Going From Dredging/HighBanking to Surface Mining

[Sorehands]

Has anyone successfully migrated from dredging/highbanking a really product section of stream to surface mining?

I have found a +- 700 yard stretch of a stream ( a little north of GA), that is producing 12-15 grams per cubic yard.

There are four small streams that feed from the northern bank, perpendicular to the main stream. The feeder streams are about 200 Yards long and are more like run-off ditches/gullies - are often dry in the summer months. The slope is pretty steep and the four feeder streams are each about 150 yards apart and each has gouged down 10-12 feet and are only about 8-10 feet wide. the small feeder streams span the north bank for 600-700 yards.

Instead of bedrock, the bottom is 3-4 feet of clay and then soft granite below that. After endless test-panning there is no gold into/below the clay layer. All of it seems to be in the 2 feet above the clay layer.

It is almost like a back-hoe has made cuts. Each feeder stream has the very rich placer gold - no big nuggets, a few pickers, but mostly volumes of small-gold and all of it is very 'fresh' not worn at all. The main stream has some gold but the pay streak is clearly in the north bank .

The net result is that I have isolated an area that is +- 700 yards long, +- 200 yards wide and is about 10-12 feet deep - that is packed with gold.

I lay out all of this info because I have only been prospecting for about a year and a half. I have no idea how much gold/yard ratio justifies a mining effort. There are virtually no rocks or bedrock - so it would be just an open mine. I have general permission to prospect - it is private property - owned by a large land developer. I have no idea who has mineral rights and I did find a very old article that says that a large nugget was found and in the 1830s and so the stream was part of GA gold rush. There were no mines, but I suspect there were quite a few claims at the time.

Have any of you done some open pit mining - after pin-pointing a likely area?
What criteria did you use to decide to mine or not?
How difficult was it to get permission to mine and how painful was it to get state/federal approval?
What equipment did you rent/buy?
Did it pay-off?

Any help, recommendations are most welcome!

 

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[Goldwasher]

help...you've done the math why aren't you digging...you don't own the land so that would be your first obstacle I guess........

 

[Clay Diggins]

Land Status. Get the right to mine in writing and the deposit will pay for the rest. In the meantime keep your mouth shut. That's a very good deposit, many people would do not nice things to beat you to the right to mine it.

Heavy Pans

 

[winners58]

not really open pit mining, you would be placer mining a bench deposit. reclaim as you go...
lots more research to do, start out with a small wash plant and farm equipment to see if its worth it.
keep the cost overhead low, work out some exclusive rights with the land owner.

 

[rockbar]

Those values are ridiculously high.
If you already have a dredge, why wouldn't you start dredging the area?
If the gold continues up onto high ground, that ground can be pushed into your dredging hole.
That's just one way to start processing some cubic yardage. A wash plant would be better, but you don't have one of those.
It will be interesting to see if your values remain the same once you process several yards of this material.
Best of luck and keep us apprised as this definitely sounds like a worthwhile project.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Congrats on finding such a rich deposit. 10-12 feet deep is serious stuff so some ideas like a dredge might not work? (Don't know) Would ramping up the equipment mean having to share the booty with the landowner (I presume yes)? If you dig and fill as you go, I bet the impact at any one time would be fairly minimal which might make permitting easier.

 

[nh.nugget]

Sounds like a phenominal pay streak! If you already have permission to prospect why don't you not say anything and just work it? Sounds like you got a couple of seasons of digging, dredging or sluicing. Why try to burn through it in one season.

 

[Sorehands]

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions.

The land-owner is actually a large land development - they are building a subdivision and are headed toward the creek. I need to find out if/when they plan to build across the creek.

The fact that they likely plan to cut all the trees down and will dig all through it, to make house plots, does make me want to hurry a little. I am not sure if it is worth getting into all of those complications.

I think the land owner will smell money and just push me to the side. They did not think twice about some guy with a pan and a shovel. A wash plant might be a bit beyond what they probably had in mind.

