Remote Prospecting?

[Geowizard]

It is "Postulated";

It is postulated by some of the best known Geologists in the State of Alaska that the age of the GOLD intrusives in the Ophir-Iditarod Mining District are Late Cretaceous - Early Tertiary (LK-ET). This places the time around the extinction of the Dinosaurs, about 65 Million years ago. Most of the Intrusive Related Gold (IRG) Deposits are related to the formation of the Iditarod - Nixon Fork (INF) Fault Zone.

Remote Prospecting in Alaska is like prospecting on the Moon;

The ground is completely covered with alluvium. Alluvium is a variable layer of sand and gravel covered by a variable layer of dense mud. The alluvium is covered by a layer of Tundra.

Early prospectors followed navigable rivers and trails like the Innoko River and Iditarod Trail to reach tributaries in their search for GOLD. Those "Easy" places where GOLD could be panned and taken to the bank have been discovered and mined to the maximum extent possible. The GOLD that remains is covered by sediments that are deep and in the early part of the season, frozen.

Prospecting in these places require extraordinary planning. You practically need a space ship to get there and you have to pack everything you need to survive and prospect in a little spaceship!

- Geowizard

[Jim_Alaska]

Very good synopsis Chuck, it's sorta like when travelling someone tells you, "you can't get there from here".

I have always found it very frustrating in trying to tell others who have not been there that mining in Alaska is a whole other ball game. This is why it pays for the serious minded to take the time to actually go live there and get the needed experience and "feet on the ground." Or at least take the time to hook up with someone that is already doing it and learn.

[Geowizard]

Space;

Early prospectors needed a place to live. Often times a cabin was constructed. Out of necessity, it was made using available materials and it was small. The cabin was constructed from hand hewn Spruce logs by Scandinavian miners that were true craftsmen. It looks like a cabin. It was NOT a normal cabin in the sense that THIS cabin was a remote Restaurant, and Water hole that provided miners with food, beverages, a hot bath and certain social services. The cabin measures only 24 feet by 24 feet. It has two levels. Needless to say, space is limited;

The cabin provides shelter from wild animals and mosquitoes. Upstairs can sleep several people "comfortably". That meaning "cozy". Stairs lead to the upper level, that takes space. There are three closets. On the bottom level, every square inch is accounted for. The store room is a "Hardware store" with all types of hose fittings, hoses, bolts, nuts, power tools, hand tools, like a mini Ace Hardware and mining supply It's all there (somewhere). Dining tables become places to set things and serve as multi purpose, eating, computing, and work spaces. Prospecting requires a "Rock Lab". The rock lab has a binocular microscope, mortar and pestle, Gold Pans, assorted screens, Blue bowls, black sand magnets, snuffer bottles, tweezers, sample vials, melting dishes, molds, and related accessories. It all requires space!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Nature calls;

Did I mention "A Privy"?

Yes, you WILL need a privy!

Old timers needed a privy too!

There-in lies an important clue...

Old timers had a privy in close proximity to their diggins!

-Geowizard

[Micropedes1]

If I remember correctly, we prospected around old Gus’s outhouse. And didn’t find sh*t!!!

Now what?

[Geowizard]

Lookin' for GOLD;

In all the wrong places!

Glen, I am performing a systematic archaeological excavation (aka "dig") next to that outhouse!

For those that are unfamiliar, the middle camp is completely surrounded by drag-line tailing piles! The tailing piles are stacked side-by-side in all directions. There is NO place for another tailing pile.

It represents saturation placer GOLD mining at its finest hour!

Yes, there is an outhouse. The outhouse is within a short sprint from the remains of Gus's cabin.

Gus's Cabin;

It isn't known for certain if the cabin was in fact Gus's cabin. The bulldozed artifacts that I have found in the process of systematic excavation reveal a Remote cabin that was fitted with ornate dining lamps and a steam boiler for hot water baths or a customary Finnish sauna. Remote prospecting in those days and taking that prospecting to 1000 ounce per year GOLD mining afforded deluxe accommodations. During prohibition, there was dining, dancing, fine whisky and the smoke from Cuban cigars filled the cabin.

