So question for all you guys. Do any of you try hard rock prospecting? is it even worth the time to crush the rock or is it easier just going for placer? If it is worth it, what are your methods of obliterating rock? And can you run the rock powder through your sluice?
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O yea dint forget the dust
https://www.osha.gov/Publications/3176-2002-English.html
Yea, I see where Bill is coming from. Questionable practices shouldn't be encouraged in videos. Also it can give the impression that all miners work this way.
Please, Novices, don't try this yourselves. old mines are dangerous. Without many years of experience, you can't always determine "safe" ground from unsafe. It may appear ok, but could collapse instantly...or...vise-versa. Again, if you get hurt, it makes things tougher with the "authorities" for all miners.
We'll put up a warning for the novices. We could put up a warning sign on all our videos to be careful with shovels, picks, rocks, trails and falling acorns.
We assume some people have a little common sense.
AMRA you dident meanchin any thing about a gas meeter going in old mine that have been close up is a relly riskey thing
We have a stope 75 feet from the entrance Bill and have excellent ventilation. Including all aspects of mining in a video would drive the length of the video to hours and hours. Thanks for the observation.
Its ok just trying to keep everone safe not everyone climing into hole in the ground know anything but gold came out of it
Very cool video.
Hi Weston,
I own a hard rock operation in the south Mother Lode of CA, we have two jaw crushers and two impact mills. Hard rock mining is difficult, dangerous and it takes some capital to get a good operation going.
You have to consider what the "liberation factor" is for the rock you are going to crush, that is how fine do you have to crush the rock to "liberate" the gold from the rock. We crush down to about 500 mesh (like flour to make bread) to liberate most of our gold. Running that material through a sluice won't catch all of it and the idea is to recover all of your gold since we all work our butts off to get it.
We've got some videos on our YouTube page of us running our material and going into our lode mine to sample new spots. It also shows our equipment and should give you a good idea of what is involved. I have several friends who run "tailing piles" and do pretty fair. Look for piles of rock just outside of shafts, not tailing piles but piles of rock which could potentially be their highgrade material they set aside. I have a friend who found a nice highgrade pile and pulled 7 ounces out of it in one day.........but he also had an impact mill to crush it.
Here is that video and if you want to see some of the other cool videos we produce go to YouTube and search "American Mining Rights" or "AMRA"
Chasing the vein:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi8b_uFbNgM
Send me a note if you have any additional questions.
AMRA Pres
Have been prospecting for hard rock for 30 years in the same area. Have literally brought home tons of rock. Filed a claim a few years ago on a previous discovery that had lapsed due to lack of interest by the kids who inherited the claim. A quartz vein about 1/2 mile long on the surface through a saddle and 4' wide visible in some areas. After a number of assays that only gave 1/4 oz to the ton on the best assay we have been looking at ways to make it work. But, honestly it just may not be worth the effort unless it was a large mining company that has the resources to develop it. A mine that became reactivated about 5 years ago within 2 miles of our claim spent over a million on their operation and gave up two years ago and have since pulled most of their equipment out. It's tough to make it pay, but most of all, the red tape just to mine is becoming overwhelming. Don't even get me started on the tree cops.
I found a rock two years ago while hunting and forgot to bag it and register where I found it. During the winter, I looked at it under the scope and was amazed to find that it was loaded with visible gold. It is a small rock sample only the size of a c size battery. It is the only rock I have found in 30 years that has loads of gold and some is visible without the microscope. I estimate that it may assay at 10 to 20 oz to the ton. It is the only sample I have, so I am not ready to destroy it yet. I have spent the last two summers and fall trying to figure out where it came from. So yes, hard rock mining can be profitable, but you need to find good quartz and don't do what I did and not keep good records of everything you pick up. I may spend the rest of my life looking for where that one rock came from.
I am no expert, just love looking for minerals. I have been trying to learn to do my own assays and been experimenting with chemical leaching and such. Be very careful with those processes as they can be extremely dangerous.....especially aqua regia, which if not done correctly can lead to nitrating into explosives when reacting with some elements. It also creates very toxic fumes.
Good luck and happy prospecting!
Norm
Idaho
i know of a couple other fellas here in Idaho that picked up samples, one while sitting on a turn out eating his lunch during a road job, and have spent years trying to find the outcropping he took that from.... it is one of the few things that a good hand held GPS unit is decent for currently, and digital cameras [so ya know some of the landmarks]
Many spots all around the world found and lost because the locator couldnt find their way back, some because fire destroyed the area, some cause they were sort of on the wrong trail and others just were not paying close attention....
And we all know that it was Kellogg who discovered mineral it was his burro.... but they could name the town after an ass could they!
William
Kamiah Idaho
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