- Thread starter
- #21
No problem, I have done so
Exploration using magnetic and resisistivity and ip surveys
- Thread starter rios
- Start date
No problem, I have done so
- Thread starter
- #22
Trenching
I have since gone on to dig a 2 meter deep trench cutting across the claim and possibly across the reef-hosting structure. I took some of the samples to the lab for fire assay
The trench was dug along the ip line to check also on the high chargeability zone. The ip line was perpendicular to what the geologist said was the contact zone from the mag survey. The contact being granite meeting bluestone.
The sample results came but not sure if they were good enough.
The samples were loose samples mostly, soil in fact. Bedrock was not what normally hosts the gold. Its the layer after the bedrock which usually has the veins in bluestone. Bedrock is a layer of schist/weathered granitoid that easily crumples and is maybe 3m thick. Samples were from every meter, no veins.
Sample 9 had the quartz rock on the picture. We will open up the part of the trench where it came from and investigate further how it got there. With luck it might be part of a reef system underground. Worst case scenario it came from somewhere else somehow. But our initial check showed the stone as being just a single big stone which was not showing a continuous vein in any direction. Its puzzling how it got there. We did not encounter any visible veining in the trench.
The geologist insists the results make sense since our target is 48 m deep. I don't know
Just to spread the risk I have decided to sink a shaft on the claim where people are already mining while I still decide on the way forward on my own land. The guys are now 4 meters deep and have now reached competed rock which we are now drilling using a jack hammer and explosives. We will give the owner of the property 25% of whatever we get. Its a sort of tribute arrangement.
We are sinking a vertical shaft targeting the known proven reef 40m below. In a month's time we should get there. This project is just to diversify the risk. It is actually less risky because it is on the brownfield where people are already mining. Most of the miners abandon their shafts because of water at around 70m. We are hopping to go beyond these levels as we will be having the proper pumping systems that they are generally reluctant to invest in.
We will collar the shaft soon enough
Below are the pictures
I have since gone on to dig a 2 meter deep trench cutting across the claim and possibly across the reef-hosting structure. I took some of the samples to the lab for fire assay
The trench was dug along the ip line to check also on the high chargeability zone. The ip line was perpendicular to what the geologist said was the contact zone from the mag survey. The contact being granite meeting bluestone.
The sample results came but not sure if they were good enough.
The samples were loose samples mostly, soil in fact. Bedrock was not what normally hosts the gold. Its the layer after the bedrock which usually has the veins in bluestone. Bedrock is a layer of schist/weathered granitoid that easily crumples and is maybe 3m thick. Samples were from every meter, no veins.
Sample 9 had the quartz rock on the picture. We will open up the part of the trench where it came from and investigate further how it got there. With luck it might be part of a reef system underground. Worst case scenario it came from somewhere else somehow. But our initial check showed the stone as being just a single big stone which was not showing a continuous vein in any direction. Its puzzling how it got there. We did not encounter any visible veining in the trench.
The geologist insists the results make sense since our target is 48 m deep. I don't know
Just to spread the risk I have decided to sink a shaft on the claim where people are already mining while I still decide on the way forward on my own land. The guys are now 4 meters deep and have now reached competed rock which we are now drilling using a jack hammer and explosives. We will give the owner of the property 25% of whatever we get. Its a sort of tribute arrangement.
We are sinking a vertical shaft targeting the known proven reef 40m below. In a month's time we should get there. This project is just to diversify the risk. It is actually less risky because it is on the brownfield where people are already mining. Most of the miners abandon their shafts because of water at around 70m. We are hopping to go beyond these levels as we will be having the proper pumping systems that they are generally reluctant to invest in.
We will collar the shaft soon enough
Below are the pictures
Last edited:
IMAUDIGGER
Silver Member
- Mar 16, 2016
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Rio, please continue to provide pic's/updates.
Very interesting what you are all doing over there.
In the US we also have massive un-tapped minerals, but the regulations have restricted it to the point of it being illegal to even get as far as your limited progress...
Very interesting what you are all doing over there.
In the US we also have massive un-tapped minerals, but the regulations have restricted it to the point of it being illegal to even get as far as your limited progress...
- Thread starter
- #25
Meanwhile on the other shaft the guys are now 10.5 meters deep. Progress is slow but I am hoping the pace will quicken this week as I now have 10 guys digging. The rock is changing from weathered granitoid to more competent granite and soon we should be in bluestone which is quite hard.
russau
Gold Member
Are you monitoring the air quality while going that deep?
- Thread starter
- #27
Nope but there are shafts 80m deep nearby and the guys are still going. Would the air be different? What also is the effect?
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Mad Machinist
Silver Member
Yes the air could be different. You could have a build up of oxygen displacing gases from the explosives. The effect of those gases is death by suffocation. Some miners call it black damp, others just call it bad air. Either way it will drop you in an instant. First signs are typically difficulty in breathing (shortness of breath) and a headache. If you have guys experiencing that, GET THEM OUT AND VENTILATE the shaft. No amount of gold in the world is worth dying for.
Mining is not illegal in the United States. The US is the third largest mining country in the world. It's fourth in the world in Copper, Zinc, Gold and Platinum mining. Seventh in the world for Silver. First for Beryllium, oil, gas and coal. More than a quarter of a million people mine full time in the United States.
