Pictures of hard rock ores

[blackchipjim]

I would like to see the miners on this site post more pictures of their ores that they run across when they prospect. The miners on youtube are pretty good at showing and explaining what they are showing us and some are memebers here too. I just get to magnify the pictures that are posted here and sort out oppinions of them better here. Thanks

 

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[tamrock]

These are some I picked up from some of the mines I've been in and put em in my flower garden 1st one I think I got at the Black Cloud in Leadville, Colorado silver ore. The 2nd I got out of the Lucky Friday in Mullen, Idaho silver ore and the 3rd is a piece the shift boss pulled off the face as the good stuff in the Stillwater East Boulder mine as what they recover in mining the Platinum group metals in Montana. As for anything I've personally mined, it would be out of the pockets of the mine owners.

 

[pczim]

 

[tamrock]

Wow! Someone still using a hammer mill. So how many tons in 8 hours can you run through one of those?

 

[pczim]

Wow! Someone still using a hammer mill. So how many tons in 8 hours can you run through one of those?

Stamp mills. They do around 1 ton per hour depending on the rock.

 

[tamrock]

Stamp mills. They do around 1 ton per hour depending on the rock.

Yes stamp mill, as a hammer mill is technically a completely different design. One ton an hour seems pretty good. Only stamp mills I see around here are nothing but old relics of a bygone era which seemed to have come to a close about the time I began to work in this industry. There were many more smaller operations back then 30 years ago, that used the jack legs and drill steel I sold to. Last week though I got a call from some fellas going back in an older shaft mine with the intention of once making it a success. They all have the right talent at least.

 

[pczim]

Yes stamp mill, as a hammer mill is technically a completely different design. One ton an hour seems pretty good. Only stamp mills I see around here are nothing but old relics of a bygone era which seemed to have come to a close about the time I began to work in this industry. There were many more smaller operations back then 30 years ago, that used the jack legs and drill steel I sold to. Last week though I got a call from some fellas going back in an older shaft mine with the intention of once making it a success. They all have the right talent at least.

I enjoy stamp mills. I have 2 of them and when they run in unison they make a hell of a noise. I use stamp mills as my secondary crushers after a jawcrusher, the sand and slime from the stamp mills then get pumped into a ball mill. Using a hydro cyclone I then separate the sand to be leached in tanks and the slime goes into a small CIP plant.

Have you seen one running over there?

 

[tamrock]

I've never seen a stamp mill in operation. Most of them look like this one if even this good of condition.

 

[Clay Diggins]

I have a friend who runs a 5 stamp mill for his district in New Mexico. Loud but very effective with a good operator. 1 ton/hour sounds about right depending on the stock. He also insists on running the ore through a jaw crusher first. I can't imagine how long a ton would take if it wasn't already broken down. There is real talent to keeping the grind size mixes right for a productive run.

There is a restored 10 stamp mill running in Cave Creek several times a year. The last run this year was about 3 weeks ago.

They used to run a big 5 stamp mill in downtown Phoenix at the Mining and Mineral Museum.


That was one of the finest mining and mineral museums in the world and it was very popular. It was founded in 1884. They killed the funding in a vicious political free for all and attempted to wipe out the mining history of Arizona in the process. Much like California, Arizona seems intent on destroying their own mining history. Unlike California Arizona has some of the largest and most productive active mines in the world. Not only are we still mining but several very large new mines are being developed as well as a resurgence in small gold and gem mining operations.

Heavy Pans

 

[pczim]

I have a friend who runs a 5 stamp mill for his district in New Mexico. Loud but very effective with a good operator. 1 ton/hour sounds about right depending on the stock. He also insists on running the ore through a jaw crusher first. I can't imagine how long a ton would take if it wasn't already broken down. There is real talent to keeping the grind size mixes right for a productive run.

There is a restored 10 stamp mill running in Cave Creek several times a year. The last run this year was about 3 weeks ago.

They used to run a big 5 stamp mill in downtown Phoenix at the Mining and Mineral Museum.
View attachment 1598938

That was one of the finest mining and mineral museums in the world and it was very popular. It was founded in 1884. They killed the funding in a vicious political free for all and attempted to wipe out the mining history of Arizona in the process. Much like California, Arizona seems intent on destroying their own mining history. Unlike California Arizona has some of the largest and most productive active mines in the world. Not only are we still mining but several very large new mines are being developed as well as a resurgence in small gold and gem mining operations.

