Remote Prospecting?

[Geowizard]

While we are on the subject;

One Canadian that I mentioned in the previous post and most worthy of further mention is Anthony Barringer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_R._Barringer

People that precede us are often never aware of the influence they have on future generations. Anthony Barringer is a legendary figure in the world of prospecting. His early work on the INPUT airborne EM system became the platform for future development of and resulted in the systems we have today. It is impossible to realize the value added to the World and quality of life for mankind afforded from the mineral resources that have been discovered with his INPUT system and the technological successors that followed.

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Crone CEM-3;

In 2012, I was prospecting. It was on the trailing edge of the "Last Hurrah" that was spawned out of the "burst of the bubble" in 2008. A well known prospector that I met had a survey system for sale. It didn't take long to negotiate the purchase!

It can be seen in operation by a visiting Chinese Geologist

Duncan Crone;

Another Canadian prospecting Legend worthy of mention here on the Alaska Gold Prospecting Forum is J. Duncan Crone.

https://im-mining.com/site/wp-content/u ... ne-web.pdf

http://www.cronegeophysics.com/

His company lives on today in an uncertain world-wide exploration market impacted by a pandemic.

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Getting on the Platinum;


In our discussion on the subject of Remote Prospecting, we have taken a journey into many of the means and methods prospectors use to get on the GOLD. Occasionally, metals like Platinum show up.

I found anomalies that correlate to a PLATINUM deposit.

What conclusions can be made?

In this case, the source may be Platinum NUGGETS from outer space?

We know Meteorites are composed of many different materials including metals of which IRON is most common. It has been postulated that Temagami was the result of a Meteorite impact. The Temagami impact in Sudbury, Ontario remains the most significant (possible or probable) impact of a Nickel/Platinum meteorite I know of.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/ ... _Final.pdf

I came across unusual "spikes" in the signal. The spikes were much larger signals than are usually associated with anomalies and they had NO associated magnetic response.

When I plotted the anomalies, I noticed each anomaly was slightly offset in the same direction from a small lake.

A working placer mine was within a reasonable erosion model.

Initially, the mining company based their exploration on a long range campaign looking for a bedrock source.

Update: No bedrock source has been found.

Don't go away, there's more!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Yellow dots on a map;

Back on January 14th, I published an image of a topographic map with five yellow dots. The coordinates were provided so that anyone with a handheld GPS receiver can navigate to the exact location.

From the last few posts on the technology and the companies that have proven the technology works, it is rational to assume that for all practical purposes, the technology works.

Our presumed "objective" in GOLD prospecting is to make a "discovery". A discovery is a requirement for location of a mining claim. Does a "hit" from a geophysical system warrant a prudent person to locate a mining claim and expend their labor and money on mining? Is that information sufficient to satisfy a "validity test"?

The question of validity can ONLY be asserted by the respective controlling Government agency.

The question of reasonable and rational is subjective. For a prospector, ultimately, there comes the question of weighing the risk versus the potential reward.

Risk;

The risk for a prospector is, in the most simple terms, a measure cost. A prospector must first expend time and money to place stakes on the ground and record a mining location notice with (in this case) the Alaska DNR Recorder. A 40 acre mining claim costs $40.00 plus $20.00 for recording plus postage. The logistics to place stakes on the ground varies according to the distance and mode of transportation. Note also, a larger 160 acre mining claim will cover two or three hits and improve the odds of success.

Cost of mining is uncertain. It depends on depth and method of mining or the exploration approach.

Reward;

The reward is uncertain. Certainty in mining has a direct connection to probability. That's the reason for using a prospecting method that has a record of turning an inferred mineral deposit into a physical, measured deposit. The probability of success is much improved with a "target".

I would also note that "information" obtained often has value.

For a prospector, the "test" is making a decision to dig or not to dig.

Stick around, there's much more to come!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Before you dig;

I haven't taken a poll, but... I think the majority of GOLD prospectors prefer to GET WET rather than see if their hands fit a shovel.

There aren't any studies that I know of about how much GOLD resides in or under the surface of water. Placer miners certainly have a degree of success. Generally you have to get wet.

The other option is the one I personally prefer. That option is high banking - out of the water inside of a machine that has hydraulics. By virtue of their design, machines that have hydraulic assist are known to reduce human effort.

