Remote Prospecting?

[Geowizard]

Jim,

Very good point.

What is an operational cost;

The system has to be UP sized so the wash plant is able to keep up with the loaders. Fabricating a LARGER wash plant has a cost. It isn't an "operational cost". By design, I have specified that the wash plant NOT have any moving parts. That is in order to reduce the COST of maintenance and DOWN TIME due to failures. The cost of UP SIZING goes under capital costs and get amortized over time. I simply take a chunk of the revenue and use that to pay for the materials or give MYSELF a loan!

Note: Increasing the number of cubic yards requires a proportionately larger pump capacity. I abide by the 15 percent slurry rule.

Hang on, there's more!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Who wants to be a Bush Pilot;

A special heads up for Remote Prospectors;

Insurance companies are choking off Part 135 (air charter) operations. With the high cost of Liability insurance, and the RISK of providing insurance, FAA Part 135 air charter operations are going out of business.

As I write this, many charter companies have to BID out the insurance for EACH flight. Every charter flight has different amounts of RISK. So, the old process of insurance is going away.

The bidding process INCREASES the deductible portion of the policy. That places MORE of the liability on the shoulders of the charter company.

Private aircraft ownership has become almost an impossibility. Again, insurance is a BIG factor in owning an airplane and a low time pilot may NOT be able to find an insurance company that will write a policy.

Cheers!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

How many buckets in a cubic yard?

Remote prospectors need to know how many buckets in a cubic yard. Much of the prospecting done by placer miners is done with 5 gallon plastic buckets. A sample might be one bucket ran through a high banker. Then the GOLD is recovered, dried and weighed.

The next step is to calculate the number of grams per cubic yard.

Here's a link to a video that shows how many buckets in a cubic yard;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUC6prDjZM0

Grams of GOLD x Number of buckets in a cubic yard = grams per cubic yard.

Stick around. There's more!

- Geowizard

[Joe S (AK)]

I use a gold pan to "prospect" for heavier concentrations in a new area. I rarely to never use randomly filled 5 gallon (20 L.) buckets to guess volumes. I certainly could, but my time, and the testing itself, is just too limited to allow that "Loosie - Goosie" approach.

If, through pan testing, I find an area which may have specific promise I bring in a small, simple piece of equipment - commensurate with the job to be done. Through experience I recognize a cubic yard of loose bank run test material (that would be 3' x 3' x 3' or 27 cubic feet) and, also through experience, the recovery expectations from my test equipment are well known. When that yard of loose material is run through the equipment I have all the numbers I need at that point. If one or two or three additional one yard runs of material proves that part of the evaluation. Project escalation (or, of course, abandonment) is the next step.

Advising to somehow use a certain number of partially filled buckets to equal a cubic yard completely skews logical testing with the accompanying inaccuracies. As an example, how many buckets to count for a watermelon sized boulder or two? How about the 4", 5", 6" or 8" rocks in that same sample? In my (and many others') opinion a pile of 27 cubic feet of dug material includes all the ground's random anomalies and gives a much better evaluation of that ground. Times 2 or 3 and it's even better.

In Alaska time is a very valuable commodity and inexact efforts simply squander precious time. For the short 'window of opportunity' available in Alaska's climate we all know that every minute with a shovel in your hands counts. After all, it isn't, say, Silver Mining in Arizona - where there often is a much longer 'growing season' and the available time factor is more forgiving.

[Geowizard]

How to fabricate a trommel;

Remote prospectors that have access to a generator as a source of power can efficiently drive a trommel. Trommels have the advantage of providing the needed washing and sorting of gravels to get a specified size of feed going into the sluice box.

Available materials in remote mining areas;

The fabrication of a trommel can be done using 55 gallon drums which are common around many remote mine sites. During the off season, here in Arizona, I have time to fabricate "prototype" machines to use in my mining operation.

Let's consider 55 gallon steel drums for the cylindrical portion of a trommel. Cutting the ends out of a 55 gallon drum takes the fabrication to the next level! Using angle iron or aluminum, "londgeron" stiffeners/straighteners can be bolted or yes, pop riveted to the steel wall of the trommel.

