or unobtainium, reside in veins, and are easily missed in a sweep sample.  Gold in such areas as stream beds is 'secondary' gold that's been washed down the mountain after the vein was exposed to the elements.  The real stuff hides in wispy veins that are easy to overlook.
    
2. I have no idea if Bill and Sid ever did anything about it, but it's doubtful.  They were both dirt-poor, without an investment banker in sight.
    
   And they were about 40 to 45 at the time, so it's a fair chance they've passed on by now.  And, the thing is, even if you're lying on your deathbed, gather everyone around and declare with your dying breath, "There's a (gasp, wheeze) iridium strike ten miles west of Gerlach!", nobody's going to do a damn thing about it.  They're going to figure you're delusional and forget your final declaration the minute you utter it.  And, even if you do manage to convince them, who's got $50 mil lying around to start up a mining consortium?
    
3. As for my buddy, I actually ran into him twenty years later, had lunch, and purposefully "half-remembered" the trip, prodding him for answers ("What was it we were looking for again?  What was that little town called?") and he barely remembered the event, much less any details.

So we've got it to ourselves.

First come, first served.
 

The Location

This will take some official research on your part.  I spent an hour earlier today with Google, Google Images, GoogleMaps and Google Earth and got nowhere fast.

You need a map of the BLM markers in the area and any power lines.  Here's how I remember it:

Maybe 10 or so miles west of Gerlach, NV, standing by BLM marker #22, you should see the string of power lines running roughly north and south a half-mile or so to the east down the heart of a wide desert valley.  A dirt service road runs alongside.

BLM markers are "quarter-section" markers, and while there was a full number on the iron cap, all I remember was a big "22".  So you'll need to get a BLM map of the area and find every marker #22, then overlay that with any local power lines and find a spot that coincides with the description.

As I recall, we went for a ways along the service road by the power poles, but I don't recall how far or in which direction.  We turned off at some point and went off-road west for a while.  We then hiked a ways into the hills on foot, although I don't recall it being a very long trek.

And I can't 100% promise it was about 10 miles west of Gerlach, but that's how I've remembered it all these years.  We would have come up from the south on 447, stopped in Gerlach for lunch, then, looking at the map, I'm guessing we continued on 447 then turned left on one of those dirt roads and headed southwest.  Once you locate the power lines it should be pretty clear, then it's just a matter of finding the right marker.

The spot where the guys were poking around was at the base of the hill to the south of marker #22.  Or, to be more exact in case my north-south directions are off, facing the power lines they were at the base of the hill to the right.
 

One (Possible) Big Clue

This depends upon how far back the Reno BLM's records go.  Hopefully, they microfilmed everything at some point.  If they still have the info, it'll be a real — if you'll pardon the expression — gold mine.

I used "Bill" up above, but I'm not 100% sure that was his name.  Second guess would be "John".  But I'm pretty sure he actually filed a claim.  So, while you wouldn't have a name to work with, there couldn't have been many filings for the Gerlach area around 1970 or so.  And I used 'Reno' for the familiarity, but he actually lived in Sparks, a town next to Reno, so that'll be the address on the claim.
 

Your Turn

If you're thinking of hunting this down, there's one tough decision that'll have to be made at some point.  Unless you hire out the job, you'll have to learn enough to recognize the type of ground the strike is hiding in, but you don't want to spend two years in geology school if the whole thing turns out to be a bust.

And the problem there is, if you shortchange yourself and don't learn enough about soil types, you might pass right over the strike from simple lack of knowledge.  So either you need to prepare yourself adequately, or find somebody who already has the knowledge.

Ideally, of course, hitching up with someone you already know and trust who has the required field knowledge would be perfect, but that's obviously a long shot.  Assuming you've got the mining rights safely tucked away in your name, you could advertise for a local "mining expert", or just head for the nearest pub or general store and ask around.  What you want is some local old-timer whose nose is the metallurgical equivalent of a dowsing rod.  Have him sign a non-disclosure agreement and make it clear that he's the only other person on the planet besides yourself who knows of the location, so if suddenly the local Junior Miners Club shows up, it's his ass on the legal line.

As for modern-day extraction methods, ol' Sid's invention has probably long been perfected, and there might be a variety of extraction methods out there to choose from.  The hitch, as noted earlier, will be the crushing stage and getting the ore down to a micron level.  Or there might be a smelting process that can handle it these days, or some radical new process that shatters it to micropieces with laser-guided ultrasound.

As far as filing a claim and then attempting to sell the rights to a large mining company, I have no idea if that's viable or not.  If anything, they might send their own expert to the spot to assay it and offer you a standard buy-out fee, but it's doubtful you'd be able to finagle anything really big out of them, much less get a cut of the action.  But you could try, and it would depend on how valuable the strike really is.

As far as locating it, find out what you can online, but be prepared to head for the main Reno library at some point.  Somewhere buried in the Reference area should be the pieces of info you need.  If not, you'll need the help of the local BLM and the power company.  Then rent a 4-wheel drive vehicle and a big pair of bolt cutters in case someone accidentally locked a utility road gate.

When you finally get there, set your hand-held GPS unit for the BLM marker and make your way for it.

And, after all the time and research and anticipation it took to arrive at this moment, don't be surprised if a shiver runs down your spine when you finally spot the marker, even in the heat of day.

Treasure hunts are like that.