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.
High Sulfidation Epithermal Deposits
They tend to be big, coming in large to extremely large sizes. They can also be amazingly rich and produce huge amounts of very high-grade ore.
Exploring Placers with Auger Drills
Augers can be used effectively for placer exploration with certain limitations.
The Seven Troughs Mining District
The favorable geology of the northeastern and central parts of the Seven Troughs Range are the parts most interesting to prospectors. They are underlain by a thick sequence of Tertiary volcanic rocks, mostly rhyolites and andesites.
Small-Scale Concentrating and Recovery Methods
The first step in my recovery process after milling the ore to the desired size is to table it. On this particular ore, I get good results milling it to minus 100 mesh.
Placer Channel Sampling
Sampling gold placers can be rewarding, but remember to treat the samples so you are not high grading or low grading your results. Learn the rules and apply them so your samples are accurate.
Papa's Got A Brand New Dredge!
It was time to prime the pump and start the engine! Dan’s priming method is to use a small, submersible, 12-volt pump. My priming method is to use a hand-operated diaphragm pump.
Gary It's There
This year was a test. We had never done anything like this before, yet we grossed $30,000 in the short time we had to mine.
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