Small Mining Operations
High Sulfidation Epithermal Deposits
November 2019 by Chris Ralph
They tend to be big, coming in large to extremely large sizes. They can also be amazingly rich and produce huge amounts of very high-grade ore.
The Basics of Crushing and Milling Operations
In processing gold, silver and other valuable ores, the minerals containing the values, such as metallic gold, silver-bearing sulfides or other minerals, must be freed from the surrounding host rock before those valuable minerals can be captured.
Romancing the Rock
With the exception of well-established operators with proven reserves and years of field experience, the high price of gold brought a flood of speculators, con men, and real estate brokers into the mix who were not previously engaged in the gold mining market.
PLP Update
All 28 groups listed agree that Section 402 of the Clean Water Act does not apply and no dredge miner should be asking a state or federal agency for such a permit.
The Summer of ‘81
When it was all setup and running, you had everything coming off the dredge riffles into the boil box. At the hole section, some of the water got sucked down and pulled a lot of black sand and over heavies…
The ABCs of XRF
Fast forward to present day and the XRF has come of age. Pull the trigger on the hand-held device and you get a nearly instant assay of the surface of a rock.
A Test Grid Dredged for Gold Values
The evaluation must also consider the gold fineness or purity. The purity of the Sugardaddy nuggets is estimated at 850 fineness, meaning 85% is gold (Au), 12% is silver (Ag) with 3% being other gangue alloyed metal.
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The Bawl Mill
• Ask The Experts - Seeking advice on setting up an operation and the agreement with the landowner
• Montana Gold and Sapphires Revisited
• A Third Generation Small-Scale Hardrock Revival
• Gold Prospecting for Better or Worse: Respect the Angle of Repose
• The Summer of ‘81
• The “Chuck It Out” Nugget
• Gold and Silver Deposits of Bodie, California
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
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Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Crumb Hunting With A VLF Detector
• PLP Update