Phyromining

[OreCart]

I realized I am in an ideal spot to try this, but am curious if others have done so, and what their results were?

I was thinking about doing a phyromining experiment upon my farm this year. I believe I am in an excellent location for this. I have gold bearing bedrock, yet only a few inches above, I have some fertile soil. I was going to plant a few acres of sunflowers anyway, so treating the soil with a lixiviant just before harvest would not be a big deal. Naturally, being a sheep farm, I have the resources to produce that lixiviant as well.

My original intent was to harvest the heads for the seeds, and have the stems to be chopped for sheep fodder, but obviously I cannot do the latter if treated with lixiviant. I experimented this year with using corn mixed in my home-heating pellet stove with excellent results, so I thought this year I would experiment with burning sunflower seeds. Yet rather than use the stalks to feed my sheep, I would just burn the stalks and have the resulting ash assayed to see what the gold/Silver/PMG content was. We have grown sunflowers in the past with really good results, so I know sunflowers grow well here, it would just be interesting to see how much they hyperaccumulate gold/silver/pgm's. Really the only technical help I would need is figuring out how much lixiviant I would need to apply per acre to kickstart the hyperaccumulation process.

I do not know any farm in Maine who is doing this though, mostly because how much gold/silver/pgm areas are located under open farm land?

It would be an interesting experiment though, and while I doubt it would be a literal gold mine for me, it would be easier than hard rock mining (LOL).

It might be interesting to see how much remediation could happen to my farm's soils from the high levels of copper and zinc that have accumulated from liquid dairy cow manure applications too. That unto itself has high benefits for since it is such a problem for us farmers; especially sheep farmers! (Anything over 8 ppm in the feed will kill a sheep as they are very susceptible to copper toxicity).

Heat my home, rid my farm of toxic levels of heavy metals, and gathering up gold all at the same time; it is a very interesting concept.

 

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[OreCart]

I guess I'll play the devils advocate, so are you a mineralogist, mining engineer, scientist of any sort..?
the term lixiviant is a term used in white papers, is it real world terminology?
in-situ leaching, fracking, heap leaching are types of mining done in highly controlled situations.
isn't Phyromining a term made up involving experimental mine remediation?
ground water contamination is a real world consideration with real consequences,
drilling, site survey, preliminary feasibility study, permitting, zoning..?
just experimenting, guessing you might try this or that is not a plan.!!!

I can appreciate playing the Devil's Advocate, but a little research on the topic would have answered a lot of your own questions. Just because something is new and seemingly complex to YOU does not mean it is to other people. For me, this is rather simple because I am a farmer, raising crops and livestock is how I make money, and have been doing it for 45 years. I might weld a disc harrow back together, give a sheep a shot, plan next years barn addition, and review the latest soil samples...all before noon. That is just being a farmer.

Sadly in this day and age, everyone wants to turn farming into some sort of science, and it really is not that complicated, people have been doing it for thousands of years. Break things down to their simplest functions, and there is nothing complicated about things.

One of the things I really like about Phyromining is its simplicity. If I can plant certain grass types to pull nitrogen out of the air and get that grass to put it into my soil, then it is just as easy to take a plant and pull heavy metals out of the ground and store it in the plant. Just as with nitrogen fixation, a person just has to chose the right plant.

I wish there was a simpler name than lixiviant, but the wonder of the English language is vocabulary, where a single word can mean an exact thing. I will continue to use the word lixiviant because saying, "a mixture that renders the gold water soluble", is rather lengthy. It would be great to use the word leachate, but since the role of the lixiviant is to be available for uptake, and not leaching, it does not really work. It would be like calling a rear-end a transmission because it changes axle-speeds...yes, but not really, best to use the word rear-end, or "pumpkin".

A few other points you make do not really come into play, but only because I am not sure you realize how simple phyromining is. "Drilling, site survey, preliminary feasibility study, permitting, zoning", are not required for growing a crop on a farm. Yes it is that simple.

