Small Mining Operations
The 10-Ton Boulder: Expanding Grout Demolition
April 2021 by John Norman
Imagine you have located a source of virgin placer ore containing immense gold value. Now imagine that there is a 10-ton monolith of extremely hard gneiss in between you and payday.
A Model Mining Operation
After he excavates the ore down to bedrock, he goes over the bedrock with a metal detector to ensure he didn't leave any gold behind before he backfills the area.
Selenium, Mercury and Suction Dredging—Studies Contradict CA State Water Resources Board
Federal and state regulatory agencies often cite mercury and methyl mercury in our waterways as a major factor for further restrictions on placer mining, and on suction gold dredge mining, in particular. However, these regulatory agencies are minimizing selenium and its neutralizing effects.
A Third Generation Small-Scale Hardrock Revival
One of his friends had 700 feet of small-gauge mine track and a hundred-year-old track bender laying out in his back 40; plus he also wanted to join the team. Perfect.
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.
Using Countercurrent Material Flow to Improve Gold Recovery Efficiency
There is a material processing principle widely used in large milling operations to improve recovery that is poorly understood by most of the micro-mining and prospecting community...
A New Method for Handling Stubborn Gravity Middlings
The solution focused on the relative difference in malleability between gold and waste, rather than the difference in density exploited by gravity circuits.
Long-Term Camping Plan at Fortymile Proposed by BLM
A draft environmental assessment of a proposal to allow long-term camping by gold miners along 21 miles of the North Fork of the Fortymile Wild and Scenic River is available from the Bureau of Land Management.
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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?
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• Simple Mine Surveying With Basic Hand Tools
• 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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