Gopher Hill Gold Mine Project

[ghostminer]

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[G-bone]

Hey Ghostminer,

I think more info is needed.
Where in the Sierra Nev mts?
Is this a small claim? Placer or lode?
Are you working it on weekends or full time?
I saw you posted looking for a drywasher and another for someone with detector use.
so it sounds like no water on the claim?

I'm way down south and probably can't do anything even if I wanted to.
but definitely curious as to what you have going on.

Cheers.

G

 

[ghostminer]

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[motohed]

I would definately look at the MSI mining stuff , they make some great commercial stuff price ia high , but again you get what you pay for .

 

[Clay Diggins]

Marty your ground produces 1 ounce per every 60 - 70 yards processed. That's after you remove the 90+ feet of overburden. The Gopher Hill hasn't produced since hydraulic mining was regulated on that drainage 120 + years ago. Will you be hydraulicing in small batches? Do you have room for a coffer dam and the tailings on those 280 acres?

I'm rooting for you and Ann but I'm just wondering how you plan to turn a profit with off the shelf equipment. Will you share your plan?

Heavy Pans

 

[motohed]

I'm thinking you will nearly have to strip mine the area to get to the gold , if it is 90 + feet down . This will be a costly endever , at best you will need a large return to make any money . I'm not sure the yield for the previous post to be even close to breaking even at best . The cost to get that deep will be a million plus , you have to figure what the pay streak will bare . Be assurd if it's less that thirty feet , with less than 35.00 bucks a yard you will go bankrupt at best .

 

[ghostminer]

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[AU_Solitude]

We have a large area of virgin river channel gravels on a fault line that is at or near the surface. The top 100 ft has been mostly removed by old hydraulic activity but not finished due to Sawyer Decision in 1880's that banned hydraulic activity. That's our first area of interest. We have averaged $45/yd in samples. There is little digging required. I estimate 40,000 - 45,000 yds of pay on this fault. We also have large areas of partially stripped ground east of the fault and yes, large areas they didn't get to on our Curtis Point Mine and pay is 60 - 70 ft below the surface and we aren't ready for that until gold goes back up. We're after the low hanging fruit right now and this fault is full of fine gold. We will use a dozer to push the pay down into the old debris gully or in some areas an excavator. We will take some shale bedrock with the pay. The pay gravels are from 5 to 20 ft thick on bedrock with some bedrock exposed. A 155 ft deep flooded shaft on our north mine will be used for ponds to recycle water into a Heckler Fab 2410 Trommel. The scale will be small at first, 40-50 yds/day. We have mineral surveys of the mine from the 1960's and the pay streaks average 40-60 ft thick.

I was wondering who grabbed that claim, seems to me you made a serious investment and hopefully it pays off! I can't offer any full time services but later this spring/summer I'll be more than happy to work for free occasionally on weekends if you want, I have experience with heavy equipment, welding, etc.

 

[motohed]

We have a large area of virgin river channel gravels on a fault line that is at or near the surface. The top 100 ft has been mostly removed by old hydraulic activity but not finished due to Sawyer Decision in 1880's that banned hydraulic activity. That's our first area of interest. We have averaged $45/yd in samples. There is little digging required. I estimate 40,000 - 45,000 yds of pay on this fault. We also have large areas of partially stripped ground east of the fault and yes, large areas they didn't get to on our Curtis Point Mine and pay is 60 - 70 ft below the surface and we aren't ready for that until gold goes back up. We're after the low hanging fruit right now and this fault is full of fine gold. We will use a dozer to push the pay down into the old debris gully or in some areas an excavator. We will take some shale bedrock with the pay. The pay gravels are from 5 to 20 ft thick on bedrock with some bedrock exposed. A 155 ft deep flooded shaft on our north mine will be used for ponds to recycle water into a Heckler Fab 2410 Trommel. The scale will be small at first, 40-50 yds/day. We have mineral surveys of the mine from the 1960's and the pay streaks average 40-60 ft thick.

I get what your saying , but the bigger the equipment you run the better the return will be , 50 or 60 yards a day is an unrealistic return , for what you are expecting to make any money . You need at least 50 or 60 yard per hour for a return to make any money , as any down time for repairs Etc , will eat up your return . Even if your ground is paying the return you expect . I can tell you it won't be enough for what you want , from my experiance in any kind of mining . On paper your return will look good , but in real life you will see very early what I'm telling you . Just saying my real life experiance . even with a mini excavator and skidsteer you should be able run 50 to 60 yards per hour with a bobcat 341 and and a 320 tracked skidsteer which I have sitting in my yard with a couple small dumptrucks which I also have . you will have to tie up a minimum of 250,000 bucks for them . Not to mention atleast a D7 or D8 cat which a decent used one will cost you another 150,000 minimum if you wan't something thats not junk . Any smaller would just take to much time , and then you need at least 4 or 5 good operator which will cost and average of 25 bucks an hour . That does'nt include permits , insidentals and insurance . I thinking a minimum of 750,000 to 800,000 to start and have some running capital , never mind fuel cost .

 

[motohed]

I have over fourty years of equipment operation experiance as well as welding and fabrication experiance , not to mention 8 years + geology college . I also have a machine shop and welding degree in college . what you are talking for equipment is unrealisitic . I just don't want to see you fail . I ran a gravel operation at over 500 hundred plus yards and hour for over 23 years of operation , before accident made me sell it . I also have at least 38 plus years of business experiance .

