A new gold rush could be on the horizon after geologists re-examined an abandoned site in Wyoming. 

The Carissa Gold Mine at South Pass City attracted thousands of laborers in 1867 – but it was abandoned after just a few years with little success. 

Fast-forward 150 years, and experts believe the mother lode still lurks several hundred feet beneath the surface.

Canadian firm Relevant Gold has said they have found several promising metal belts in the area, and modern technology can unleash the full potential this time around. 

The company, founded by geologists Rob Bergmann and Brian Lentz, said they believe a gold rush could be coming to Wyoming this summer. 

‘When you look at historic mining projects, the reason they shut down is always economic,’ Bergmann, Relevant Gold co-founder and CEO, told Cowboy State Daily. 

‘That doesn’t mean the resource has necessarily run out, though. And that’s exactly what we see in South Pass.’

Bergmann said he thinks the hidden treasures at Carissa could be comparable to the Abitibi gold belt – a 630 kilometer-wide region of Canada which extends from Wawa, Ontario to Val d’Or, Quebec. 

The Abitibi district is home to more than 100 mines, which have produced 170 million ounces of gold since 1901. 

Relevant Gold honed in on Carissa after collecting data from drilling samples and magnetic surveys conducted with Wyoming Geological Survey and U.S. Geological Survey.

The Canadian company is also exploring other pockets of Wyoming for potential treasure, with five large-scale projects launched in the state so far. 

‘We will put (each area) through our systematic exploration process,’ Bergmann told Cowboy State Daily. 

‘We start by looking at all the data to analyze an area, and then we’ll put a plan together for boots on the ground.’ 

This summer, Relevant Gold plans to drill in previously unexplored depths, including a region of the Seminoe Mountains near Rawlins. 

‘There was historic mining there, similar to South Pass City, and it’s never been drilled before,’ Bergmann said. 

‘We are the first to go test the rocks below the surface, to see if there are opportunities there to unlock value.’ 

And it’s not just gold – more than 2.34 billion tons of rare earth minerals have been discovered in Wyoming in recent years. 

This means the US could soon surpass China as the world leader in rare earth minerals.

American Rare Earths Inc announced last year that reserves near Wheatland dramatically surpass the Asian nation’s 44 million metric tons, saying it ‘exceeded our wildest dreams’ after drilling only about 25 percent of the property.

The company has a stake in 367 mining claims across 6,320 acres of land in the Halleck Creek Project, along with four Wyoming mineral leases on 1,844 acres on the same project now called Cowboy State Mine.

The types of minerals at the site are used in smartphones, hybrid car motors and military technologies – among others.