Small Mining Operations
Ask The Experts
February 2016 by Chris Ralph
Any good books on mineralized faults and contacts?Gold Deposits of the Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast has considerable gold reserves, and this nation has the largest area of greenstone belts prospective for gold in the continent.
Proper Assaying of Placer Samples
The whole purpose of sampling mineralized ground is to measure the values in a small volume of material that would be representative of a much larger volume of similar material. The key word is representative. Chemical and fire assaying will not accurately represent placer deposits by themselves.
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…
Excavator Testing Wet Placer Ground
The excavator or backhoe has become the tool of choice for testing placer ground. These machines are the best way to explore and sample a placer deposit if the ground is not too wet or frozen and bedrock is not beyond the reach of the machine.
Gold in Guyana—Part II: Process Optimization at Sacre Coeur Minerals' Lower Puruni Alluvial Mining Project
In Part Two of my two-part series I describe the mechanized alluvial gold mining operation on the lower Puruni River launched by Sacre Coeur Minerals in 2011.
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.
Dry Washer, Wet System or Metal Detector?
I love to dry wash old nugget patches found by detector operators, and I have found my fair share of gold dry washing those areas. I have also found a few nuggets using a detector on the bedrock exposed by dry washing the patches.
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Ask The Experts
• Ask The Experts
• Ask The Experts
• The Art of Underwater Nugget Shooting
• Northwestern Alaska Mineral Resources
• A Family Quest for Gold
• MMAC & PLP Update
• The Fire Assay of Carbon
• Determining the Amount of Gold in Rich Ores
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
Free:
Gold in Quartz
