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

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

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?”
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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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