A small operation

tamrock

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Jan 16, 2013
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When to visit a small mine operation today to talk about a few more things they might want to buy. They wanted me to go see what they got going on. There's little veins and stringers running all over the place which they hope to work on a smaller scale. It's gonna take a few bucks to get the drills up to shape and a few other essentials to do some drilling and ventilation, but it was interesting to see the various veins of mostly lead-silver and little pockets of quartz which they say has some free milling gold. We went up into a stope to have a look at the first place they plan to drill out an muck. There's gonna be some manual labor for sure involved in the muck-haul process. They did buy some things with cash in hand at the beginningof the month, though I had to front a hundred out of my pocket because they only had $540. on hand for $640. in merchandise, but they don't operate in any other way with credit cards. I got what's owed back to me today. They are honests johns I concluded when I dropped off the goods a couple of week ago.
 

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I hope you keep in touch / doing transactions with them.
Love to hear more about the hand operation part of it unless you are asked not to do so.
Thanks.
 

I hope you keep in touch / doing transactions with them.
Love to hear more about the hand operation part of it unless you are asked not to do so.
Thanks.
Hopefully I'll post a little more. This particular mine has been worked from time to time over a hundred years. Same old story though for small narrow vein operations. Metals prices go up and folks get excited to dig, only to find out the cost of mining had went up also just as much. Years ago, early 90s, I was dealing with an old timer in Leadville and I sold him a used 5hp Gardner Denver Air Slusher for $3500. He told me they were $700. brand new, back in 1959. Today I believe we have a totally rebuilt 18.5hp air slusher available for a price of $22k.
 

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Hopefully I'll post a little more. This particular mine has been worked from time to time over a hundred years. Same old story though for small narrow vein operations. Metals prices go up and folks get excited to dig, only to find out the cost of mining had went up also just as much. Years ago, early 90s, I was dealing with an old timer in Leadville and I sold him a used 5hp Gardner Denver Air Slusher for $3500. He told me they were $700. brand new, back in 1959. Today I believe we have a totally rebuilt 18.5hp air slusher available for a price of $22k.
If they keep coming back to you for more supplies will be a good sign that the mining is still afloat and moving in a positive direction.
 

They've got a nice set up. What's a used Wilfley going for these

They've got a nice set up. What's a used Wilfley going for these days?
I had to look that up, because that's something I've never had anyone ever ask me before. What I found is a company that makes centrifugal pumps. Most pumps I deal with are the pneumatic diaphragm pumps and some larger electric sump pumps used to clear out all the water from the drill and what natural drainage you encounter at the heading.
 

If they keep coming back to you for more supplies will be a good sign that the mining is still afloat and moving in a positive direction.
The big companies are. I've lost track of all the small operations I've seen come and go over the last dang near 40 years I've been dealing in underground mining.
 

The Wilfley Wave Table in your last picture was why I asked :occasion14:
Whoa-K, We don't deal much in the mill and refining end if things. I just known those as a shaker table.
God bless these small operations in my opinion they are the true back bone of what counts.
Well, there are some that are out there that focus and promote on all that gold and silver in the ground to those who have money to spend and invest. The promoters never seem to inlighted those who seem so very eager to put money forth on the cost of getting those hundred of thousands of dollars of gold and silver out of the ground. Eventually the tolerance of investors runs out and bills owed by the promoters seems to dry up. Funny though these big talking mine promoters seem to appoint themselves in all the big salary positions provided by investors that can last 3, 4, 5 or more years before this promise of big returns is never realized. I've often wondered, do these hustlers ever give back any of that money they paid themselves.?? You could sue and even win, but collecting the money that was lost is a whole other matter altogether. The idea of getting rich in a gold mine is an age old game and to tell you the truth it's rarely ever been the true and honest hardscrabble miner.
 

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Whoa-K, We don't deal much in the mill and refining end if things. I just known those as a shaker table.
The Wilfley isn't your average shaker table. It's the best that you can buy and the fastest at processing comparred to many of the others that are lots cheaper. For large scale production, it was the industry standard forever... I'm not sure if it still is at the top though.
 

The table shown in the last picture looks like the riffles are made by welding strings then ground down?
If you go back could you take a look?
Thanks.
 

The table shown in the last picture looks like the riffles are made by welding strings then ground down?
If you go back could you take a look?
Thanks.
I will.
 

I figured out the make of the jaw crusher shown above. See the attached pictures of a Denver Fire Clay Co. number 1 size jaw crusher attached. The crusher shown above has a pully attached to the hand wheel so that a electric motor can be used. Not sure of the size.
 

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Denver Fire Clay Co. also made a little bigger jaw crusher that looks like the attached photos.
 

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Interesting. At one time Denver was a hub in the heavy manufacturing of mining equipment. A few of the old factories have been left to be part of urban renewal development.
 

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Interesting. At one time Denver was a hub in the heavy manufacturing of mining equipment. A few of the old factories have been left to be part of urban renewal development.
I have seen around 4-8 different companies in Denver making equipment. If you find out other information I would be interested.
 

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