After the last week of mining we have decided to shut down on this claim. We got new grids made for the sluice box and found more gold. After trying a few new holes and not finding enought to pay the daily expenses we decided to shut down.
Well I knew going into this it would be a risky venture. I have learned alot and now really know that gold mining is hard work.
I have the trommel and all equipment for sale or partnership if anyone is interested.
(send email to james[@]miningstocksguide.com without the [ ] )
All The Best,
Gold Miner James
P.S. More videos and pictures will be uploaded soon
Showing posts with label placer gold claim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label placer gold claim. Show all posts
Monday, 1 August 2011
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Update: Losing my shirt
Losing my shirt: up the creek now with one paddle left!
"Follow your passion in life and don't get too complacent. Every now and then, it's important to take a blind leap"
Okay it is time for an update.
Sunday July 17th
I arrive at the site with 2 (50 inch v belts) to connect the generator to the pump ready to rock and roll. As I walk down to the pump I see Les has completed his path that he built yesterday. I think no big deal as it will be good for backup. We put the new belts on and fire up the pump and it flows all the way to the trommel!
The hose has a few minor leaks and the water pressure is ok. Les wants to get rid of the hose that leaks the most and have and put one of the new hoses at the pump for consistent water flow. I finally agree to this and spend the next couple hours moving hose to his new path. It ends up being 800ft (8 sections of hose) which is 100ft shorter than the other route. We are pumping water up an incline of about 100ft. While I am moving hose Les is digging a ditch for the pond to run off.
Game on we can now start running dirt through the trommel. We start the trommel and finally start mining. After a couple hours of running we decide its time to stop and see what we found. After cleaning the sluice we find only a little bit of yellow (about $25 worth). Les thinks we find so little because we ran quite a bit of overburden and that the sluice box was not catching all the gold.
O.K. fine by me.... We make adjustments to the rock chute and call it a day.
Monday July 18th.
I get up exited for a full day of mining and how much yellow we will find. I arrive at the site and we decide to re-arrange sluice box to hopefully catch more gold. We start mining and process dirt for several hours. The trommel is working like a charm and everything appears to be going smoothly. After the pump runs out of diesel we decide to give the sluice box a clean and see what we have. We expect alot more gold since we have ran double Sundays time and are not running overburden. After clean up and panning we find about the same amount of gold as Sunday. Very disappointing :( Les thinks since we are dealing with fine gold it must be running out of the sluice and our rubber matting is not catching it. He says we need miners moss and then we will know.
Tues July 19th (today)
I arrive at site a little later than normal with some miners moss. I picked some up in Prince George on my way out. The stuff is expensive $200 dollars later. We proceed to cut a 7ft long section by 15 inches wide the length of our sluice. After this is done we start mining right away. After just over 3 hours we shut it down and give the sluice box a clean. Things are looking up right from the get go as I can see little specks right after we take the grids out of the sluice.
BUT... after panning we discover we have only a fraction more than the previous 3 days. BAD NEWS.
3 days of mining and about $70-$80 worth of gold. This will not cut it.
Tomorrow we will move and go down the bench closer to the river.
If we do not find more gold soon we will have to shut down.
Not giving up yet!
All the best
Gold Miner James
P.S. Thanks for all the comments and emails. Please keep them coming.
"Follow your passion in life and don't get too complacent. Every now and then, it's important to take a blind leap"
Okay it is time for an update.
Sunday July 17th
I arrive at the site with 2 (50 inch v belts) to connect the generator to the pump ready to rock and roll. As I walk down to the pump I see Les has completed his path that he built yesterday. I think no big deal as it will be good for backup. We put the new belts on and fire up the pump and it flows all the way to the trommel!
The hose has a few minor leaks and the water pressure is ok. Les wants to get rid of the hose that leaks the most and have and put one of the new hoses at the pump for consistent water flow. I finally agree to this and spend the next couple hours moving hose to his new path. It ends up being 800ft (8 sections of hose) which is 100ft shorter than the other route. We are pumping water up an incline of about 100ft. While I am moving hose Les is digging a ditch for the pond to run off.
Game on we can now start running dirt through the trommel. We start the trommel and finally start mining. After a couple hours of running we decide its time to stop and see what we found. After cleaning the sluice we find only a little bit of yellow (about $25 worth). Les thinks we find so little because we ran quite a bit of overburden and that the sluice box was not catching all the gold.
O.K. fine by me.... We make adjustments to the rock chute and call it a day.
Monday July 18th.
I get up exited for a full day of mining and how much yellow we will find. I arrive at the site and we decide to re-arrange sluice box to hopefully catch more gold. We start mining and process dirt for several hours. The trommel is working like a charm and everything appears to be going smoothly. After the pump runs out of diesel we decide to give the sluice box a clean and see what we have. We expect alot more gold since we have ran double Sundays time and are not running overburden. After clean up and panning we find about the same amount of gold as Sunday. Very disappointing :( Les thinks since we are dealing with fine gold it must be running out of the sluice and our rubber matting is not catching it. He says we need miners moss and then we will know.
Tues July 19th (today)
I arrive at site a little later than normal with some miners moss. I picked some up in Prince George on my way out. The stuff is expensive $200 dollars later. We proceed to cut a 7ft long section by 15 inches wide the length of our sluice. After this is done we start mining right away. After just over 3 hours we shut it down and give the sluice box a clean. Things are looking up right from the get go as I can see little specks right after we take the grids out of the sluice.
BUT... after panning we discover we have only a fraction more than the previous 3 days. BAD NEWS.
3 days of mining and about $70-$80 worth of gold. This will not cut it.
Tomorrow we will move and go down the bench closer to the river.
If we do not find more gold soon we will have to shut down.
Not giving up yet!
All the best
Gold Miner James
P.S. Thanks for all the comments and emails. Please keep them coming.
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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