Cyanide deserves a reply unto its own I admit, but while it deserves respect, it should equally not be feared. It is only a class two poison, and I have far worse ones than that on this farm that scare me more. Anhydrous ammonia is pretty bad, and that is on every farm, not to mention acids for cleaning the milk lines, and other caustic sodas that ensure the milk that goes into the tank is safe for a hungry nation.

The down and dirty is this, EVERYTHING can be a poison, as H2O kills more people in a year than cyanide ever has in its known existence. Know what you are working with, guard against it, and keep moving forward. Always keep moving forward.

 

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[DizzyDigger]

OC, perhaps you aren't aware, but you write/communicate in a manner that
shows advanced education. Doesn't matter if you are self-educated, or went
to MIT, you express yourself in an educated manner.

I am neither farmer nor chemist, but your proposal does sound intriguing,
and I hope you get the opportunity to try it out.

 

[Clay Diggins]

If you even got a single gram from 100 acres of crop in the best gold ground in the world it would be a first. It's not a viable process. Unlike phosphorous, nitrogen or water gold is non reactive and doesn't participate in the plant growth cycle. Any gold uptake is incidental and virtually undetectable.

Heavy Pans

 

[placertogo]

If you even got a single gram from 100 acres of crop in the best gold ground in the world it would be a first. It's not a viable process. Unlike phosphorous, nitrogen or water gold is non reactive and doesn't participate in the plant growth cycle. Any gold uptake is incidental and virtually undetectable.

Heavy Pans

I agree. It is much like gold in seawater. It is there and you can extract it but at a cost of perhaps a million dollars per troy ounce!

 

[OreCart]

If you even got a single gram from 100 acres of crop in the best gold ground in the world it would be a first. It's not a viable process. Unlike phosphorous, nitrogen or water gold is non reactive and doesn't participate in the plant growth cycle. Any gold uptake is incidental and virtually undetectable.

Heavy Pans

This is just plain false, and that is why this is such a great discussion, so we can learn and move on.

Massey University of New Zealand was the first to harvest gold from plants in 1998. Since then it has successfully been done in the United States, Brazil, Australia and South Africa. In Indonesia, a mining company took up the challenge just to see what results would be.

You are absolutely right, gold is non-reactive, but just as with leaching, lixiviants can be applied, just when the plant reaches its full height so that that as it is pulling as much nutrients out of the ground that it can, the gold becomes water soluble, and up the plant stock it goes.

There is no question it can be done; the question is how profitable would it be at a given location?

As with everything in farming, your greatest asset is also your greatest challenge. In my case, while I have very fertile soil, that same fertile soil means I can grow other crops that may have a higher value than what I could pull from the ground in terms of gold. But that is why this is a test run. It is not to prove it can be done, it is to see if it can be done upon my farm.

 

[Clay Diggins]

This is just plain false, and that is why this is such a great discussion, so we can learn and move on.

Massey University of New Zealand was the first to harvest gold from plants in 1998. Since then it has successfully been done in the United States, Brazil, Australia and South Africa. In Indonesia, a mining company took up the challenge just to see what results would be.

You are absolutely right, gold is non-reactive, but just as with leaching, lixiviants can be applied, just when the plant reaches its full height so that that as it is pulling as much nutrients out of the ground that it can, the gold becomes water soluble, and up the plant stock it goes.

There is no question it can be done; the question is how profitable would it be at a given location?

As with everything in farming, your greatest asset is also your greatest challenge. In my case, while I have very fertile soil, that same fertile soil means I can grow other crops that may have a higher value than what I could pull from the ground in terms of gold. But that is why this is a test run. It is not to prove it can be done, it is to see if it can be done upon my farm.

You misunderstand the studies. No one has ever successfully mined gold from plant matter. Best case scenario is .0000007 gram per ton of dried plant material.
Mining companies have been all over this for years. The first gold discoveries with Equisetum date back to the 1940s. Long before your source articles.

