Entered with a handshake mining contract

[tamrock]

There's this young fella who I've come to know who's obsessed with mining. He had been studying explosives engineering at New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology, Socorro and he's always texting me pictures of old jacklegs, muckers and slushers he's come by for sale and sometimes buys the gear cheap and gets them back up and running. I even donated some new stuff for him to start what they call The Mining Club with some of his fellow students. Kind of a new sorority at Mines, New Mexico. He's been working at a small reopening project as a intern, but decided to pull away from schooling for a couple seasons to get down and dirty and lean things the hands on way, which I'm finding he's almost a natural at, but the boss says he's still a little wet behind the ears and he'll allow him learn the way of a spike within reason, as that's the best for a young wanna be to learn and overcome the never ending unforseen issues of hardrock mining. Last night he sent me some pic's of a new involvement where on a deal with the claim holder he can get this old producer hopefully going on a handshake partnership. Him being young and ambitious and willing to do the work without pay, makes him a 50/50 partner in this little operation. He wanted to show me his timber set design he put together with a decent source of mine prop timbers he located. This little project will be interesting to follow, as I'd sure like to see a small mine go together on a shoestring budget, which I'm sure I won't get much business out of because what I sell cost money. I will though help him run down the used and abused, because I'd like to see what this young fella can overcome in what most will say can never be done at the cost of mining today.

 

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[cyzak]

Is he using and old air shaft entrance to get back into the mine.

 

[BlasterJ]

That's awesome! Here are a couple of free books on timbering if he doesn't have them already:

https://www.idahogeology.org/pub/Bulletins/B-21.pdf
https://www.google.com/books/editio...hNUDAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

I have books on mine rescue and other stuff too if you PM.

Arclight

 

[tamrock]

I think he has access to a load of information at NM Mine & Tech, plus he's been interning at the Caribou mine in Nederland and it's an old school operation with a load of old documentation around.

 

[tamrock]

Is he using and old air shaft entrance to get back into the mine.

I think its just an old portal to a itty bitter mine operation that was given up on when gold was still 35 bucks an ounce. I'd be curious to see if he has any historical documentation on the place. That's the kind of stuff that might hold some long forgotten information that you really wanna research. Never know what you might discover on what was being reported on some of these millions of old prospects littering the Rocky Mountains.

 

[BlasterJ]

I think its just an old portal to a itty bitter mine operation that was given up on when gold was still 35 bucks an ounce. I'd be curious to see if he has any historical documentation on the place. That's the kind of stuff that might hold some long forgotten information that you really wanna research. Never know what you might discover on what was being reported on some of these millions of old prospects littering the Rocky Mountains.

I can show them how to do a magazine and such on the cheap if they get that far.

 

[cyzak]

I think its just an old portal to a itty bitter mine operation that was given up on when gold was still 35 bucks an ounce. I'd be curious to see if he has any historical documentation on the place. That's the kind of stuff that might hold some long forgotten information that you really wanna research. Never know what you might discover on what was being reported on some of these millions of old prospects littering the Rocky Mountains.

Those were sometimes the most interesting ones to find a lone miner picking away at a vein. I remembered my uncle showing up from time time and pull a couple nuggets out of his pocket to give to us. No one ever found were he was digging them out but it was underground.

 

[tamrock]

I can show them how to do a magazine and such on the cheap if they get that far.

I let him know, but he has been becoming well versed in experimenting with these autostem blasters they've been having pretty decent success with at the mine up by Nederland. In this last picture it's the kid with his back towards me to the far right. He's quite a stretch at I'll bet 7 feet tall. Also in the photo on the jackleg is the old mining legend Tom Hendrick, who held on to the caribou mine for dang near 40 years, but sadly Tom would finally lose the battle with cancer a around a year after I took this photo. I went to the memorial of Tom's and his family members all wished the new capital venturists in the mine Tom owed their blessings to carry on the dream to see to it the mine becomes everything Tom hoped it will again be. Tom had a real liking of the kid and I'll bet he's gonna stick around until Tom's deams are realized. Toms still up there as he was layed to rest with what he called the ghosts and spirits of the long gone ghost town of Caribou Colorado and he often believed these spirits of old would talk to him as he stayed up in an old cabin at the mine. First pic is Tom Hendricks in the prime of his life.

 

[cyzak]

That is way cool a detonator and blaster all in one I wondered when some one would come up with a pre packaged device that was stable enough to handle in that kind of environment.

 

[BlasterJ]

That is way cool a detonator and blaster all in one I wondered when some one would come up with a pre packaged device that was stable enough to handle in that kind of environment.

That's an Autostem charge. It's not considered a high explosive - it contains a pyrotechnic mixture that only explodes when well-confined in rock. The one pictured is probably 300 grams or so. The initiator is an electric match, similar to what's used to set off professional fireworks.

The advantage of these is that you can store them in a simple "Type 4" magazine made from a Job Box and the transport/insurance costs are lower. They also cause a lot less collateral damage like overbreak and flyrock. They aren't as effective as dynamite and emulsion in some rock conditions however.

