Small Mining Operations
Mining on the Comstock Lode
July 2014 by Alex Dolbeare
Even with the decades of mining and exploration, much of the Comstock is still underdeveloped and its potential not fully tapped.
Designing and Evaluating Placer Gold Recovery Plants
For this article, I am focusing on industrial production plants that can handle 10 cubic yards per hour or more and would be fed by a loader or other heavy equipment...
Detector Brings New Life to An Old Lode Mine
…it was immediately evident the previous owner had not been using a detector. During just a few months of working the dumps part-time, he recovered gold in quartz specimens valued in excess of $40,000.
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.
Recovering Fine Gold with Oleophilic Adhesion
Oleophilic means "affinity to or attracted to oils," and this includes gold an diamonds.
Early Summer Mining in Wyoming
Old tailing piles extend for miles. There was still plenty of water flowing here, so WPA members set up highbankers at several settling ponds.
The Miner’s Switchback
Common thought is the switchback slows the velocity of the rushing water and gold drops out from the cut bank to a fill gravel bar within or below the switchback. I am not going to disregard that model; however, I hope to improve upon it.
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
• A Return to Silver City, Idaho
• Ask the Experts
• Ask the Experts
• Ask the Experts
• Swing and a Miss
• Miners Fight Back Against Road Closures
• The Giant King Mine
• BLM Flexes Its Muscles in Quartzsite
• Over the Divide
• Romancing the Lens
• Gold Recovery with Centrifugal Bowls
• Want to Go to Australia?
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
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Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Representative Manweller Lends a Hand in Washington State