If this could pay mining companies would have been doing it years ago. At best this is a joke on regulatory agencies to show there is ongoing heavy metal remediation on already mined properties. These exciting tales of a "new" technology to recover gold from plants makes the rounds in the amateur science mags every few years. It's an easy sell to lead people to believe they can recover gold from the ground without actually digging and processing.

Showing the presence of nano gold particles in dried plant matter does not mean any gold was actually recovered by this method. Big difference between measuring the potential for gold accumulation in plants in a controlled experiment and actually recovering marketable gold from plants.

Heavy Pans

 

[winners58]

my only real concern is harming farm land, same with someone building a housing complex on farm land.
putting a chemical solution that will chelate with the metal you are trying to extract using phytomining (correct spelling)
and harvesting once the plants die from metal toxicity or the chemical solution applied. Can the chemical solution applied
to the soil be neutralized and soil made sweet again, sure but lots of things can happen especially if the chemical is
thiocyanate, thiosulfate, cyanide is highly toxic to animals, birds, what would happen if there was an early rain before it was naturalized.
As far as gold uptake we're talking .mg's other metals like copper or nickle might be viable if the laterites are near the surface.
I'm sure you used the term lixiviant correctly just not a term used often, its a descriptive term, water is used as a lixivant,
usually when talking we just hear the term "leaching solution" used as something people in mining would relate to.
If you think you can get the gold, go for it. talking on an open forum of putting cyanide on farm land can get a knock your door.
no one is really anonymous by using a pseudonym, Orecart or Mineshaft there is an IP address logged with each post.
my thoughts are find and follow the stringers break them up see if they contain gold,
if not, level your hole put the soil back on top, chase the next stringers you find...

 

[Asmbandits]

This is just plain false, and that is why this is such a great discussion, so we can learn and move on.

Massey University of New Zealand was the first to harvest gold from plants in 1998. Since then it has successfully been done in the United States, Brazil, Australia and South Africa. In Indonesia, a mining company took up the challenge just to see what results would be.

You are absolutely right, gold is non-reactive, but just as with leaching, lixiviants can be applied, just when the plant reaches its full height so that that as it is pulling as much nutrients out of the ground that it can, the gold becomes water soluble, and up the plant stock it goes.

There is no question it can be done; the question is how profitable would it be at a given location?

As with everything in farming, your greatest asset is also your greatest challenge. In my case, while I have very fertile soil, that same fertile soil means I can grow other crops that may have a higher value than what I could pull from the ground in terms of gold. But that is why this is a test run. It is not to prove it can be done, it is to see if it can be done upon my farm.

No where in his response did he state it wasn't possible, it's not viable. I don't think anyone here has ever argued if it's possible or not, only that it's not viable.

 

[OreCart]

No where in his response did he state it wasn't possible, it's not viable. I don't think anyone here has ever argued if it's possible or not, only that it's not viable.

My apologies then; I took the statement as hyperbole and not word for word, and did the cited math. Put another way, I took the statement to mean "it just was just not possible", and did not limit my answer to an exact math equation.

Using Massey Universities results of 100 mg of gold per 1 kg of dry matter, debunks that claim no matter if it is hyperbole or a mathematical equation of 1 gram per 100 usa acres however. In a greenhouse environment they got canola up to 1000 mg/kg of dry matter.

A study done by different universities in several countries in Brazil concluded that phytomining was indeed viable, and gave a profit of $6400 per hectare. This is interesting because this study could not achieve 100mg/kg but only 1 mg/kg, and at only $361 an ounce for gold (a 2003 study), it still achieved profitability. $361 an ounce! In fact I have yet to read a research paper that shows phytomining is NOT profitable.

That is based on the spot price of gold however, what is more encouraging is that in the medical field they must take gold and convert it back to nanoparticles, but great promise (and profit) may exist in the future for gold nanoparticles to travel directly from producer (farmer) to the medical industry. I do not know how that would work, but that is why this is such fascinating stuff.

