Hard rock sampling tips?

[IDAu]

Some equipment that is not worn out is a plus to get to that level. The gray stuff could be a better grade in the outer parts next to the contact zone?
Why did it cave in?
Did the other people run out of better materials?

Typo. Meant grade not gray.


Bad ground conditions. There isn't much country rock above the adit going back for a ways. Which is probably why I'm screwed on clearing the collapse and better off starting a new one further back.

I don't know what you mean better materials. They were mining something before the collapse, so there has to be something worthwhile. Apparently he wanted to get back to it for years but couldn't find anyone young and motivated enough to help.

 

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[Assembler]

Bad ground conditions. There isn't much country rock above the adit going back for a ways. Which is probably why I'm screwed on clearing the collapse and better off starting a new one further back.

I don't know what you mean better materials. They were mining something before the collapse, so there has to be something worthwhile. Apparently he wanted to get back to it for years but couldn't find anyone young and motivated enough to help.

Well getting back to it may mean the ground conditions where bad enough for the collapse and the extra expense of reinforcing such as concreate and steel?
With out seeing at least some of the ore material it is a gamble?
Where was the ore rock sorted and processed?
Is there any such rock still on the audit / tunnel floor?
Was the better rock ore cleaned out?

 

[IDAu]

Well getting back to it may mean the ground conditions where bad enough for the collapse and the extra expense of reinforcing such as concreate and steel?
With out seeing at least some of the ore material it is a gamble?
Where was the ore rock sorted and processed?
Is there any such rock still on the audit / tunnel floor?
Was the better rock ore cleaned out?

It's all a gamble. But it sounds like the odds are in my favor to at least make my money back.

On site I was told. But I didn't see much of a dump. Covered in snow for a while now so I can't explore more until spring. I found no ore around the tunnel.

Excavator is $3200 a day without delivery. Yikes.

 

[Assembler]

It's all a gamble. But it sounds like the odds are in my favor to at least make my money back.

On site I was told. But I didn't see much of a dump. Covered in snow for a while now so I can't explore more until spring. I found no ore around the tunnel.

Excavator is $3200 a day without delivery. Yikes.

The excavator is just part of the equation sorting out the better material is also wise investment and time saved.
You could have a number of questions answered just by looking over the dump and sorting area?
You may be able to move enough rock worth processing by a cable / zip line to your wet sluice box near by. At least you will have some answers if you can catch much better colors no matter what rock such as the better low grade rock for example. For $3,200 cost you could buy both the cable and the sluice box set up not including your time for the test process batch.
The dump should have at least some low grade rock material to test?

 

[IDAu]

The excavator is just part of the equation sorting out the better material is also wise investment and time saved.
You could have a number of questions answered just by looking over the dump and sorting area?
You may be able to move enough rock worth processing by a cable / zip line to your wet sluice box near by. At least you will have some answers if you can catch much better colors no matter what rock such as the better low grade rock for example. For $3,200 cost you could buy both the cable and the sluice box set up not including your time for the test process batch.
The dump should have at least some low grade rock material to test?

My shaker table is all set up minus being bolted down.

An issue is the outside is also a bucket dredge tailings pile. I found what I thought may be gangue dump but found no color in it.

I don't understand what you're getting at here. Why would I spend 3200 on a sluice and cable. I can't get to anything good until I have access to it. The vein I posted is apparently not even safe to mine unless I again use equipment to open it up from the top. Let me see if I can draw a picture of the situation.


This is a side view, not drawn to scale, but hopefully you can get the idea. A long stretch of adit with not much rock above it

 

[IDAu]

Here is the overall map.

 

[Assembler]

My shaker table is all set up minus being bolted down.

An issue is the outside is also a bucket dredge tailings pile. I found what I thought may be gangue dump but found no color in it.

I don't understand what you're getting at here. Why would I spend 3200 on a sluice and cable. I can't get to anything good until I have access to it. The vein I posted is apparently not even safe to mine unless I again use equipment to open it up from the top. Let me see if I can draw a picture of the situation.