When Gus grew too old to continue mining and with the high costs and low GOLD prices, he bulldozed the cabin, covered up the GOLD and retired to Fairbanks.

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Now what?;

While Glen was visiting, we opened a bulldozer "push".

The push was a bulldozer push that pushed tons of debris in the form of a rusty steel building framework and old blue tarps into the driveway at middle camp. The driveway was also purposely cut off by a canal and a built up earthen reservoir.

All of that was removed and a driveway made to the remains of the cabin and outhouse. I unearthed a steam boiler and stored it next to the road for safe keeping. I exposed a Monzanite dike swarm 50 feet across. After excavating the canal to six feet below grade, a Monzanite reef was exposed that runs in the same direction and coincidental with the canal.

This season;

I flew in a 9 inch auger attachment for the Bobcat. I discovered an intersecting Gouge zone late last year. The Gouge zone is a fault zone that intersects the canal Monzonite at a nearly perpendicular strike. Prospectors understand that intersecting fault zones are important. Intersections create conduits for hydrothermal intrusions to HAPPEN.

The Gouge is CLAY. The clay is formed through movement of two opposing faces in a fault zone over millions of years. I excavated 50 feet of the Gouge zone sufficiently to expose the Gouge and surrounding shale bedrock. Then I attached the auger and began drilling six foot deep holes along the gouge zone to pull samples of the gouge!

After going through the process of dissolving the clay into water, I panned samples from each hole.

There was NO GOLD.

I went back to work... I went up to the cabin site, next to the outhouse where another Gouge zone crosses near the Monzonite Dike Swarm. Using the loader bucket of the Bobcat, I cut samples of the Gouge. This black Gouge is intruded with sugar white mineralization - Quartz or Calcite.

Hang on - there's more.

- Geowizard

[Micropedes1]

The geology of that specific location is complicated. Fairwell Terrence basement rock overlain with Nixon Fork Terrence at the juncture of Innoko Terrence. I did observe the stock work of indicated dike swarm. The intrusive that I sampled showed iron, zinc, and minimal copper in limonite. No surprise there. Sphalerite and small amount of hematite added some colorful sparkle to the sample. Possible calcite but did not test that. The host rock was more interesting as it was a fine grained conglomerate, heat altered as was a nearby area of alluvium. Impossible to determine if both volcanic events occurred within same time frame without further testing. The conglomerate showed only minimal heat alteration (distant from heat source). Traces of silver-rich galena were evident (and later verified via AA) proximal to the intrusive. Trace amounts of free gold from panned samples showed 8% silver, 11% copper, and 11-12% iron.

Intrusive plutons at higher elevation were discussed. It would be an interesting exercise to radiometrically date samples of that dike swarm for comparison with exposed granitic rock adjacent to suspected plutons in the headwaters of that valley.

Keep me updated with any further discovery.

[easy goer]

Keep me updated in English please! Are we finding gold or not?

Easy goer

[Geowizard]

The English Version;

In plain English, the short answer is "No". The long answer is "Maybe"!

Prospectors come from many different walks of life;

Prospectors having a formal academic background tend to focus their efforts on the technical aspect of prospecting that centers around their specialty. That's the interesting perspective each prospector brings with them. A new view, a new perspective!

Having worked this past year in Arizona, I was given an opportunity to work with two PhD types. Their specialty was Geochemistry. Needless to say, the focus was related to chemistry. More importantly to analytical chemistry. Working in the Assay Lab placed me in the "cross hairs". I operated a new Perkin Elmer AA spectrometer. "The report shows there is NO copper!" They wadded up the report and threw it in the trash!

The Dutch Version;

Prospecting from a purely pragmatic point of view is a simple process. You go out every day and continue to explore new ground. Using a process of observation, collecting samples and running the samples. Geologic features known to those in the trade become pointers or vectors. Nothing is certain. The search goes on.

- Geowizard