Imagine, a farmer raising sunflowers, canola, or alfalfa that pulls antibiotic silver nanoparticles from the ground, and is delivered to a patient to possibly rid themselves of bloodborne pathogens? This is not as far fetched as it sounds, this literally could be just around the corner.

 

[OreCart]

my only real concern is harming farm land, same with someone building a housing complex on farm land.
putting a chemical solution that will chelate with the metal you are trying to extract using phytomining (correct spelling)
and harvesting once the plants die from metal toxicity or the chemical solution applied. Can the chemical solution applied
to the soil be neutralized and soil made sweet again, sure but lots of things can happen especially if the chemical is
thiocyanate, thiosulfate, cyanide is highly toxic to animals, birds, what would happen if there was an early rain before it was naturalized.
As far as gold uptake we're talking .mg's other metals like copper or nickle might be viable if the laterites are near the surface.
I'm sure you used the term lixiviant correctly just not a term used often, its a descriptive term, water is used as a lixivant,
usually when talking we just hear the term "leaching solution" used as something people in mining would relate to.
If you think you can get the gold, go for it. talking on an open forum of putting cyanide on farm land can get a knock your door.
no one is really anonymous by using a pseudonym, Orecart or Mineshaft there is an IP address logged with each post.
my thoughts are find and follow the stringers break them up see if they contain gold,
if not, level your hole put the soil back on top, chase the next stringers you find...

This is not a valid point though because of the way cyanide works; it is a very benign poison, and why it is a class two poison and not a class one poison. Do not get me wrong, it is very lethal at small quantities, but only in the right setting. Put simply, dilution with water renders it harmless very quickly.

Even then, cyanide does not kill plants, because it works by interfering with the ability of blood to effectively transport oxygen. Plants do not use oxygen, but carbon dioxide, and they do not have blood. The plants are actually killed, not from the cyanide, but from heavy metal toxicity of sucking up all those heavy metals. Sure plants need copper, and zinc, but too much of a good thing is deadly.

Even the worst cyanide spill in the world, dumped directly into a river, did little environmental damage. Within 16 days all traces of cyanide were gone, and aqua life returned to normal, and that was a major spill. On my own farm, being in existence for 300 consecutive years, no one has more of a stake in my farms viability than I do. I have been here all my life, and will continue to be, so I would never do anything to harm it.

Cyanide has a bad reputation because it is not understood; using it for death sentences certainly did not help, just as many people are afraid to wire their own home because they are deathly afraid of electricity. Yet as we know, what would life be like without it? But what would life be like without cyanide? Heck I took some yesterday; I had some popcorn and I like a little salt on mine...yep cyanide is used to keep table salt from caking. That is just one of many products we consume with cyanide in it.

All this is said for education though, and denounce the skeptics of cyanide, because it is kind of a moot point.

I probably will not use it only because I would have to make it. I found a promising lead on some fertilizer that as a farm I can have delivered here, and by the ton, for very little money.

 

[OreCart]

If this could pay mining companies would have been doing it years ago. At best this is a joke on regulatory agencies to show there is ongoing heavy metal remediation on already mined properties. These exciting tales of a "new" technology to recover gold from plants makes the rounds in the amateur science mags every few years. It's an easy sell to lead people to believe they can recover gold from the ground without actually digging and processing.

Honestly, and respectfully Clay Diggins, that is the oldest, and weakest argument in the existence of the world.

Physics alone states that "a body in motion wants to stay in motion", which is a fancy way of saying "people do not like change." I understand that, trust me I do.

But doing what everyone else does is BORING, and I do not live my life that way. With great risk comes greater rewards, and I have been able to capitalize on that.

What I have found in life is, out of 20 people, 19 will say it cannot possibly be done, and give a list of reasons as to why. There is a lot of merit in that, and it serves a very vital role, but ultimately a person has to chose whether to be stopped by those statements, or move on. "Paralysis by Analysis" I call it.

