Silveraith
Banned
In talking with some knowledgeable people involved in the mining industry I got some information on how to test the ground before making a commitment to buy or stake the claim. Of course this varies & is somewhat case specific & dependent on many factors that pertain to the area of interest. Drilling is one option but the sample size for each hole is very small. Drilling can also get expensive depending on the depth you are trying to reach. Trenching is another good option & gives a larger volume of gravels to evaluate. A combination of both drilling & trenching were recommended for my area of interest. Test drill wholes in a grid spaced 50 ft apart over the planned dig site combined with trenching between the drill holes would give a good representation of how good the ground is and where bedrock lies. They recommend 50 - 100 yards of gravels be tested from each trench & do at least 10 trenches in the dig site for a total of 500 - 1000 yards gravels tested. That's a minimum test but should be sufficient for my needs as I would be starting small only processing about 400 - 500 cubic yards per day. I was informed that buying a claim or staking a claim without doing this amount of work amounts to plain gambling. They said leave the spade shovel at home & bring in your equipment. Otherwise you are wasting your time. I am going to rent a mid size excavator for the digging & buy a trommel to use for testing & then production. I also have the entire history of previous mining activity on the site. I am letting the pros do the drilling.
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