With that concept in mind, digging a hole and loading sand and gravel into a wash plant seems to be a reasonable approach to mining. The process does require permitting and that's why we have winter seasons! In my experience with DNR in Alaska, permitting in the form of an APMA is a simple and relatively easy process. Approval of your PLAN to dig a hole is the first important step.

Access and logistical planning have been the subjects of earlier discussion on this thread.

Use Google Earth to get a birds eye view. Here's a view of the area. You can see the brushing trails. You can see a ROAD that traverses the area. From the image, it can be seen that the density of Trees and Brush is limited but in some cases may represent added work to make an access trail or road to a diggin'.

One consideration when using surveys is that rocks vary from one rock type to another.

Our preference at this point should be to seek out the areas having the most mineralization.

Remarkably, ancient rivers flowed and created GOLD deposits... AND modern GOLD prospectors overlook those channels!

The survey data often "lights up" indicating anomalous mineralization in areas that upon further inspection with Google Earth shows a Paleochannel!

Stick around, I'm going to show some examples!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Visible paleochannel;

Over periods of millions of years, glacial ice scoured the surrounding mountains. Warming periods (climate change) melted glaciers resulting in massive amounts of water being discharged causing flooding beyond our comprehension. Along with glacial ice melt there were literally monstrous Glacial bulldozers that pushed sediments down tributaries.

Many rivers in Alaska are slow moving. Flood events during spring breakup cause rivers to get diverted resulting in new river channels. Meandering rivers cut into banks and drop sediments on the inside banks. Eventually the process can cause isolated meanders called oxbows. The process has continued every year for hundreds of thousands of years.

Paleochannels exist in areas that have over many thousands of years completely erased all visible signs of the paleochannel on the surface. Ancient river valleys may have almost countless buried, hidden paleochannels.

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Landslides;

I mentioned glaciers in a previous post and it might be a good place to cover a few related/interesting subjects.

Placer GOLD miners seldom immerse themselves in the subject of, and answers to, the question of HOW and WHEN those nice NUGGIES got there!

We have evidence of paleo landslides at the headwaters of tributaries. Images show obvious land slides.

The last ice age happened 20,000 years ago and Alaska was mostly a swampy (warm) climate.

landslides happened during the past 2.6 MILLION years. The GOLD was deposited along with mineralized intrusive (Intrusion Related GOLD) events that happened 60 to 70 MILLION years ago.

If we consider the Quaternary period, the past 2.6 MILLION years, Ice ages came and went possibly every 20,000 years. The orbital wobble of the Earth around the Sun and related distance from the sun over the past 2.6 MILLION years isn't documented and NO evidence remains. Paleo landslides remain in evidence of monstrous events that GEOMORPHED the topography, Grinding the ORE DEPOSITS, MILLING the GOLD out of the rock and classifying the GOLD through a repeated process of hundreds (maybe thousands) of cycles of landslides, grinding, crushing, milling and sorting.

It's just a thought I had.

- Geowizard

[Jim_Alaska]

Lots of rock showing on those ridge tops. You can travel a long way on the ridges with snowmobile in winter, if you can first get up there. It takes a lot of cutting Black Spruce to do it though. That is part of what makes trapping there so difficult, you have to just about cut all the way to the top.

In thinking back on that country from a prospecting standpoint, my old trap lines would serve well for prospecting access even today. The work is already done. But, like most places in Alaska access is about more than just getting there; it is also about permission and permits. Of course this is dependent on the size of your endeavor and size of your equipment. I say this because to get to these places you have to get through the recreation area, which is not easy from a permitting standpoint, or an actual travelling standpoint either.

If you need access for equipment you need a permit from the state; they will also require minimal surface damage on that Cat Trail up the valley. so if you are taking a Cat, it is blade up all the way and only in winter. Also take into consideration that you have the cross the Chena at the beginning to get to the Cat Trail. Years ago a mining company left huge beams on the near bank that they used to get equipment across the river.

If you are a small one or two man operation and just want to prospect, you can access by snowmobile in winter, no permit needed. summer travel in the valley is not possible, it is way to boggy. It is a long way from the road to the upper reaches of the Chena at Shamrock. All of those small creeks are quite long also, so travelling to and up any of them would be very time consuming.

On the way up the cat trail some exploration could be done utilizing trails I had cut up some ridges off of the Cat trail. But they are only wide enough for a snowmobile or quad. This would allow for exploration on the ridges, as well as being able to drop down into the headwaters of creeks.

