tunneling in consolidated aluvium

seafox

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on leased from state endowment lands and they won't let us touch trees and they said no more vertical cuts, the pay zone is the bottom 8 feet stream laid aluvium . then their is another 8 feet of dirt soil eluvial deposit from the side hill mostly dirt that the trees grow in. local friend whos mined for over 40 years says most of the pay in in the bottom 4 feet especally on the bedrock was thinking I have free suply of 4 x4s 3 foot long and a good bit of 6 foot long 2 by lumber of various widths

was thinking of tunneling into the base of the gravel and put up roof suports to prevent cave in. would like to dry land dredge and reach in to dig with long tools to stay out side or at least under the protecting timbers so that any minor rock falls at the face I am not under. and then every 6 inch or so go and put in 4 x4 posts with 2 by limber on edge above it.

spaning 6 feet how deep should the 2 inch planks on edge be? my friend to said the pay layer a is at the bottom does not like the idea of tunneling in aluvium.

when finished should be able to pump tailing in wet tailings to fill tunnel because first have to dig down 4 feet to get to bed rock, know their is good gold right there but we can't cut the trees even though they are likely 30 years from market size can't just oull the bracing out because being only 2
12 feet below the surface would cause ground slumping also a no no. thankyou

ps would prefab the roof beam stacking 4 layers of plank on edge nailed or screwed and glued so it was 6 or 9 inches front to back say a 2x12 then a 2 xy 4 then a 2 by 6 then a 2 by 4 ant for the 6 layer units another 2x4 and finish wuth a 2 by 12 to put them in place one post would be atached then ther other end jacked into place and the second post wedged into position then 45 degree braces could be added in the corners for added stifffening ( ie 4 by 4s cut on both ends at 45 degrees and screwed in place
 

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et1955

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May I ask how much gold are pulling out per cubic yard dug. ?
 

Kray Gelder

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Get a grip on your gold fever. Sounds like you want to build your own tomb. Your friend is right.
 

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seafox

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Not sure of value but the bed rock is defjnitely the best and do nlt think we have been cleaning it properly friend estimated 18$ yard my guess 25$ but best ever was likely 100 a yard. Again I really don't think we've ever got me very base the Bedrock cleaned right
 

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seafox

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Not wanting to build my own tune I don't think I have that kind of good luck
 

johnedoe

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Tuneling in alluvium......... Not something I would even consider for $20 a yard.... In fact not even for $100 a yard.
 

Clay Diggins

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Anything less than $125 a yard for subsurface work is a losing proposition.

You can visit recreational prospecting areas and get better than $25 a yard.

You clearly don't understand safe tunneling. If you want to throw good money after bad hire a mining engineer, soil engineer etc. and design a plan that's safe. That way you will only lose money rather than your life.

Heavy Pans
 

IMAUDIGGER

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Doesn’t sound like it’s worth the effort involved much less the risk.
Lots of newspaper clips of men being killed in collapses.
Sometimes it was just a chunk of ground that fell off a vertical face.
 

N-Lionberger

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There is literature out there on the subject of tunneling in the stuff, making your sets right and constantly driving in lagging is key to maybe make it out alive. Running a gravel elevator underground sounds like a pain in the ass all the over sized rock still has to be transported out of the drift as well as all the water involved its going to be a royal mess and be prohibitively expensive, at the take per yard you mentioned I don't see you making any beer money. A lot of folks have done it here in California, the richest digs were in the ancient channels under a lava cap and were fairly large operations.
 

et1955

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The gold fever is strong, we all know it and it makes us do stupid things, back in the mid 1990's I was mining a bank of a the richest river here in western Wa. state. I started mining under a big boulder cemented into the bank ' 5ft X 3ft x 1ft " nice gold as I dug under it, I knew it was dangerous but each day I mined it I said that is it but when I came back the next time I would start back at it again until it happened, I was processing the material threw my sluice when I heard a big thump. Rock down fortunately not on me. Maybe one day I will find a way to move that boulder, lot of gold under it.
 

johnedoe

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I lost a friend in Alaska doing a similar thing.....
Just not worth it.
At least not for the amounts you have mentioned.
 

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seafox

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thankyou for the advice. proably won't do it good point about the values not being high enough
 

blackchipjim

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We all consider risk and reward but your well being is invaluable .
 

OwenT

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The gold fever is strong, we all know it and it makes us do stupid things, back in the mid 1990's I was mining a bank of a the richest river here in western Wa. state. I started mining under a big boulder cemented into the bank ' 5ft X 3ft x 1ft " nice gold as I dug under it, I knew it was dangerous but each day I mined it I said that is it but when I came back the next time I would start back at it again until it happened, I was processing the material threw my sluice when I heard a big thump. Rock down fortunately not on me. Maybe one day I will find a way to move that boulder, lot of gold under it.

Wow, very fortunate to have leanrned your lesson and not have it be your last!
 

firebird

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The gold fever is strong, we all know it and it makes us do stupid things, back in the mid 1990's I was mining a bank of a the richest river here in western Wa. state. I started mining under a big boulder cemented into the bank ' 5ft X 3ft x 1ft " nice gold as I dug under it, I knew it was dangerous but each day I mined it I said that is it but when I came back the next time I would start back at it again until it happened, I was processing the material threw my sluice when I heard a big thump. Rock down fortunately not on me. Maybe one day I will find a way to move that boulder, lot of gold under it.

How much gold were you finding? The best pay streak I found was under a bunch of boulders too, I tried to dislodge them but when the biggest one started to drop it scared the crap out of me at how sudden it and strong it was moving, was like trying to stop a car. Dangerous lesson learned there, I'll never underestimate their danger again.
 

et1955

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How much gold were you finding? The best pay streak I found was under a bunch of boulders too, I tried to dislodge them but when the biggest one started to drop it scared the crap out of me at how sudden it and strong it was moving, was like trying to stop a car. Dangerous lesson learned there, I'll never underestimate their danger again.
The average was a gram an hour but it was the occasional 1/4 inch course flakes I wound find but the killer was the 1/2 in square flake I got before the rock came down.
 

firebird

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The average was a gram an hour but it was the occasional 1/4 inch course flakes I wound find but the killer was the 1/2 in square flake I got before the rock came down.

Damn. Isn't there a chance that gold will get washed away now that the boulder has been dislodged?
 

et1955

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Damn. Isn't there a chance that gold will get washed away now that the boulder has been dislodged?
The river is controlled by a dam sadly and the P.U.D. that controls it said they will never let the river flood naturally again, instead they do controlled releases. Sad !!!
 

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