NH.Nugget might have the right idea. If I take Kevin's and NH.Nugget's recommendations I can step-up my equipment - a bigger dredge - and just keep slugging through it. The real acid-test will be to see if the same pay-streak is in the material, away from any of the small feeder streams. Rockbar, your recommendation really works too, as I can use 'the dredge I have' to push down and run the material that is away from the stream-bed. I agree that a wash-plant is the way to go -but...., more will be revealed.

Thanks again for your great ideas and recommendations.

 

[Hoser John]

PERMISSION OR PERISH AS YOU ACTIONS REFLECT ON THE BODY AS A WHOLE.

 

[Clay Diggins]

You are talking about dredging 420,000 yards of material and you have no plan for where to put your tailings? Sounds like you are about to get your first lesson in the logistics of mining. Be careful not to get "buried" in your success.

Listen to John or you are in for a world of hurt. Get permission in writing before mining.

Heavy Pans

 

[Goldwasher]

lol Barry I didn't want to put that number up but, thanks...the ground sounds rich enough that a decent power sluice should keep you busy for a while...

Typical for this situation is the fact that once the developer sees any equipment permission will go out the window...as they bear the environmental responsibility!

 

[rockbar]

Yes, by all means get your written permission. See what scale of mining that agreement will allow. If it's just panning, then there's no way you're going to mine the deposit, so don't worry about all the details and just pan like crazy.
Yeah, that's a lot of material to try to dredge. My thinking was to at least process a few yards with the equipment you already have, in a few different spots to verify the sample panning. A few yards processed should put enough gold in the poke to have something to substantiate your findings as well as to evaluate the gold in order to plan for the recovery equipment.
I really don't see how you'd be getting the landowner's permission to mine his land (assuming he owns the minerals) without him getting in on the deal. If that's the case, then you need to convince the owner of the value of the deposit and the value of "you". In other words, despite your inexperience, you need to be able to convince the owner of the profit potential and that you're the right man for the job.
You will need to learn what permits, if any, you'll need to do this mining. Sounds like the land owner/developer is already cleared for earth moving and re-contouring the land. That's probably not enough "license" to do placer mining.
It sounds like there is plenty of water on the property. Does the land owner have the right to dam it up, at least temporarily, to use it for processing? Without thousands of gallons of water, no larger-scale placer mining will be taking place.
It may end up that it's just some great panning for you. That can be a great experience, too.

 

[Sorehands]

All excellent advice - I am clueless, but at least know that I am clueless and all of the information makes it clear that it is a massive undertaking and way beyond what I know, or even want to do. I do know the Land developer has rights to dam the water, (because they have built several retaining ponds) and there is a large stream - with plenty of water and water-flow.

My ambitions are correctly re-sized to just enjoy the find and pan or sluice the easy material (relatively speaking). If I decide to go a little further, I would probably attempt to dredge one small cut into the side of one of the feeder stream banks, to determine if the gold per cubic yard is as good. At that point I would re-approach the Land Development company and see what they do. In the interim, I re-evaluate what I really like about prospecting, which is being in the woods by a quiet stream - which is also basically the inverse of what placer mining will likely entail. It would be a business and a new vocation for which I am 'magnificently free of a clue'. That being said, I can definitely learn, study, test, research, and learn.

The landowner actually might just be ok with me doing the placer mining (as long as it is impeccably managed, complies with the EPA specs, etc. and I sign a contract saying I am responsible for fines, fees, etc.) since from their perspective a large piece of the mine-results pie is just gravy (the subdivision is 300 Plus $600K houses and is huge and only a third built, before they even begin cross the creek, into the area I am describing). They also might just say 'piss off' as they are likely to be extremely adverse to screw around with some piddly side project that could put their permits at risk, where they are practically minting money in a business that is, compared to prospecting/mining, a huge risk. Then to make it more entertaining, this stream was part of the Georgia Gold Rush in the 1800s. The mining rights alone could cost tens of thousands in legal fees to just get that all sorted out.

I am a very long way from that bridge.

Thanks for the dose of reality - the fever is coming down and the risk of brain damage is slowly receding.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Ask if you can but a little strip of land that include the key areas? Maybe since its creek, it won't be build-able anyway and he's happy to sell it?