I don't even know why I wrote all of that, it's 3:30 am and can't sleep, but can dream and posit about what could be if....... I guess that's just what old crippled prospectors do best.

[Jim_Alaska]

Ohio Creek Landslides;

I mentioned glaciers in a previous post and it might be a good place to cover a few related/interesting subjects.

Placer GOLD miners seldom immerse themselves in the subject of, and answers to, the question of HOW and WHEN those nice NUGGIES got there!

On the Middle fork we have evidence of paleo landslides at the headwaters of the tributaries leading into Middle Fork. The image above shows obvious land slides in five places.

The last ice age happened 20,000 years ago and Alaska was mostly a swampy (warm) climate.

The landslides happened during the past 2.6 MILLION years. The GOLD was deposited along with mineralized intrusive (Intrusion Related GOLD) events that happened 60 to 70 MILLION years ago.

If we consider the Quaternary period, the past 2.6 MILLION years, Ice ages came and went possibly every 20,000 years. The orbital wobble of the Earth around the Sun and related distance from the sun over the past 2.6 MILLION years isn't documented and NO evidence remains. Paleo landslides remain in evidence of monstrous events that GEOMORPHED the topography, Grinding the ORE DEPOSITS, MILLING the GOLD out of the rock and classifying the GOLD through a repeated process of hundreds (maybe thousands) of cycles of landslides, grinding, crushing, milling and sorting.

It's just a thought I had.

- Geowizard

I, like you, "just had a thought" at 3:30am. Unlike most gold miners, I have often thought about the "how and when" of gold deposition. I know and understand that the geological conditions you outlined are the norm from a geological standpoint and are almost universally accepted by science.

My own thought processes do not limit me to only one scenario, to the exclusion of any others. But that's just me. To my mind there are other forces that could have the same affect and evidences as the effects of time, or geological ages. One of these forces is water. If there were a global flood on a scale that covered even the highest mountains, I can imagine the physical ground becoming so saturated that it was almost liquid. (think quicksand) We can observe this effect even today by examining huge land and mud slides on a much lesser scale than a global flood.

A flood on this scale, that lasted and took almost a half of a year to drain off could have devastating effects on land masses, especially the highest places, where great landslides would happen. These landslides over a period of half of a year would also have a grinding and pulverizing effect in mountainous regions.

But, I almost succeeded in getting this thread off topic, so I'll leave it at that. Suffice to affirm that the picture you posted shows without a doubt that huge landslides did happen. Thanks for posting it, it helps to understand just how gold can move and be deposited.

Now it's 5:30 am and time to go back to bed.

[Geowizard]

Jim,

At 3 AM on the West coast, it's almost happy Hour in Queensland. It's always happy hour somewhere!

Speaking of time, the geological record reads like a book. Pages have been laid down that represent not only years but millions of years of sediment deposits. So, quite to the contrary your point is "on point"!

I understand there are differing views on the origin of the earth. The evidence at hand shows in Alaska that there were sediments in the form of silt that was compressed under increasing layers of sediment that formed rock referred to as SHALE. It is evident that the sediments were eroded from hard (Igneous) rock in a marine (oceanic) environment and that process happened over millions of years. At my mine, I have shale with fossil clam shells. The Kuskokwim shale represents BEDROCK.

The Tintina GOLD Belt is between two major Fault systems. The rock formations in between the fault zones has been subjected to faulting and folding that made conduits for hydrothermal GOLD and other minerals to escape from the mantle into the crust of the Earth.

We think in terms of modern time - the migration of man across the Bering Sea Land Bridge 20,000 years ago +/-? during the "Last" Ice Age.

What did Jim's Trapline look like 20,000 years ago? Imagine a Sabre Tooth Tiger in a trap!

What was happening 40,000 years ago? 80,000 years ago? 180,000 years ago?

Shale deposits in places contain GOLD. The deposits are referred to as SEDEX GOLD deposits. Salt water brine containing GOLD in solution (AuCl) precipitated GOLD (Au) into the pore spaces in the Shale.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedimenta ... e_deposits

All of the rest of "what happened" is revealed through a lengthy chronology. Methods are used to determine the AGE of rocks. That's a subject for another thread. So, for prospectors today, we can only surmise and postulate theories on the answers to the questions.

- Geowizard