Myself, I am a doer, and have found the hardest thing to do is start something. That is the secret to life; JUST START. Once the project gets rolling, then there is a synergy that just keeps it rolling along, with changes, and rabbit trails, but it plods along. Then...finish strong.

Almost three years ago I retired at 42 years old . My investment broker was telling me all the resources I supposedly needed, and finally I just looked at him and asked, "then if you know what to do, how come you are not retired?" The guy was twenty years older than me, he should be living in Tahiti not telling me what I should be doing with my little pile of cash.

What I have done is not some big deal; anyone can do it. It was like being in high school when as a Freshman I figured out if I did not take a study hall, and took extra classes, in my senior year I could take (2) vocation school classes; Diesel technology and Welding; a career that served me well. As a senior, other kids said it was "not fair", but that was not the case at all, they wanted to toss spit balls and talk to other kids during study hall while I was taking the required classes first. I put the time in up front, so I could reap the rewards later. They did not want to do that.

Myself, I do not think this has been tried because there are not a lot of locations where fertile soil lies above gold. Arizona and Nevada is a desert, and British Columbia is pretty darn steep to be disc harrowing with the ole 9684 New Holland. But here...here I can try it. What will it hurt? If it does not pull the gold, then I will take my excavator and go dig it up conventionally. It is no big deal...I am out NOTHING.

 

[placertogo]

Honestly, and respectfully Clay Diggins, that is the oldest, and weakest argument in the existence of the world.

Physics alone states that "a body in motion wants to stay in motion", which is a fancy way of saying "people do not like change." I understand that, trust me I do.

But doing what everyone else does is BORING, and I do not live my life that way. With great risk comes greater rewards, and I have been able to capitalize on that.

What I have found in life is, out of 20 people, 19 will say it cannot possibly be done, and give a list of reasons as to why. There is a lot of merit in that, and it serves a very vital role, but ultimately a person has to chose whether to be stopped by those statements, or move on. "Paralysis by Analysis" I call it.

Myself, I am a doer, and have found the hardest thing to do is start something. That is the secret to life; JUST START. Once the project gets rolling, then there is a synergy that just keeps it rolling along, with changes, and rabbit trails, but it plods along. Then...finish strong.

Almost three years ago I retired at 42 years old . My investment broker was telling me all the resources I supposedly needed, and finally I just looked at him and asked, "then if you know what to do, how come you are not retired?" The guy was twenty years older than me, he should be living in Tahiti not telling me what I should be doing with my little pile of cash.

What I have done is not some big deal; anyone can do it. It was like being in high school when as a Freshman I figured out if I did not take a study hall, and took extra classes, in my senior year I could take (2) vocation school classes; Diesel technology and Welding; a career that served me well. As a senior, other kids said it was "not fair", but that was not the case at all, they wanted to toss spit balls and talk to other kids during study hall while I was taking the required classes first. I put the time in up front, so I could reap the rewards later. They did not want to do that.

Myself, I do not think this has been tried because there are not a lot of locations where fertile soil lies above gold. Arizona and Nevada is a desert, and British Columbia is pretty darn steep to be disc harrowing with the ole 9684 New Holland. But here...here I can try it. What will it hurt? If it does not pull the gold, then I will take my excavator and go dig it up conventionally. It is no big deal...I am out NOTHING.

I live in central Maine and have 77 acres, about 25 hayfield and the rest overgrown white pine, quaking aspen, and mixed softwood/hardwood. Much of the land is marine blue clay varying 6 to 20 feet to bedrock with many glacial erratics of varying origin. I have found trace amounts of gold all around the property and suspect this was dropped into certain areas from meltwater runs and distributed by plowing and harrowing over the past 200 years or so. I agree, if you don't try, you will never know.

 

[Clay Diggins]

If you wish to experiment with your land I have no problem with that. I never said you shouldn't do it I merely stated the simple fact that no one has every successfully accomplished phytomining of gold - or any other metal.

