SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (CNN) - Realtor Preston Westmoreland takes us inside a gold mine property for sale in Arizona.
"I was sitting at the desk one day and an older gentlemen came in with a big bundle of papers and said I own over a hundred acres up in the mountains and it's got gold in it and I'd like to sell it. And no comparison at all to listing a gold mine on 117 acres with listing a house. We're about three miles from a paved road. We're in the middle of the wilderness here in Scottsdale. Most people don't even know there's a mine here.
"San Francisco Chronicle, they actually had an article in the 1870s that said gold discovered in Arizona. And that set off a mini gold rush back here. The throat of the mountain looks like it's been carved out as far as you can see you see ladders go up to the top. I don't have the nerve to go any further than that. You've got to be real careful because this goes down about at the deepest about 16 stories.
"The cost for Gold Hill is $43 million. But I have to tell you there's probably a little wiggle room in that price. There are estimates that there could be maybe $50, $60 million worth of gold left, maybe more. Mining is always a gamble and you never know what you're going to drill into. You never know when you're going to hit the bonanza.
"In this pocket, the early miners found a real rich pocket of oar. Sometimes the vein can be four to six inches wide, sometimes as thin as a piece of paper. The price of gold controls this sale, and the higher it gets, the more people call me. Had one buyer come back twice with a geologist. They left a bottle of scotch in the tunnel as a blessing to the mine gods. It's still there.
"I think as a realtor the biggest challenge to selling this gold mine is that most realtors know how to sell houses. All the information in part to people about what it takes to operate a gold mine is a difficult task. My least favorite is when I show the mine to a buyer and I haven't been here in a while and there are rattlesnakes inside. Sometimes I think it would easier selling bank owned homes."