Small Mining Operations
Subtle and Not So Subtle Dangers of Hard Rock Mining
September 2020 by Ron Kliewer
I’ve been in enough mines to know better, and I mentally kicked myself several times. That was a close call…
The 10-Ton Boulder: Expanding Grout Demolition
Imagine you have located a source of virgin placer ore containing immense gold value. Now imagine that there is a 10-ton monolith of extremely hard gneiss in between you and payday.
Dredging Therapy
The big moment finally arrived. With Norm suited up, I pulled the motor to life and felt instantly better. There’s really something relaxing about the sound of a dredge running—they don’t sound like anything else.
Hard Rock Milling: A Matter of Scale
Most prospectors understand placer mining a lot better than hard rock mining and don’t realize the amount of work that goes into processing different types of hard rock ore.
Resurrecting An Old Hard Rock Mine—A Series of Small Victories
…we cheered and high-fived each other as the ore cart slowly crested the top of the headframe, then picked up a bit of speed on the short downhill section and came to an abrupt halt, ejecting its contents of ore…
Mining on the Comstock Lode
Even with the decades of mining and exploration, much of the Comstock is still underdeveloped and its potential not fully tapped.
The “Chuck It Out” Nugget
This was no ordinary nugget. It had not traveled very far from its nearby source, and that did mean a lot, as we were searching for the source of several such nuggets found during a gold rush that occurred in 1859.
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