Small Mining Operations
Wyoming's Billion Dollar Nugget—The Trilogy Ends
June 2011 by David C. Freitag
The next hurdle to jump was whether the trommel motor would start again after sitting on the desert for six years without being started. The last time it had taken a three foot pipe wrench to bust it loose.
Romancing the Rock
With the exception of well-established operators with proven reserves and years of field experience, the high price of gold brought a flood of speculators, con men, and real estate brokers into the mix who were not previously engaged in the gold mining market.
A High Price to Pay
Over the last several months, starting from before I left for Australia, I’ve been working on getting all the 2011 paperwork done for my mining claims. I will admit that some parts of the paperwork I let go until only a week or two before the due date.
Gold Rush in the Congo—Part II
We needed something to cook on, so we brought most of our kitchen with us including our full-size oven, which was pretty funny to see in the middle of a rainforest. Food was always a concern, but fortunately for us...
Trip to “The Swamp” on Behalf of Small Miners
Besides the EPA issue, our major priority is to work on the proposed amendment to the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act (S 145), a bill proposed in the Senate by US Senator Dean Heller (R-Nevada).
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.
Extracting & Smelting Your Gold
Unfortunately, not all the gold that we prospectors find is pretty, or appealing to the eyes. They are not all nice, bright, shiny nuggets with lots of character that carry high collector value.
The Smell of Gold -- Part II
While mapping, I also found rock chips in the soil that were characteristic of the same wall rock alteration that occurs adjacent to the known lodes in the greenstone belt.
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