Want some Profesional Answers about hard rock.

[jewelerdave]

Has anyone ever taped into a new vein.

Experience getting down past what can be pulled with a backhoe.

Or, when tunneling, Apx how many tones can be drilled and blasted in one day or per shot? i know this is open ended but any stats would be helpful.

Anyone ever started and had success with a small operation?

I need to do some reviews.

I have a small ore crusher being build and on the way to test some samples.

And getting ready to invest in a pilot mill that would do 10-12 tones a day to mill and table.

Further separation would be done by Freddy Dodges table. And refinement would be done by myself

Looking at surface deposit that would yield better than .8 oz per tone and about 300 tones with easy access

Off season I could process ore for other prospectors and table it for those who find good rock. Or find another deposit of lower grade or higher.

Does any of this sound feasable or am I nuts to try. I don't mind dumping $1500 into the test equipment as I can use it for other things but before I drop 50k on a small mill. It is nice to get some feedback.

 

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[dave wiseman]

Don't put the cart before the horse.Make sure of your samples,all paying ore eventually runs out.Do you have all the permits needed?If there's a million there and it cost two million to get it out and process,what's the point?Safety is the number one thing.Good luck man.

 

[jair]

Has anyone ever taped into a new vein. Experience getting down past what can be pulled with a backhoe. Or, when tunneling, Apx how many tones can be drilled and blasted in one day or per shot? i know this is open ended but any stats would be helpful. Anyone ever started and had success with a small operation? I need to do some reviews. I have a small ore crusher being build and on the way to test some samples. And getting ready to invest in a pilot mill that would do 10-12 tones a day to mill and table. Further separation would be done by Freddy Dodges table. And refinement would be done by myself Looking at surface deposit that would yield better than .8 oz per tone and about 300 tones with easy access Off season I could process ore for other prospectors and table it for those who find good rock. Or find another deposit of lower grade or higher. Does any of this sound feasable or am I nuts to try. I don't mind dumping $1500 into the test equipment as I can use it for other things but before I drop 50k on a small mill. It is nice to get some feedback.

you have grate dreams as we all do , be very frugal with your money as it will go fast , when you get that excited you have to be able to take time and stand back to realize all aspects and keep in mind , You may loose it . If any way possible keep investors out until you know for a fact what you have and how long it should last , then cut your time that you think it will last in half . Any thing past that time will be profit or extra bonus .
I'm am building equipment to use with a friend that too has come upon a new vein . He brought some oar samples over this week end and done a fire assay showing very good results . I need to see the sight , poke a round a little and do more home work to see if it's a claim able area .

But I am a mechanic on heavy equipment and spent most of my life as a fabricator , so most of our tooling and machines I'm sure I'll build . If it gets there . But remember investors are wanting money back . In one way or another . In my book you'll make more if you do it or have a friend join that has the same passion you do .

 

[jewelerdave]

Don't put the cart before the horse.Make sure of your samples,all paying ore eventually runs out.Do you have all the permits needed?If there's a million there and it cost two million to get it out and process,what's the point?Safety is the number one thing.Good luck man.

I already know that. We have run sucessful placer operations and set up many placer operations before. But this is hard rock.
the first 15 to 20 feet of depth and trenching is a no brainier and tests show over a half a million in gold so far. it should take us about 6 weeks to extract crush and mill it. Table it and extract what we need. At a cost of about $140 per oz to recover.

But after that is what we are wondering about.

Should we look at tunneling or abandon and fill after our cut. Or quarry. Are regs for a small operations and msha going to make it prohibitive to do?

Will it turn to all sulfide and be to disseminated to bring up, will the regulations and costs to go deeper solve that problem for us?
will the vein pinch out. fault of or just vanish. its a strange rouge deposit far from any others or even any other mining districts.
Confirmed by state, under claim, just doing negotiations to work it and make it happen.


On this post I am just looking for advise from people who have done it before. I appreciate any positive support and help in getting this going, we plan on documenting it on Video as well.

 

[jair]

I already know that. We have run sucessful placer operations and set up many placer operations before. But this is hard rock. the first 15 to 20 feet of depth and trenching is a no brainier and tests show over a half a million in gold so far. it should take us about 6 weeks to extract crush and mill it. Table it and extract what we need. At a cost of about $140 per oz to recover. But after that is what we are wondering about. Should we look at tunneling or abandon and fill after our cut. Or quarry. Are regs for a small operations and msha going to make it prohibitive to do? Will it turn to all sulfide and be to disseminated to bring up, will the regulations and costs to go deeper solve that problem for us? will the vein pinch out. fault of or just vanish. its a strange rouge deposit far from any others or even any other mining districts. Confirmed by state, under claim, just doing negotiations to work it and make it happen. On this post I am just looking for advise from people who have done it before. I appreciate any positive support and help in getting this going, we plan on documenting it on Video as well.

I work on mining equipment all over Nevada on gold and silver mines . No I haven't done this but I am under MSHA and OSHA ,
What they go through would blow your mine and the cost of fines they never knew they could get for the studious things .
MSHA is self funded now and they will make their money at any cost . And yes once you move in equipment and get permitting they will be informed of your intent . So look out !