I recently obtained a double handled pop rivet gun that uses 1/4 inch pop rivets!

A standard 55 gallon steel drum is 23 inches in diameter and 35 inches in height.

The screen can be added to the end of the trommel. By design, the screen is directly above the sluice and the end of the trommel screen spills the oversize into a slide away from the wash plant.

In my application, I plan to use two of these trommels in parallel.

Stick around for details on the fabrication process!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

A good example;

A good example is the J. Farmer 10 YPH Trommel.

Here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSh2VxfsGpE

Examples like this show the efficiency of a trommel. The trommel has the benefit of doing the washing and sorting with continuous feed. Note also the grizzly for handling larger rocks that you don't want in the trommel.

Disclaimer:

I am not an agent or sales rep nor do I have any ownership or investment in this product. This is not a recommendation or endorsement of any product. What you see is a working production model of a 10 cubic yard per hour trommel/wash plant.

Stick around for more!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

A rigid framework;

When considering a wash plant design, it is important to have a sluice box contained within a rigid frame. The Maxi-Banker is well suited to adding a trommel because a perpendicular extension can be added to the frame. A trommel or possibly two trommels operating in parallel can be added to the basic frame. Having a frame constructed from Unisrut makes it easy to reconfigure and adjust additional framework to suit almost any need.

Fabrication of the frame is done by bolting the frame together with steel bolts. Using steel tubing, two pieces are joined with a bolt with a self locking nut. I would also note the bolt is a "zero tolerance" fit. Using a smaller bolt provides more allowance for any small differences in alignment of holes.

The cost of this type of square tubing is reasonable. I use a cut-off saw, yes with safety glasses to cut the tubing to the appropriate length. A file can be used to remove metal burrs and round the sharp edges. To finish the cuts, I apply a light coat of primer paint. The tubing is usually zinc plated to prevent corrosion. The primer paint keeps the exposed metal from exposure to water avoiding corrosion on the exposed cuts.

Don't go away, there's more!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Remote Prospecting in the Desert;

Ready for a sharp right turn into the desert?

There has been very little discussion about prospecting for GOLD in the desert!

Yepper, it's time to change the scenery and "change the dynamics" to an almost diametrically opposite place compared to Alaska, the setting is the desert southwest, Arizona, USA.

Instead of WET and COLD, it's mighty DRY and mighty HOT!

There's GOLD and plenty of it in the desert. The challenge for prospecting is HOW to prospect for GOLD when there is NO WATER.

Stick around and find out HOW!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Cool, Clear, Water,

I have a Mining District within a 30 minute drive.

In Arizona (The Copper State) metal mining is associated with? Yup, Copper!

The Mining district is a large Cu-Ag-Au district. Silver has been pushing $30 an ounce and Copper is at historic levels $3.00 per pound. GOLD is an accessory metal here.

Being a Remote Desert Prospector, I began the process of scouting out the GOLD! First, I go to Caltopo and get topo maps of the district. Then, go online and view GIS maps that show the DOMAIN.

Is it State, Federal or Private (patented) land?

Took a few days of looking. Took a few short road trips and BINGO!

A Desert GOLD Mine! A quick check of the BLM LR2000 database of active mining claims in that Township and Range revealed that there are NO active mining claims in that Section!

And, the mine has a WATER WELL!

Stick around, there's more!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Location, Location;

After doing the "Happy Dance", additional research proved the "assumed" location did not correlate to the "actual" location.

Remote prospectors should beware of this common mistake. Using physical features like roads can be misleading.

After checking the location with my handy dandy GPS, the coordinates of the "Gold Strike #!" did not correlate with the assumed location. I was getting ready to stake someones back yard.

Before GPS;

Yup, there was a time, long, long ago, that there was NO GPS. Remote prospectors used survey markers where possible. Many section corners are marked with a survey monument or "Pin". The distance east or west and north or south of the survey monument could and still can be used to document and confirm the location of that BIG discovery!

Don't go away, there's more!

- Geowizard