If you really want to conduct this as an experiment I suggest you establish a baseline of the gold and other metals in your planting area. The actual odds are there will be no appreciable gold worth recovering. Much better to know whether there is something to mine before you begin mining by any method. We call that prospecting and it naturally always precedes successful mining.

In a more recent published paper by those New Zealand Scientists who believed this would eventually be possible they appear to find the reality to be much less encouraging. Here's their conclusion:

Our analyses show that phytoextraction for the clean-up of TE-contaminated soils is not “ an emerging technology that can be used for the low-cost clean-up of contaminated land ” and that phytomining is inefficient and likely to have a larger ecological footprint than conventional mining. However, it is not our intention to discourage research in this area. The best rebuttal to this analysis would be publication of TE mass balances in full-scale field operations. That said, scientific articles investigating new plants/soils/soil conditioner combinations should at least demonstrate how phytoextraction could work by providing basic mass balance calculations. Continuing to tout phytoextraction as a low-cost alternative for soil clean-up when, clearly it is not, tarnishes all “ phyto ” technologies.

Here's a PDF of the paper:
Phytoextraction: Where’s the action?
B.H. Robinson, C.W.N. Anderson, N.M. Dickinson

Potential for an idea to work is much different that the idea actually working in real life. The details are the hard part.

I wish you luck with your experiment. I like adventures. I look forward to seeing the results.

Heavy Pans

 

[dave wiseman]

Sample,sample sample...not one or two holes like is shown on the Goldrush TV show.Field work is everything..it's where you make your bones or not and actually learn by your mistakes...hopefully.

 

[OreCart]

Sample,sample sample...not one or two holes like is shown on the Goldrush TV show.Field work is everything..it's where you make your bones or not and actually learn by your mistakes...hopefully.

Oh yeah I have done that because for me, the hunt is more interesting then the kill.

The heart of this area seems to be limited to about 2000 usa acres, but placer, lode and eluvial. I keep track of each sample site by computer, and map have each sample location numbered and scored, with my computer keeping a running tally on the best location to mine, to date.

Like yesterday when I found gold in my gravel pit, due to the proximity to an all weather road, grid-based electricity, and water, the site scored 81%. But there are more places to check, and subsequently, score.

It is hard to get any sort of average on the placer and eluvial deposits, but the lode deposits are running medium grade for gold, and low grade for silver. I am also finding quite a bit of PGM's, so far, limited to the Northeast Section of my farm granted, but it is difficult to get a handle on what that value is. Platinum, Palladium and Iridium have vastly different values, and I can only determine if it is a pgm's, and not what kind it is.

 

[Clay Diggins]

Oh yeah I have done that because for me, the hunt is more interesting then the kill.

It is hard to get any sort of average on the placer and eluvial deposits, but the lode deposits are running medium grade for gold, and low grade for silver.

Placers aren't that difficult to assess, in fact they are easier than lode deposits if you are methodical. Here are a couple of good publications to get you started on a placer assessment program:

Cost Estimation Handbook for Small Placer Mines

Placer Examination, Principles and Practice

I am also finding quite a bit of PGM's, so far, limited to the Northeast Section of my farm granted, but it is difficult to get a handle on what that value is. Platinum, Palladium and Iridium have vastly different values, and I can only determine if it is a pgm's, and not what kind it is.

Platinum group metals are never found in isolation. There is always a mix of PGMs in any mineralization. The market is very volatile for these metals due to fluctuating industrial demand so a PGM deposit has to be a pretty good size to remain profitable from month to month.

A small PGM deposit is rarely worth mining and a large PGM deposit is beyond the abilities of a small miner. Since you don't intend to sell your family's land the PGMs would be an additional receipt at the refiners, at best.

Enjoy your hunt.

Heavy Pans

 

[placertogo]

Oh yeah I have done that because for me, the hunt is more interesting then the kill.

