GoodyGuy said:
Thanks for the reply Gerry,
One more question................. Once the excavator gets down to bedrock, what equipment is used to really make sure that all the remaining gold is recovered? I would think that a lot of gold would be left behind if only the excavator was used to clean off the bedrock.
GG~
You have asked one of the most difficult questions many have asked me when they come up to my valley. If you can get hold of the California Mining Journal, April 1995, I had an article in it titled "Prospecting with a Metal Detector." This article explains some of your question. On the cover is a photo of me and in the background is my mining operation.
Most people who come to the Klondike from the south have a perception of bedrock being a very solid mass with some cracks in it. The Klondike bedrock varies, but in general it is a highly rotted foliated schist. It sometimes (such as in my valley) deteriorated to what I call "dog food." You can crumble it with your hand. Although it was hard once, after it got buried eons ago acidic water percolated at bedrock level and leached out the mineralization leaving it highly rotted. It can easily be gone into usually even with a shovel. The alluvial gold would be left in place on or just into this rotted bedrock.
This has even caused some confusion between the placer mining rights and the quartz (mother lode) rights. If gold has moved even one atom from its source, it comes under the placer mining rights. Once when a big mother lode mining outfit questioned my rights I had to go to the mining recorder. I was told that my placer rights ended where the bedrock stopped "weathering." This could be as much as 50 feet down. So the answer to you question is that the rotted bedrock can easily be taken up by their heavy machinery. Hope this answers your question.
Gerry
? a person would think that the table wouldbe the ultimate device for the fine gold in their situation.
