Well the title about sums it up. The last couple days we have worked hard to try and find some yellow with no results.
Wed July 20th - I arrive at site and instead of moving close to the river we decide to try another hole up top. After running all day we clean up and fine very little gold.
Thurs July 21st - Moving day. We decide to move the trommel closer to the river and dig down there. After a couple hours of moving the trommel, hoses, and setting it up again we start mining again. We mine for just over 4hrs before shuting it down for the night. We decide to leave sluice box and clean it tomorrow.Long day here I left PG before 8 am and got home after 8:30 pm.
Friday July 22nd - I am once again excited to arrive at site and see what the new ground brings. It is pouring rain when I arrive and we get to work after a minor fix on the pump. After 14 buckets from the excavator we take a quick lunch. It is now time to clean the sluice and do some panning. After cleaning all of the sluice and then panning it out we are left with very fine gold and a few flakes.
So.... we are running out of ideas?????
It is either the fine gold is so fine it runs right through the sluice.. OR ... not that much gold under the ground.
We might have to shut it down fairly soon as no point operating when we find $20 of gold a day.
All The Best,
Gold Miner James
Showing posts with label placer gold mining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label placer gold mining. Show all posts
Friday, 22 July 2011
Friday, 15 July 2011
Tough day
I arrive at site nice and early with a 2 and half inch camlock to connect the hose to the trommel from the pump. The pump had trouble pumping the 900ft to the trommel but I expected Les to have this figured out. I was excited to hopefully start running some dirt after a few minor things were settled. Les did not have the pump working and said we needed a bigger pulley. I headed into Prince George to pick up a pulley double the size of the current one.
I come back and Les has decided to cut a new path down to the creek with the excavator. The idea behind this was that it would shorten the length of the hose needed and slope so the water flow would be higher. The problem here is he failed plan this little venture correctly. First of all the forest was thicker then he planned and he didn't walk out his path so he would know the shortest route. So I get back and he is in the middle of this...... This is not needed if the new pulley rotates faster allowing greater water flow to reach the trommel. ... So frusturating.
Les proceeds to try and build this path but it gets to steep. I tell him lets try the new pulley and if it doesn't work we can continue his path as plan B. He agrees to this and we go and try and put the new pulley on. Here we run into many problems taking the 3 inch pulley off and putting on the 6 inch pulley. The keystroke was jammed in pretty good. We finally get the new one on and now need new belts.
I now need to pick up two 50 inch belts for tomorrow morning.
Lets hope the pump can flow all the way to the trommel!
I see gold hit $1595 getting close to $1600 we just need to start mining.
All the best,
Gold Miner James
I come back and Les has decided to cut a new path down to the creek with the excavator. The idea behind this was that it would shorten the length of the hose needed and slope so the water flow would be higher. The problem here is he failed plan this little venture correctly. First of all the forest was thicker then he planned and he didn't walk out his path so he would know the shortest route. So I get back and he is in the middle of this...... This is not needed if the new pulley rotates faster allowing greater water flow to reach the trommel. ... So frusturating.
Les proceeds to try and build this path but it gets to steep. I tell him lets try the new pulley and if it doesn't work we can continue his path as plan B. He agrees to this and we go and try and put the new pulley on. Here we run into many problems taking the 3 inch pulley off and putting on the 6 inch pulley. The keystroke was jammed in pretty good. We finally get the new one on and now need new belts.
I now need to pick up two 50 inch belts for tomorrow morning.
Lets hope the pump can flow all the way to the trommel!
I see gold hit $1595 getting close to $1600 we just need to start mining.
All the best,
Gold Miner James
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Saturday, 9 July 2011
Excited to get running some dirt
The list is getting smaller on things that need to be done before we start running dirt through the trommel and hopefully finding gold. I was out at the claim today for several hours. Les has hauled his trailer up to the claim and will be camping out all summer.
We have accomplished the following in the last few days.
Rented a mini excavator. A brand new machine with only 2.5hrs on it rented from Prince George. The excavator was delivered to the claim from Prince George yesterday afternoon. Les has already started clearing the mining area yesterday and today. We need to clear off the overburden, build a settling pond, and dig a trench before we can start running dirt through the trommel. The excavator now has 10 hrs of use already.
Purchased a trommel from Salmon Arm. We purchased a custom built trommel from an old miner named Hugh. Hugh was 84 and in awesome shape for his age (must have been all those summers prospecting). The trommel came with almost everything needed to run it. Included in the purchase was 600ft of 2.5 inch hose, a 1yr old (brand new) 5hp honda gas motor, sluice box, and a water pump. We think we got a good deal and could sell it for much more then we paid. Since the trommel is built on a trailer Les drove it to the claim. Today we tested the trommel and everything appears to be running very well.
We bought a new diesel motor (to run the water pump) and 300 more feet of 2.5inch hose in Prince George. The 900 feet of hose we have will be used to pump water from the creek up to the trommel which will be located by the trench.
That's it for now.
All the best,
Gold Miner James
We have accomplished the following in the last few days.
Rented a mini excavator. A brand new machine with only 2.5hrs on it rented from Prince George. The excavator was delivered to the claim from Prince George yesterday afternoon. Les has already started clearing the mining area yesterday and today. We need to clear off the overburden, build a settling pond, and dig a trench before we can start running dirt through the trommel. The excavator now has 10 hrs of use already.
Purchased a trommel from Salmon Arm. We purchased a custom built trommel from an old miner named Hugh. Hugh was 84 and in awesome shape for his age (must have been all those summers prospecting). The trommel came with almost everything needed to run it. Included in the purchase was 600ft of 2.5 inch hose, a 1yr old (brand new) 5hp honda gas motor, sluice box, and a water pump. We think we got a good deal and could sell it for much more then we paid. Since the trommel is built on a trailer Les drove it to the claim. Today we tested the trommel and everything appears to be running very well.
We bought a new diesel motor (to run the water pump) and 300 more feet of 2.5inch hose in Prince George. The 900 feet of hose we have will be used to pump water from the creek up to the trommel which will be located by the trench.
That's it for now.
All the best,
Gold Miner James
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
First Post
This blog will follow the adventures of setting up a placer gold mine in Northern B.C. for the summer of 2011. It will include pictures, videos, and posts of my experience.
I hope you enjoy following this crazy venture.
Looking forward to any comments.
All the best,
James
I hope you enjoy following this crazy venture.
Looking forward to any comments.
All the best,
James
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