There is a newer system called Royex that I would recommend over this one. They have delays and more options available.

https://www.apexrockpros.com/quick-about-apex-rocks

 

[tamrock]

That's an Autostem charge. It's not considered a high explosive - it contains a pyrotechnic mixture that only explodes when well-confined in rock. The one pictured is probably 300 grams or so. The initiator is an electric match, similar to what's used to set off professional fireworks.

The advantage of these is that you can store them in a simple "Type 4" magazine made from a Job Box and the transport/insurance costs are lower. They also cause a lot less collateral damage like overbreak and flyrock. They aren't as effective as dynamite and emulsion in some rock conditions however.

There is a newer system called Royex that I would recommend over this one. They have delays and more options available.

https://www.apexrockpros.com/quick-about-apex-rocks

They were telling me about all the perks of these type of explosives and pretty much everything your saying, especially loading it in a tightly confined hole in order to get the best rock breakage. Shipping the suff is a lot cheaper also.

 

[BlasterJ]

If they are going to get an ATF license, I highly recommend spending the extra $100 and getting a "Type 20: Manufacturer of High Explosives." If you have this, you can legally buy binary explosive kits and mix some up whenever you need a bigger bang/more fragmentation. If they are packaged as "Class 1.4B" the blasting caps can also be shipped as Fedex or UPS HAZMAT.

 

[gold tramp]

There's this young fella who I've come to know who's obsessed with mining. He had been studying explosives engineering at New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology, Socorro and he's always texting me pictures of old jacklegs, muckers and slushers he's come by for sale and sometimes buys the gear cheap and gets them back up and running. I even donated some new stuff for him to start what they call The Mining Club with some of his fellow students. Kind of a new sorority at Mines, New Mexico. He's been working at a small reopening project as a intern, but decided to pull away from schooling for a couple seasons to get down and dirty and lean things the hands on way, which I'm finding he's almost a natural at, but the boss says he's still a little wet behind the ears and he'll allow him learn the way of a spike within reason, as that's the best for a young wanna be to learn and overcome the never ending unforseen issues of hardrock mining. Last night he sent me some pic's of a new involvement where on a deal with the claim holder he can get this old producer hopefully going on a handshake partnership. Him being young and ambitious and willing to do the work without pay, makes him a 50/50 partner in this little operation. He wanted to show me his timber set design he put together with a decent source of mine prop timbers he located. This little project will be interesting to follow, as I'd sure like to see a small mine go together on a shoestring budget, which I'm sure I won't get much business out of because what I sell cost money. I will though help him run down the used and abused, because I'd like to see what this young fella can overcome in what most will say can never be done at the cost of mining today.

Well was there a pot o gold ?
Any update on his progress, hope it worked out that's a dream project.
Gt ...

 

[tamrock]

Well was there a pot o gold ?
Any update on his progress, hope it worked out that's a dream project.
Gt ...

I haven't asked him about his little diggings lately. I see him frequently at the mine he gets payed to work at. We just got in about 80 short handle mine axes in and he gave me cash for one last week. Sent the order in and our office said I needed to collect the tax on the sale. I went paid it for him. Mine axes go fast, because I believe they have a habit of walking off the jobsite on a regular basis. The mine I worked at in the 70s/Early 80s provided us with these stainless steel Estwing axes. Those were always being pulled out for show and tell in the car pool ride home. Can't believe all the stuff that was lifted by employees of that mine back then. I never took anything, because I'd be the one the security guard would check going out I always thought.

 

[gold tramp]

Wondering if you ever got an update from you friend on his mine progress, it looked like an interesting project to me I like hear about successful minin ventures heck even if it's a failure it still worthy of a story, myself I moved much rock for just a few crumbs of yeller sometimes I mucked out tons to find nothing.
It's just another day in the hole. Hope he is doing well with his venture...
Gt ...

 

[Assembler]

One would think there is a solid results in a matter of days. The work and time would also be known for a given result.

 

[russau]

Tools on any job are expendable and is considered the cost of doing business. Tools get broke and wore out and YES unfortunately stolen from the job. For you and I this cost would hurt $$ BUT small price to pay when the mine owners get lots of $$$$. Anyone owning any equipment / tools needs to keep a eye on his business / equipment /tools . I myself have lost tools and equipment due to being to darn trusting !

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Tools on any job are expendable and is considered the cost of doing business. Tools get broke and wore out and YES unfortunately stolen from the job. For you and I this cost would hurt $$ BUT small price to pay when the mine owners get lots of $$$$. Anyone owning any equipment / tools needs to keep a eye on his business / equipment /tools . I myself have lost tools and equipment due to being to darn trusting !

If it was an ongoing problem, It’s easy to remedy. You get paid when you present your issued tools for inspection.

 

[tamrock]

Wondering if you ever got an update from you friend on his mine progress, it looked like an interesting project to me I like hear about successful minin ventures heck even if it's a failure it still worthy of a story, myself I moved much rock for just a few crumbs of yeller sometimes I mucked out tons to find nothing.
It's just another day in the hole. Hope he is doing well with his venture...
Gt ...

As of today the two partners have taken jobs with a regular pay check. Last request I received a couple month ago was for a 1000' of 18" vent bags. Told them the cost and hadn't got any word about getting any to them.