Had an assay done on my land. Had 4.3 ppm for gold and 23.5 for platinum. When I do my math, this sounds quite good especially for platinum. Am I correct in assuming this may be worth mining on?
Assay Report Question
- Thread starter Dr. Meh
- Start date
Rockhunter1620
Full Member
Does 23.5 ppm or "parts per million" equate to 20 g. per tonne of dirt or was yer assay performed on a sample of hard rock ore? After staking a claim, an extremely detailed "POO" (plan of operation) must be submitted then approved by the guberment. Then you'll prolly need a million$ or so to just get started excavating and processing. Large deposits of Pt. and PGM's are extremely rare. Good luck.
North America
Most of the platinum group metals produced in Canada are by-products of nickel mining. The Sudbury Basin in central Ontario has the largest number of pgm-producing mines. Pgm are also extracted from the Raglan nickel mine in northern Quebec and from a nickel complex in Manitoba. In all of these orebodies, palladium is the predominant platinum group metal.
The Sudbury Basin was discovered in 1883 during the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway and by 1886 copper mining had begun. Nickel production followed several years later. Commercial production of pgm began around 1908 when International Nickel Company (later Inco and now Vale), the largest mining company in the Basin, opened a refinery in the United Kingdom to refine the Sudbury ores. Falconbridge, the other major producer in Ontario, produces pgm at its refinery in Norway. Both companies were the subject of acquisitions in 2006, with Vale now owned by the Brazilian base metals producer Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) and Falconbridge by the Swiss company Xstrata.
Canada - Lac des Iles
The only existing primary source of pgm in Canada, the Lac des Iles mine owned by North American Palladium Ltd, is located near Thunder Bay in western Ontario. Commercial production of pgm began in 1993 from the deposit known as the Roby zone, which until recently was exploited exclusively via open pit mining. In 2005, an underground section was developed to exploit a deeper, higher grade section of the deposit. Ore from the mine is processed to a concentrate rich in palladium, while also containing small amounts of platinum and base metals.
USA - Stillwater
Primary production of pgm in the USA is confined to the Stillwater and East Boulder mines, located west of Nye, Montana. The metals are extracted from the J-M Reef, which contains very high grades Â- around 20 g per tonne. Palladium accounts for about three-quarters of the pgm extracted, with the remainder largely platinum. The Stillwater Mining Company (SMC) began mining the J-M Reef here in 1987. The concentrated ore is processed at SMC's smelter in Columbus, Montana and the pgm are toll-refined in the USA and Europe.
RH
North America
Most of the platinum group metals produced in Canada are by-products of nickel mining. The Sudbury Basin in central Ontario has the largest number of pgm-producing mines. Pgm are also extracted from the Raglan nickel mine in northern Quebec and from a nickel complex in Manitoba. In all of these orebodies, palladium is the predominant platinum group metal.
The Sudbury Basin was discovered in 1883 during the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway and by 1886 copper mining had begun. Nickel production followed several years later. Commercial production of pgm began around 1908 when International Nickel Company (later Inco and now Vale), the largest mining company in the Basin, opened a refinery in the United Kingdom to refine the Sudbury ores. Falconbridge, the other major producer in Ontario, produces pgm at its refinery in Norway. Both companies were the subject of acquisitions in 2006, with Vale now owned by the Brazilian base metals producer Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) and Falconbridge by the Swiss company Xstrata.
Canada - Lac des Iles
The only existing primary source of pgm in Canada, the Lac des Iles mine owned by North American Palladium Ltd, is located near Thunder Bay in western Ontario. Commercial production of pgm began in 1993 from the deposit known as the Roby zone, which until recently was exploited exclusively via open pit mining. In 2005, an underground section was developed to exploit a deeper, higher grade section of the deposit. Ore from the mine is processed to a concentrate rich in palladium, while also containing small amounts of platinum and base metals.
USA - Stillwater
Primary production of pgm in the USA is confined to the Stillwater and East Boulder mines, located west of Nye, Montana. The metals are extracted from the J-M Reef, which contains very high grades Â- around 20 g per tonne. Palladium accounts for about three-quarters of the pgm extracted, with the remainder largely platinum. The Stillwater Mining Company (SMC) began mining the J-M Reef here in 1987. The concentrated ore is processed at SMC's smelter in Columbus, Montana and the pgm are toll-refined in the USA and Europe.
RH
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Rockhunter1620
Full Member
My bad, you did say it was yer land and you have mineral rights.
Yer original Q. was "Is it worth mining?"
I guess that depends on yer definition of "mining".
1-5 fellers, using hand tools, shovels, buckets, and pans, an prolly even a 5 horse re-circulating pump and sluice
all falls under recreational prospecting an you can dig all you want without tellin anyone, you go bringin in
excavators, dozers, dump trucks and a wash plant or tromel that processes 100 tons a day, this is full scale mining.
There will be an initial POO and then several revised POO's b'fore it's approved, the EPA will be involved in every step
as well as other guberment agencies so yer located deposit needs to be substantial fer there to be any profitability.
You said yer sample was dirt, how much dirt, a few grams or 10 lbs. Did you drill a 30 ft. core sample or as much as 6 of these samples?
Or are you just digging at the surface with a shovel?
The assay revealed PGM's measured at the ppm scale not on a grams or even oz. per ton scale, I'd think you have a good bit
more sampling to do b'fore any other serious decisions are even considered, respectfully.
RH
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- Thread starter
- #7
Funny thing about what we're considering. First, we''ve taken three samples, all surface, with the same results from different areas. There are a couple neighboring lots of land around ours for sale so we sampled them as well and got similar results. There are a couple homes on the way to the land that would notice heavy machinery being brought in. What we would like to do is work our land in such a way that the people in the houses don't realize what we're doing so that we can buy the other lots and work them too (assuming our land will be as profitable as we are calculating). A dozer and back hoe are already out there, we just need to bring in a wash plant or haul out the material. We have an empty semi truck that we were thinking of somehow hiding a wash plant in or using just to load up with material. We're not big fans of govt regulations and interference so we want to try to do the largest small scale operation we can do without drawing attention.
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golden ray
Full Member
Even on private property that you hold the mineral rights to, the government
will do their best to stick their nose in your business.
You are thinking correctly, when you say you wish to keep a low profile.
The less everyone else knows, the better for you.
will do their best to stick their nose in your business.
You are thinking correctly, when you say you wish to keep a low profile.
The less everyone else knows, the better for you.
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