This is a side view, not drawn to scale, but hopefully you can get the idea. A long stretch of adit with not much rock above it

The idea of the sluice and cable is for testing what ever low grade material rock is there with out any further investment such as digging a new audit. This includes the dump rock area.

The access to the possible better grade rock that may be not cleaned out is some thing to be investigated further. The cost of making the new audit may not even be covered, if it is cleaned out at the target area. Not knowing what type of ore rock deposit that was being worked is not a good place to be at.

 

[IDAu]

So this was a new one to me. An experienced guy told me for this that I should section it into like 8 quadrants and assay each and only take the ones that pay.

Is that common? I figured it would be quicker and cheaper to just run it all rather than doing a ton of assays, but I haven't got to dig into material yet so I have no idea.

Everyone else and everything I watched has talked about taking a representative sample across the whole thing.

How often space wise on the same vein are most people assaying??

 

[Assembler]

So this was a new one to me. An experienced guy told me for this that I should section it into like 8 quadrants and assay each and only take the ones that pay.

Is that common? I figured it would be quicker and cheaper to just run it all rather than doing a ton of assays, but I haven't got to dig into material yet so I have no idea.

Everyone else and everything I watched has talked about taking a representative sample across the whole thing.

How often space wise on the same vein are most people assaying??

First sample to see what color may be there as the rock may not be uniform. For example the rock that is near the contact / mineralized zone will be likely better. Processing part of the rock that is low grade will give you less return on each ton of that rock.

If you check assay books they will point out that a mixed pile assay ton is off of around 85 pounds for the assay.

Your fellow pointing out to divide the exposed rock into 8 quadrants and assay each quadrant should take place if you have no other way to figure out the values. You have a shaker table to run an 8 quadrant test of each with the batch size you decide on other then an assay ton sample as the standard as far as gravity values goes. The assay is a fire batch test to show even lock up minerals if you plan on other processes and steps to take.
The cost and time has to be factored in for the more processes you decide to incorporate for the extraction methods you decide on.

 

[Assembler]

So this was a new one to me. An experienced guy told me for this that I should section it into like 8 quadrants and assay each and only take the ones that pay.

Is that common? I figured it would be quicker and cheaper to just run it all rather than doing a ton of assays, but I haven't got to dig into material yet so I have no idea.

Everyone else and everything I watched has talked about taking a representative sample across the whole thing.

How often space wise on the same vein are most people assaying??

Many will mark out and test in blocks of the rock. That is an estimate of X amount of tons per block making the quadrant sample tests along each block of rock. If the values of a section or quadrant don't meet a paying grade then that rock is just dumped without further process.

Pocket mining is different and indicators may be relied on such as drilling samples or some other method. You have to decide that process for your area as no two areas are the same. Some are lucky enough and can even use a metal detector or other steps to help with the locations of pockets. Each miner will have to come up with a process that works for them as each area is different.

 

[IDAu]

First sample to see what color may be there as the rock may not be uniform. For example the rock that is near the contact / mineralized zone will be likely better. Processing part of the rock that is low grade will give you less return on each ton of that rock.

If you check assay books they will point out that a mixed pile assay ton is off of around 85 pounds for the assay.

Your fellow pointing out to divide the exposed rock into 8 quadrants and assay each quadrant should take place if you have no other way to figure out the values. You have a shaker table to run an 8 quadrant test of each with the batch size you decide on other then an assay ton sample as the standard as far as gravity values goes. The assay is a fire batch test to show even lock up minerals if you plan on other processes and steps to take.
The cost and time has to be factored in for the more processes you decide to incorporate for the extraction methods you decide on.

It’s either really pockety or this table is magic. I had a 5 gal bucket of material I panned a few times and got no color.... after running the same sample on the table… lots of color i could barely see, and some way bigger pieces. I’m guessing because I used my new hammer mill to rough grind it rather than crushing it all to pass-50

 

[IDAu]

Isn’t 15 mesh gold pretty big for hard rock?

I’m wondering if that’s why my testing is so spotty. If a sample has a big piece and I grind it, I see some smaller colors. If it doesn’t, I see absolutely nothing.