The heart of this area seems to be limited to about 2000 usa acres, but placer, lode and eluvial. I keep track of each sample site by computer, and map have each sample location numbered and scored, with my computer keeping a running tally on the best location to mine, to date.

Like yesterday when I found gold in my gravel pit, due to the proximity to an all weather road, grid-based electricity, and water, the site scored 81%. But there are more places to check, and subsequently, score.

It is hard to get any sort of average on the placer and eluvial deposits, but the lode deposits are running medium grade for gold, and low grade for silver. I am also finding quite a bit of PGM's, so far, limited to the Northeast Section of my farm granted, but it is difficult to get a handle on what that value is. Platinum, Palladium and Iridium have vastly different values, and I can only determine if it is a pgm's, and not what kind it is.

I have long said that if you set up a small operation to process sub-1/4" material in nearly every gravel pit in Maine you would come out with an amazing amount of gold. Again, it would be a by-product and not the main use of the pits. The Laurentide Ice Sheet was not river of ice as most people visualize a glacier, but a complete covering of ice up to two miles thick. While the boulders and gravel did migrate to the bottom of the flow, what appears to be the low points today may not have been the low points 12,000 plus years ago. This is why gold is all over Maine.

 

[arizau]

Placers aren't that difficult to assess, in fact they are easier than lode deposits if you are methodical. Here are a couple of good publications to get you started on a placer assessment program:

Cost Estimation Handbook for Small Placer Mines

Placer Examination, Principles and Practice



Platinum group metals are never found in isolation. There is always a mix of PGMs in any mineralization. The market is very volatile for these metals due to fluctuating industrial demand so a PGM deposit has to be a pretty good size to remain profitable from month to month.

A small PGM deposit is rarely worth mining and a large PGM deposit is beyond the abilities of a small miner. Since you don't intend to sell your family's land the PGMs would be an additional receipt at the refiners, at best.

Enjoy your hunt.

Heavy Pans

I agree. Unless the concentrates contain enough PGMs to exceed their handling and refining costs then they are not economical enough to be paid for. Case in point: It was my job to track the smelter receipts for the concentrates our company shipped for smelting (1 or more million tons per year). The settlement assay for each individual smelter lot reported Cu, Ag and Au and we were paid accordingly except for Au. The assay for gold usually was less than 0.002 OPT. The same type of scenario may be/is likely your case too.

 

[OreCart]

I have long said that if you set up a small operation to process sub-1/4" material in nearly every gravel pit in Maine you would come out with an amazing amount of gold. Again, it would be a by-product and not the main use of the pits. The Laurentide Ice Sheet was not river of ice as most people visualize a glacier, but a complete covering of ice up to two miles thick. While the boulders and gravel did migrate to the bottom of the flow, what appears to be the low points today may not have been the low points 12,000 plus years ago. This is why gold is all over Maine.

There is a lot of truth to that!

I cannot get much information from the geologists on my gravel pit, it is this small little island of gravel, but no idea on far it migrated, or where it came from.

I know a lot of earth came off this mountain, and while I know where it ended up, sadly most of it has been carted away and used on various construction projects.

My gravel has been used some, but there really is not a lot of it, so we have not really sold much off. Mostly I use it for my own use for use around the barnyard, or building heavy haul roads. I was asked today if I would sell some, as a guy is doing a job nearby, but generally we use it just for ourselves.

 

[placertogo]

There is a lot of truth to that!

I cannot get much information from the geologists on my gravel pit, it is this small little island of gravel, but no idea on far it migrated, or where it came from.

I know a lot of earth came off this mountain, and while I know where it ended up, sadly most of it has been carted away and used on various construction projects.

My gravel has been used some, but there really is not a lot of it, so we have not really sold much off. Mostly I use it for my own use for use around the barnyard, or building heavy haul roads. I was asked today if I would sell some, as a guy is doing a job nearby, but generally we use it just for ourselves.

You may have heard of this before: https://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20100415/LIFE/4150341