 

[ghostminer]

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[motohed]

I understand what you are saying , but you said you have to strip from 5 feet and over , most people don't realize what it takes to strip even 5 feet of material . Like I said I want you to make good . You will still need the permits , insurance and a good team to start , that cost a lot of money . Not to mention the MSAH training for mining . The fines could be catastofic . Like I said your goal is to make money , and it takes money to make money . My father started me working at 10 years old , I could run a full size machine at 8 years old , granted we can't do that now with are kids , but by the time I was 16 I was able to buy a brand new truck for cash on my own . I was making upwards of 600.00 bucks a week in the summer back in the 70's . I just want you to make it , if I was in better shape I would be there , but I have a degenterating spine and have already had a fusion . I'm still thinking about it . when I quit in 2003 I was paying good operators 30 bucks an hour , and it was worth every penny they kept the equipment greased fuel and and maintained . This is a hugh plus . I had 270 people when I sold the business ,and they all got a Christmas bonus of at least 250.00 bucks and a free turkey for each and I rented an estabishment with open bar with free dinners for them and there familys . The tab was always 50,000 plus . They new I was hard , they had my respect , and I had there respect and they're appreciated for what I gave them .

 

[ghostminer]

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[ghostminer]

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[motohed]

Don't bother with a 450 case your wasting money , I would'nt go with any thing less than a D7 cat size machine , please trust me , even a dresser TD 20 or 25 . You will spend weeks trying strip with a Case 450 , what you would do in a larger machine in a day, not to mention the fuel cost alone . Please if nothing else go with the biggest dozer you can get . Man I just don't want you to make the same mistakes I made early on , you can rent a super size machine with a good operator and strip enough for a years running I a couple months .

 

[Clay Diggins]

We have a large area of virgin river channel gravels on a fault line that is at or near the surface. The top 100 ft has been mostly removed by old hydraulic activity but not finished due to Sawyer Decision in 1880's that banned hydraulic activity. That's our first area of interest. We have averaged $45/yd in samples. There is little digging required. I estimate 40,000 - 45,000 yds of pay on this fault. We also have large areas of partially stripped ground east of the fault and yes, large areas they didn't get to on our Curtis Point Mine and pay is 60 - 70 ft below the surface and we aren't ready for that until gold goes back up. We're after the low hanging fruit right now and this fault is full of fine gold. We will use a dozer to push the pay down into the old debris gully or in some areas an excavator. We will take some shale bedrock with the pay. The pay gravels are from 5 to 20 ft thick on bedrock with some bedrock exposed. A 155 ft deep flooded shaft on our north mine will be used for ponds to recycle water into a Heckler Fab 2410 Trommel. The scale will be small at first, 40-50 yds/day. We have mineral surveys of the mine from the 1960's and the pay streaks average 40-60 ft thick.

Thanks for the info Marty. You are getting some good advice here.

Just one point. The Sawyer Decision did not ban hydraulic mining. Hydraulic mining is still legal today. There were many mines still using hydraulics in California well into the 1970's and I believe there is still one active today.

The Gopher Hill and many other mines closed after the Sawyer decision because they would have to prevent downstream off claim damage to other property. The lower paying placers just couldn't mine at a profit when they had deal with the tailings on site rather than flush them downstream to become someone else's problem. That's still the issue today.

I wish you the best on your project.

Heavy Pans

 

[Reed Lukens]

Don't bother with a 450 case your wasting money , I would'nt go with any thing less than a D7 cat size machine , please trust me , even a dresser TD 20 or 25 . You will spend weeks trying strip with a Case 450 , what you would do in a larger machine in a day, not to mention the fuel cost alone . Please if nothing else go with the biggest dozer you can get . Man I just don't want you to make the same mistakes I made early on , you can rent a super size machine with a good operator and strip enough for a years running I a couple months .

Like Scott said, don't bother with a 450 Case because it is the wrong piece of equipment for the job. I realize that you need to start small and for stripping a D8 would get it done in a few days and then you can return it. A D10 would be best and that's what you need to think about unless you're going to drill and blast first. A D6 will have big trouble stripping cemented gravel and with a Case 450... You will be scratching your head with it basically. You can rent a smaller Kabota if needed for light duty work or feeding a small trommel but not for stripping. There's no sense in having equipment sitting around for days on end. They rent by the day and that's 8 hours on the meter. If you run over the 8 hours you pay more. So I usually rent for a couple to 3 days depending on the job and running up that meter to 8 hours will take me at least 12 to 14 hours a day by myself with stops for soreness and to relax when needed. But this is at full throttle as fast as the machine can go so it tears you up. Renting is a great way to go because you have the right machine for that day and can change machines for different jobs daily if needed.

 

[motohed]

Like Scott said, don't bother with a 450 Case because it is the wrong piece of equipment for the job. I realize that you need to start small and for stripping a D8 would get it done in a few days and then you can return it. A D10 would be best and that's what you need to think about unless you're going to drill and blast first. A D6 will have big trouble stripping cemented gravel and with a Case 450... You will be scratching your head with it basically. You can rent a smaller Kabota if needed for light duty work or feeding a small trommel but not for stripping. There's no sense in having equipment sitting around for days on end. They rent by the day and that's 8 hours on the meter. If you run over the 8 hours you pay more. So I usually rent for a couple to 3 days depending on the job and running up that meter to 8 hours will take me at least 12 to 14 hours a day by myself with stops for soreness and to relax when needed. But this is at full throttle as fast as the machine can go so it tears you up. Renting is a great way to go because you have the right machine for that day and can change machines for different jobs daily if needed.

I was using acouple D8 Cats when I was striping back in the day , I would also rent one with a semi U blade it will carry more material than a strait blade . The ripper is also a must . Like I said before if you don't have the skills to run it , hire someone . I would at this point hire one anyway , just to keep from taking the beating myself .

 

[ghostminer]

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