Heavy Pans

Hey that’s pretty awesome. Nice looking 5 stamp. Your absolutely correct, the feed is very important and is mostly done by ear and feel of the vibrations, the more metallic the noise means your under feeding etc. My stamps are a little bigger than that one, our stamps weigh 1450lbs each. Sometimes when the jawcrushers are down we run as the primary and then it gets slowed down to around three quarters of a ton.

I too am interested in American mining history, unfortunately I have not been to California or Arizona. Been to NYC, Washington and Everglades only. Next time I come I would love to see your museum. Awesome on the mining resurgence, with the current gold price, if you can produce it is a great industry to be in. Even for us, we have had a new president since last year and since then our country’s mining industry is booming. I’m lucky I have had a head start. Even though I live in one of the oldest gold mining nations n the world there is so much we don’t know as we did not preserve our history the way you have.

Whoops look at how we have diverted the topic from hard rock ores

 

[tamrock]

Yeah getting back to ore samples, someone recently posted this one on LinkedIn. I thought it was a pretty handsome looking sample. It was recovered at the Idarado mine in Colorado.

 

[Goldwasher]

Yeah getting back to ore samples, someone recently posted this one on LinkedIn. I thought it was a pretty handsome looking sample. It was recovered at the Idarado mine in Colorado.

that is a really neat piece

Imagine the whole pocket

 

[Mad Machinist]

From a new prospect.

 

[pczim]

From another post of min but relevant to this thread

 

[gold tramp]

You guys are showin high grade ? Not ore.
Gt....

Great old stamp mill pics.

 

[Mad Machinist]

You guys are showin high grade ? Not ore.
Gt....

Great old stamp mill pics.

GT,

That is the ore. Band of quartz that is loaded.

 

[Clay Diggins]

This is gold ore. .20 - .25 oz per ton.



90% of the gold mined in the United States is mined from this type of decalcified sedimentary deposit. All of the gold is invisible and can only be proven through chemical testing.

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This is a mineral specimen.



Mineral specimens are most often associated with ores. This specimen contains no gold but it could easily bring more money on the market than the gold ore sample above.

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This is high grade lead ore.



About 50% lead with no gold or appreciable silver content.

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This is very high grade silver ore from the Comstock lode in Nevada.



Courtesy of my friend Chris Ralph. Check out nevada-outback-gems dot something to see the great mineral collections and information Chris has put into his website.

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This is a specimen of silver Proustite crystals.



Silver is rare in a pure native form but it can be very valuable as a specimen. Do not use a rotary wire brush on silver nuggets if you find them when prospecting. (ask Silver Dog Doug why ).

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Ore is the rock you process to get the valuable minerals from. Specimens are the occasional discoveries of the purest mineral crystal forms desired by collectors. Ore sometimes contains specimen grade mineral crystals that usually have a market value far in excess of the refined metals in the same ore.

This is a fairly modern distinction because 150 years ago a beautiful crystal mineral specimen usually ended up in the crusher along with the regular ore. Today there is such a high demand for good mineral specimens that, even if they are microscopic, crushing ore for the mineral value could lose you most of the market value of your deposit.

Times have changed and confusing collector grade specimen material for common ore can be an expensive mistake.

I have a friend that owns one of the most famous gold mines in American history and despite being a former lead geologist for the worlds largest gold miner he only mines specimen grade material for sale to collectors from that mine. The billion dollar copper camp mines in Jerome have been mined by the owners for 60 years for their collectable minerals only. I'm sure some day they will get back to bulk copper mining but in the meantime specimen collection by a few individuals bring millions of dollars per ton of specimen material.

Heavy Pans

 

[gold tramp]

GT,

That is the ore. Band of quartz that is loaded.

When i find stuff with yellow hangin out its not what i consider ore.
Yellow means i can get fast cash.

Dont run it through a mill to procces.
Just crush by hand. pan weigh n make mad dash for the cash.
Heres some ore pics.
Havin to use wifes phone.
She catches me, my goose is cooked.

View attachment 1600204

Each sample group is differant pocket (vein) notice all have common color.

Gt...

 

[Phishfarmer]

Pictures of hard rock ores? Even one photo of an ex-wife is too much to have around. Good luck with your prospecting though.

 

[Goldwasher]

Yea, I haven't gotten any ore that would go into a crusher from my claim.

It gets wrapped up nice and safe and off into the mail after a couple baths.

I sell the small chips in the store people love little pieces of quartz with gold in it