Small Mining Operations
Mining on the Comstock Lode
July 2014 by Alex Dolbeare
Even with the decades of mining and exploration, much of the Comstock is still underdeveloped and its potential not fully tapped.
The Fire Assay of Carbon
Carbon, activated charcoal, or “char,” as some old timers refer to it, can be an assayer’s nightmare.
The Giant King Mine
Most gold-bearing veins in this region are controlled by fractures associated with the Melones Fault, a late Cretaceous structure that is 108 to 127 million years old.
Large Gold Deposit Types
It is not necessary to have a PhD in geology, but you need to know the basics, so that’s what I am going to try to dig into here—the understandable basics of these gigantic gold deposits.
Lode or Placer: What Difference Does It Make?
This explains the large difference in particle sizes between placers and hydrothermal lode deposits, but also means that while the mining may be similar in some cases, the sampling and recovery techniques are usually quite different.
Dredging Therapy
The big moment finally arrived. With Norm suited up, I pulled the motor to life and felt instantly better. There’s really something relaxing about the sound of a dredge running—they don’t sound like anything else.
Crushing Quartz in Calaveras County: A Placer Miner Learns New Tricks
I had never run an impact mill before, but anything involving rocks, water and a big electric motor sounded great.
Evolution Of A Gold Prospect
The adage of, “The harder I work, the luckier I get,” has profound meaning, but it doesn’t always apply to prospecting.
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The Bawl Mill
• A Return to Silver City, Idaho
• Ask the Experts
• Ask the Experts
• Ask the Experts
• Swing and a Miss
• Miners Fight Back Against Road Closures
• The Giant King Mine
• BLM Flexes Its Muscles in Quartzsite
• Over the Divide
• Romancing the Lens
• Gold Recovery with Centrifugal Bowls
• Want to Go to Australia?
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
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Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Representative Manweller Lends a Hand in Washington State