The United States has the deepest open pit mine in the world producing continuously since 1906. It's the largest man made excavation on the planet. Also known as the Kennecott Copper Mine, Bingham Canyon produced about 179,317 tons of copper, 279,200 ounces of gold, 2.4 million ounces of silver and 20 million pounds of molybdenum in 2012 alone. The recoverable reserves at the open-pit exceeded 2.9 million tons of copper, 2.8 million ounces of gold, 31 million ounces of silver and 240,000 tons of molybdenum as of December 2012.
That's just the biggest of dozens of huge open pit mines in the US. We dig BIG holes all the time. Rio's little trench is a normal part of exploration. I have several small miner friends who have dug trenches larger and longer than Rio's completely legally without harassment or "jumping through hoops" right here in the US.
The US is rated as the second most attractive location for mining in the world - right behind Canada. Download and read the extensive annual mining report (PDF) from the Fraser Institute before assuming the US is not mining friendly. The mining industry clearly prefers the US to any other country but Canada.
I'm not sure why so many small miners in the US get this wrong. It might be current attitudes in California. Right now California ranks just below Burkina Faso in the mining investment attractiveness index. Mining in California isn't illegal but no miner wants to deal with the California public's attitudes about mining - including the misguided belief that it's illegal to mine. When California gets over it's attitude problems it could easily become one of the richest mining states in the world.
Heavy Pans
Last edited:
Assembler
Silver Member
- May 10, 2017
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Thanks
Hello
Interesting post topic and thanks for posting pictures.
Yes there has been quite the history for mining in the United States and this could help with the current attitudes out there.
Hello
Interesting post topic and thanks for posting pictures.
Yes there has been quite the history for mining in the United States and this could help with the current attitudes out there.- Thread starter
- #31
I will keep this in mind, thanx
- Thread starter
- #32
I am attaching photos of the progress so far. We had intended to drive into the reef at 35m and then tunnel along it but the grades there were too low and we decided to continue sinking the shaft down. Water is coming out of the reef so we dug a sump at 35 m in the drive so we pump water from it while we sink downwards.
The shaft is now 38m deep. Our target is 55 to 66m as that is the depth where the guys in the area have been getting high-grade ore.
There is a lot of water but we are pumping it out well using a diaphragm pump.
So currently we are 38m down-shaft and progressing slowly.
The shaft is now 38m deep. Our target is 55 to 66m as that is the depth where the guys in the area have been getting high-grade ore.
There is a lot of water but we are pumping it out well using a diaphragm pump.
So currently we are 38m down-shaft and progressing slowly.
- Thread starter
- #33
- Thread starter
- #35
we are 38 m deep, so 20m or so to go
- Thread starter
- #36
At 35m we drove into the reef, sampled it and thought it was not rich enough and continued digging downwards. We had driven horizontally 3m. We then drove a further meter or so to build a sump basin as when we got into the reef water started flowing out. So the guys are digging vertically going down now. Reef at 35m was 3 meters from our shaft. The blast for our sump exposed the reef further and I decided to take it for fire assay.
The results were 143.2 grams per ton which was quite surprising considering when we had initially gotten into it, we thought it was useless.
We have since decided to continue with our downward push then we will drive into the reef again at 50m or so. Our confidence levels are now so high that we are literally shaking with excitement. we know the reef is there and we know chances are higher it will have good grades of gold.
We had expected to intercept the vein at 40m but the vertical shaft has not done so. It looks like we are now parallel to it as it is probably now vertically steeping.
The gold is in quartz veins, I would say in bands with sulphide and sometimes along the margins. There is a lot of pyrite in the quartz also. The quartz veins are hosted in very hard bluestone. We have breaking our drill steels and bits like every time.
and we had an interesting visitor. we shepherded it away
The results were 143.2 grams per ton which was quite surprising considering when we had initially gotten into it, we thought it was useless.
We have since decided to continue with our downward push then we will drive into the reef again at 50m or so. Our confidence levels are now so high that we are literally shaking with excitement. we know the reef is there and we know chances are higher it will have good grades of gold.
We had expected to intercept the vein at 40m but the vertical shaft has not done so. It looks like we are now parallel to it as it is probably now vertically steeping.
The gold is in quartz veins, I would say in bands with sulphide and sometimes along the margins. There is a lot of pyrite in the quartz also. The quartz veins are hosted in very hard bluestone. We have breaking our drill steels and bits like every time.
and we had an interesting visitor. we shepherded it away
Assembler
Silver Member
- May 10, 2017
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- Whites, Fisher, Garrett, and Falcon.
- Primary Interest:
- Prospecting
Thank you for the updates. Not many in the "U.S." can take on an adventure like yours. Keep at it if it is safe.
IMAUDIGGER
Silver Member
- Mar 16, 2016
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Great information! So the plan is to stope between crosscuts, transport to the shaft in carts, then then raise that material out the vertical shaft? Do you have vertical relief at the surface where you can waste tailings? Keep the updates coming!
- Thread starter
- #39
Yes to all.
Mad Machinist
Silver Member
4.5 ounces per ton? Not too shabby at all. I hope your getting a good price for the gold over there and not getting bent over.
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