Wondering if I should still grind and classify all my material to 50 mesh with this size gold present?

 

[Assembler]

It’s either really pockety or this table is magic. I had a 5 gal bucket of material I panned a few times and got no color.... after running the same sample on the table… lots of color i could barely see, and some way bigger pieces. I’m guessing because I used my new hammer mill to rough grind it rather than crushing it all to pass-50

Likely how the gold formed or dropped out. You will have to start looking at the gold in the rock to start getting a better idea. The micro gold is normal in many areas.

 

[Assembler]

Isn’t 15 mesh gold pretty big for hard rock?

I’m wondering if that’s why my testing is so spotty. If a sample has a big piece and I grind it, I see some smaller colors. If it doesn’t, I see absolutely nothing.

Wondering if I should still grind and classify all my material to 50 mesh with this size gold present?

With out seeing the rock there. Perhaps the courser gold is in the contact / mineralized zone and the micro is all through out the rock in general?
Crushing the rock out side of the contact zone makes more sense and probing more in the contact zone could be a good way to proceed. The drill can be used for probing test holes etc.

Perhaps the courser gold is near some kind of indicator rock such as some type of iron, etc.?
You will have to start looking more to figure this out more. With out some pictures one is just guessing in general.

 

[IDAu]

With out seeing the rock there. Perhaps the courser gold is in the contact / mineralized zone and the micro is all through out the rock in general?
Crushing the rock out side of the contact zone makes more sense and probing more in the contact zone could be a good way to proceed. The drill can be used for probing test holes etc.

Perhaps the courser gold is near some kind of indicator rock such as some type of iron, etc.?
You will have to start looking more to figure this out more. With out some pictures one is just guessing in general.

Going to have to get on the testing each zone as soon as I can. I attempted it here. I was working topside where it collapsed in. I sampled 3 different zones of mineralization.

A few pans of each showed no color, so I threw the rest of them together in the bucket that I just ran and pulled that gold from. Hopefully now that I have a mill and table I can buzz through much larger samples and get some data. Small samples aren’t giving much.

I was told the dark red/purple areas were my "high grade."

 

[IDAu]

Under the microscope I can see a bit of quartz and a bit of iron/sulfide stuck to the gold. But that doesn't help me a ton since it's all brecciated.

 

[Assembler]

Under the microscope I can see a bit of quartz and a bit of iron/sulfide stuck to the gold. But that doesn't help me a ton since it's all brecciated.

You may find that the gold is dropping out or crossing through both of the mineralized zones you are showing. One zone may be much lower down then the surface red iron zone you show.
You should find out if there is a better grade in one verses the there zone with your testing.
Likely the closer you get to the near by large contact zone the better the grades will be??

For right now just work on what will keep your equipment going and covering your time. The guys who worked the lower area may have cleaned a lot out. With that being said perhaps there is some small seams or veinlets left??

 

[Assembler]

Going to have to get on the testing each zone as soon as I can. I attempted it here. I was working topside where it collapsed in. I sampled 3 different zones of mineralization.

A few pans of each showed no color, so I threw the rest of them together in the bucket that I just ran and pulled that gold from. Hopefully now that I have a mill and table I can buzz through much larger samples and get some data. Small samples aren’t giving much.

I was told the dark red/purple areas were my "high grade."

Have you sampled just under this red quartz line zone?
There could be a nice pocket type area there here and there.

You will have to sample more and see if you can spot anything with your eye's in the outer areas of either zone.

 

[ToddsPoint]

I really admire you guys out west trying to pry some gold from the ground. It’s hard work, dangerous and costly. Your rewards are well earned for sure. I think if I grew up in gold country I would have gotten hooked. 👍🏻 Stay safe!

 

[IDAu]

Have you sampled just under this red quartz line zone?
There could be a nice pocket type area there here and there.

You will have to sample more and see if you can spot anything with your eye's in the outer areas of either zone.

Yes. I got a sandbag of each, trying to sample horizontally at each level. One from the top gray material, one of only the deep red, and one of the lower brecciated clay filled tan quartz.