Small Mining Operations
Simple Mine Surveying With Basic Hand Tools
April 2021 by Keith Bowen
…there is an easy way to create a reasonably accurate map without any fancy instruments.
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.
Evaluating Gold Recovery with Mass Balance Calculations
Whether you are placer or hard rock gold mining, maximizing the efficiency of your recovery process is very important to success, and accurate testing is necessary to do so.
Lode or Placer: What Difference Does It Make?
This explains the large difference in particle sizes between placers and hydrothermal lode deposits, but also means that while the mining may be similar in some cases, the sampling and recovery techniques are usually quite different.
How to Turn Your Gold Finds Into Cash
Even if you are not ready to cash in right now, it might be good to evaluate your options and make a plan of action so when that day comes you know exactly what to do.
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.
A Few Methods for Sampling Hardrock Deposits
With a little homework and a methodical approach to sampling, a prospector can determine if a deposit is worthy of more of an investment...
Libby, Montana Prospectors Keep Tradition Alive
Located 23 miles south of Libby, the land surrounding the Libby Creek area has been of interest to prospectors since the early 1860s, when it was home to up to 600 miners working at a camp known as Libbysville.
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The Bawl Mill
• Ask The Experts - What is the “blue lead?”
• Ask The Experts - Can an Ohm meter find gold in pyrite?
• Ask The Experts - Can you tell me about this mining district?
• The 10-Ton Boulder: Expanding Grout Demolition
• How Deep Can That Detector Go?
• Dredging Do's and Don'ts
• Emails Confirm--FBI Was Looking for Gold at Pennsylvania Dig Site
• Gold Prospecting for Better or Worse: Tuck and Roll
• Preparing For The 2021 Mining Season
• Drywashing for Desert Gold—Part III
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
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Legislative and Regulatory Update
• PLP Update
• Administration Offers Up Conflicting Goals and Executive Orders
