This home and gold mine cost the same as a house in Kelowna
Paying more than $1 million for an older, three-bedroom, 1,148 square foot house may seem like a hefty price in any real estate market.
But a house built in 1979 that comes with two adjoining parcels of land totalling 3.2 acres has been for sale in Likely, B.C. for about a year. It's now now available at the reduced price of $1,285,000.
What makes this home unique is the selling price includes permits and licences to not only mine for gold on about 1,000 acres of nearby land, but the equipment that is currently being used to mine that gold.
“There has been a consistent return of one ounce of gold per 80-100 yards mined,” the real estate listing by 3A Group – Re/Max Nyda Realty of Chilliwack reads.
“The three largest nuggets mined so far were 13.35, 11.9 and 9 grams,” the listing says. “The current owner has been selling to the refinery at $2,100 per ounce.”
Since the operation moves about 25 yards per hour, it can produce 2.5 ounces of gold worth more than $5,000 in a 10-hour a day.
“He (the owner) is a one man show who hires four or five people to help in the summer,” realtor Freddy Marks told iNFOnews.ca. “If they bring in bigger machinery and bring more manpower, then there is much more income to make on that place. There’s lots of gold there. There’s no doubt about it.”
The owner took up mining when he retired to the area but now wants to retire completely.
Likely is on the south side of the Cariboo Mountains below Barkerville which was not only site of the historic 1862 gold rush, but is now emerging into a new era of gold mining with the Cariboo Gold Project.
Osisko is starting work on an underground mine near Barkerville this year that is expected to start producing more than 72,000 ounces of gold per year in 2024.
READ MORE: There’s gold in some Okanagan hills
That’s a little bit more extensive than the Likely property but only about 10% of the Likely site has been mined and that has only gone 10 to 20 feet into an old river bed.
The equipment included in the sale price, includes excavators, trucks, washer plants and more. A two-man crew has been lined up for this summer’s work and the owner is willing to help extend permits, the listing says.
While the house is older, it has two bathrooms and has been updated with new electrical, plumbing, flooring and appliances.
It’s seven kilometres from the mine site.
“If somebody buys the mine in the same set up as he runs the mine, then they will probably want to have a location where they can live over the summer when they run the mine,” Marks said, noting that the mine could be sold separately from the two properties.
“Likely is one of the few remaining Cariboo Gold Rush settlements,” the listing says. “The Quesnel River was dammed near Likely in 1898 to enable downriver areas to be explored for gold.”
Nearby Quesnel Lake is the largest in the Cariboo. It has a 77-km long north arm and 100 km long east arm with lake trout up to 40 pounds.
“The town of Likely is six kms away and there is a school bus stop at the end of the driveway, perfect for those young families with kids in school,” the listing says. “Such a close location to town gives you access to local pubs, stores, restaurants and hotels as well as hunting and fishing right out your back door.”
The mine is operating with one plant but the permit allows for a second plant.
“Most of the ground on this permit is virgin land with large fir trees,” the listing says. “There are many, many more years of mining to be done here. So far, all of the testing done on the soils have given good test results for successful future mining.”
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