Small Mining Operations
A High Price to Pay
February 2012 by Chris Ralph
Over the last several months, starting from before I left for Australia, I’ve been working on getting all the 2011 paperwork done for my mining claims. I will admit that some parts of the paperwork I let go until only a week or two before the due date.
Prospector's Guide to Rock Breaking and Blasting
The holes were overloaded with explosives, but I didn’t know it. I was just a green mining engineer fresh out of school and told to watch as the experienced miners set the charge.
21st Century American Gold Rush: Rare Earth Elements
The burning question I needed answered was why didn’t the deposit ever get mined of at least one of the valuable minerals? A couple of reasons have come to light.
Underground Mining: Stoping Methods
In an old mine that does not have stopes, you know the old miners did not take much if any ore out of that excavation. On the other hand, if you see large stopes within the mine you know that it is these places where the miners found profitable ore deposits within the vein.
The Highs and Lows of Drywashing
We were met with a plethora of mechanical problems with the dry washer and even a few with the excavator that were at times frustrating, but we were in this for the long haul, so we needed to solve these problems and move forward.
Critical Minerals Update
The critical metals are essential to the modern lives we lead. The prices of critical metals are moving up even faster than government published rates of inflation, with little sign of slowing down.
Trip to “The Swamp” on Behalf of Small Miners
Besides the EPA issue, our major priority is to work on the proposed amendment to the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act (S 145), a bill proposed in the Senate by US Senator Dean Heller (R-Nevada).
Hard Rock 101: Small-Scale Blasting
…the process remains much the same: Drill holes, load explosives, close up the holes, blast and muck out the resulting broken rock.
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