Small Mining Operations
How to Refine Silver—Pt I
September 2019 by Roger Neuscheler
Silver refining has been used from ancient times to change the characteristics of the metal. Early metallurgists refined silver by heating it a couple hundred degrees above its melting point and holding the metal at an elevated temperature for a period of time.
All About Hard Rock Drills
There are three basic power sources for rock drills—electricity, gasoline and compressed air. Before we go into big pneumatic drills, we’ll start with a quick rundown of each.
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.
Lessons Learned From Geologists
Not long after this, I was camped out with the geologist beside the Similkameen River where he showed me the evidence that an ancient channel existed on our claim.
A High Price to Pay
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.
To Foam or Not to Foam
George was considering filling his dredge floats with closed-cell foam, ensuring that there would be no area available within each float for flooding.
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.
Resurrecting an Old Hard Rock Mine—Setting Up the Millsite
One of the first things we did while looking at buying the equipment was figuring out how it would dovetail into the milling process we already had in mind.
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• Ask The Experts - How do I remove the silvery-white coating from my gold?
• Ask The Experts - Is it possible to mine glacial moraine placer deposits?
• Ask The Experts - Why are some valid mining claims missing from apps when researching land status?
• Ask The Experts - Is using a drywasher legal in California
• A High Country Patch
• An Update On The Father's Day Gold Discovery
• Exploring The Historic Rand Mining District, Southern California
• Disturbing Trend: Federal Judges Disregard Mining Laws
• My First Carolina Nugget
• Step-by-Step Crevicing
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mom Finds 3.72-Carat Yellow Diamond
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
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