 

[Goodyguy]

PM sent,

GG~

 

[aussco999]

Hey jewelerdave:

An ice storm just blew through my part of the country, so I've time to set down and write a book. Your mining project sounds interesting and you're smart to ask a lot of questions before spending the big dollars. A few years back, I was associated with a group of investors opening up a small hard rock mine in AZ. It was an interesting learning curve between small mining versus the commercial size mine/milling projects I was more familiar with, but the problems were similar.

I'm just passing along some general information and ignoring the many 100s of other things required (permits, geology, equipment, fuel, manpower, etc.) to start up any hard rock mining project. Best advise for now, do as much open-pit mining as possible, because once you turn underground the expenses go up disproportionately, astronomically, even as high as “you ain't gonna believe this $$$hit”.

As with all mining projects, the geology determines the type of mining. On the AZ project our vein structure out-cropped high up the mountain and because of the strike/dip, we were able to drop down a few 100 feet and drive a drift (tunnel) directly on the vein. We hired 2 very experienced miners, each with blasters license, two jack-leg drills, a high CFM compressor, ventilation fan, 3 yard LHD and a 10 yard dump truck to haul the ore about a mile downhill to the mill site.

The miners were able to shoot 2 headings in a 10 hour day. We set up a staging area to load the dump truck directly with the LHD, but due to the turn around time to the mill, we had to stockpile the ore and bring in another loader so as to not slow the miners down. The country rock was reasonably good, requiring minimum support and allowing for good progress. As independent contractors, they worked 10 days on with 4 days off. They averaged 58 TPD of ore drilled, blasted, mucked and stockpiled during that time period. Every 10 days we wrote a check for $70,000. to cover all the expenses. Are you getting a better idea on small mining yet?

Regarding mine inspectors, they're not the enemy. They're there to keep you from being no dumber than you already are for being a hard-rock miner. AZ has a State Mine Inspector's office and that was one of our first stops on this project. Asking them for advise from the get-go will save you a lot of expensive painful headaches. Things may have changed over the years, but at that time, only MSHA had regulatory control over mining, not OSHA. I've met a lot of hard-headed miners that thought they were smarter than the inspectors, but that just creates problems. You can't fight the system, instead use it for you benefit. You will have a better chance of going home safely every night.

It sounds like your ore is free milling and you're designing the mill accordingly. Keep in mind, underground mining may pass through the water table and you might run into a higher sulfide mineral. Be prepared to change your milling/extraction process as needed. There are probably 100s of other things you should know before starting and you’re getting some good info from other forum members, so if you have any specific questions, ask away. I'll gladly pass along any mistakes we made.

Good luck with your project,

John

 

[Mad Machinist]

MSHA is your friend. I deal with MSHA regs everyday. Remember those regs are in place due to greedy mine owners shortcutting the process and getting people killed. Usually the inspectors are pretty decent and are quite willing to explain why something is a hazard and give you an idea of how to fix it, at least as long as you don't try to be a smarta$$ with them.

Give you a bit of advise before you start dropping some serious coin into this. Drill, baby, drill. Get lots of core samples. It may be a little expensive up front, but could very well save you a lot in the future. On the plus side of the core samples, once you can prove a sizeable resource, you may be able to sell out to a larger company for a sizeable profit without ever driving an adit or shaft.

That last part sounds a little harsh, but in reality, the money needed to meet all the environmental aspects of a small mine are astronomical. Small mines have to play under the same rules as the big mines, including run off control, tailings control, and a whole host of other rather expensive things. And don't forget having to defend yourself against the eco Nazi's. You don't have to do anything wrong, thye just have to get a bug up their butt and you end spending a lot of money defending yourself.

 

[jewelerdave]

thanks for all the quality advice,

So far the expert we will be using if we need to drill is the guy who wrote the reg book for msha and does all the mine rescue for Colorado. He has experience. This will be very helpful and will get set up though him.

our test mill is being built right now and just ordered a cube to run it though for testing. Fortunatly the claim owner has a small stock pile to let us test....of course independent testing will be next as well.

Having the small mill will be nice as we get a lot of hopefuls coming in. small run stuff. Concentrates that just need to be processed.

Not at all Worried about funding the small mill. When I want a new toy I just mine the floor of my shop.

Of course I have about 5 years worth of crucibles that are loaded with gold and silver I need to crush and get the prills out of. What I get out of that should more than pay for the equipment I am getting shop side. Gotta love it when you sweep the floor and smelt the dust and you get a nice button of the stuff we have tracked all over the place. when gold was at 1700 and silver in the 40s the floor sweeps for the year was like 10 grand!...then I get some new piece of equipment or invest in the business.

I will keep posting as we progress as this will be a fascinating process. I also want to document this and help show the world that modern mom and pop type mining can be done with out environmental disaster, take that argument away and destroy it.


They have it right in the Yukon.

Placer mines go though. Turn the soil, make settling ponds...and guess what. a few years later explosive growth of wild berries, willow and other foliage pops up...this then attracts all kinds of cute and cuddly forest creatures, Bears, Moose, Ravens, squirrel etc etc. In addition to growing yummy berries! To add even more to this politically correct wonderland created by the evils of mining the native peoples amazingly after mining has been done claim the areas as ancestral hunting grounds because of all the moose deer and habitat and food sources.
Even more interesting after a modern mine is closed for some reason no one ever wants to mine it again...cause the gold is gone.

yeah it flies in the face of everything they want you to believe

 

[tamrock]

See what a mine contractor would estimate the job for, if not just to collect a little intelligence on what they tell you they'd need to do the job.