Small scale mining as a business

[Load77]

Hello everyone,

Im curious to know how many (if any) people on here are making a living doing small scale hard rock mining? Also if any are doing it in Oregon, as I’m sure each state has its own challenges.
I’ve been slowly working in that direction for several years, learning, accumulating equipment, and acquiring claims.
I currently have 9 claims, two of which have great potential for some high grade ore, a couple with ore in the 1/2 opt range, and the rest seem to have large amounts of lower grade ore in the .2opt range. Im holding the lower grade claims for when Im able to upgrade my equipment to process larger amounts of ore.
Currently I have a jaw crusher, hammer mill, ball mill, and wave table. The ball mill is only a 2’x3’, and only processes maybe 300lbs/hr.

Would love to hear of other peoples set ups, and/or any advice!

Derik.

 

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[russau]

Keeping a tight lip is what anyone does that has a paying claim otherwise you'll have people all over your claim taking what does NOT belong to them! Just a word to the wise!

 

[Load77]

Keeping a tight lip is what anyone does that has a paying claim otherwise you'll have people all over your claim taking what does NOT belong to them! Just a word to the wise!

Yes, but I’m not asking anyone to share locations. Just curious how many people are making a living at it. I would think you’d have to be a bit crazy to try and steel stuff from someones claim! They’re often out of the way, with many holes that someone could disappear into!
Steeling ore, unless it’s exceptionally high grade, is almost worthless without the proper equipment to process. And actually mining the ore out of a vein is to much work for the average thief!

 

[Mountaineer2020]

Welcome to the forum Load77. I'm a new prospector in Oregon, not trying to make a living I heard that's a good way to starve. Sticking with my day job but I do try to find gold. So far I've done better with placer than hard rock. Taken probably 15 samples from known veins on abandoned claims all over the place sent them in for assay and get back "trace". Apparently I need some lessons in mineralogy. Crush the samples in a hammermill. Got a bunch of old equipment, jaw crusher, ball mill, wilfrey table, but unless I find something to run through it I'm not going to bother trying to fire it up. Course if I actually found some ore we could swap notes being our setup sounds similar. I'd much rather dredge than hardrock anyways but that's getting more and more difficult to do legally. Sounds like you have some good ore though! Hope it all pans out!

 

[russau]

"Making a living at it " depends on what you consider a "living" !There are many things to consider when wanting to make a living at it ! Your age ,heath , physical strength ,location , liability's (I.E. family ,children, own a home ...) and how could you support yourself & family until you find a place to dig /suck gold to "make a living". I'd consider keeping your day job to make sure the bill's are paid and your family keeps eating until you do so and go out prospecting to find the "Glory Hole" then work at "making a living at it "!! Until that time come's expand at your knowledge of Geology /Prospecting and the laws pertaining to the location your wanting to search in . And I wouldn't buy any equipment untill you find out what kind's of equipment you'll need to get all that gold for YOUR LOCATION and for the process you'll be using . Until then , enjoy whatever life bring's you !

 

[Load77]

"Making a living at it " depends on what you consider a "living" !There are many things to consider when wanting to make a living at it ! Your age ,heath , physical strength ,location , liability's (I.E. family ,children, own a home ...) and how could you support yourself & family until you find a place to dig /suck gold to "make a living". I'd consider keeping your day job to make sure the bill's are paid and your family keeps eating until you do so and go out prospecting to find the "Glory Hole" then work at "making a living at it "!! Until that time come's expand at your knowledge of Geology /Prospecting and the laws pertaining to the location your wanting to search in . And I wouldn't buy any equipment untill you find out what kind's of equipment you'll need to get all that gold for YOUR LOCATION and for the process you'll be using . Until then , enjoy whatever life bring's you !

All great advice!
I would never actually quit my day job (construction contractor) until I was making consistent money at it, and had multiple sources to keep me supplied.
To be comfortable (unless the price of gold makes a drastic change) I would need about an ounce a week. That would cover operating costs, and pay my bills with enough leftover to be comfortable.
My goal is to live near my claims. Then have the equipment capable of processing about 1 ton/hr. Ore of that grade isn’t difficult to locate.
Until that time, I’m enjoying the process!
Thanks for the reply!

 

[Load77]

Welcome to the forum Load77. I'm a new prospector in Oregon, not trying to make a living I heard that's a good way to starve. Sticking with my day job but I do try to find gold. So far I've done better with placer than hard rock. Taken probably 15 samples from known veins on abandoned claims all over the place sent them in for assay and get back "trace". Apparently I need some lessons in mineralogy. Crush the samples in a hammermill. Got a bunch of old equipment, jaw crusher, ball mill, wilfrey table, but unless I find something to run through it I'm not going to bother trying to fire it up. Course if I actually found some ore we could swap notes being our setup sounds similar. I'd much rather dredge than hardrock anyways but that's getting more and more difficult to do legally. Sounds like you have some good ore though! Hope it all pans out!

Sounds like you’re about where I was about 5-6 years ago!
Personally I’d rather be dredging too. I had finally put together a nice 5” dredge, and had all the kinks ironed out, when they banned dredging!��
Where did you send your samples to get assayed? I’ve had some very unreliable results from companies, both to high and to low. I had one come back at 7 ounces/ton. Got super excited, bought a bunch of equipment, only to find out that there’s no way anything from that location had that much gold in it. I’ve since bought my own assay equipment, and do all my own assays. There’s quite a learning curve to get proficient at it, but I’ve ran a few hundred now, and feel pretty confident.
How big if your wilfley table? Have you ran it yet? Reason I’m asking is, I’m thinking about getting one to replace my wave table. I’m not a giant fan of the wave table I have, but it’s working ok for now.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Mountaineer2020]

Sounds like you’re about where I was about 5-6 years ago!
Personally I’d rather be dredging too. I had finally put together a nice 5” dredge, and had all the kinks ironed out, when they banned dredging!��
Where did you send your samples to get assayed? I’ve had some very unreliable results from companies, both to high and to low. I had one come back at 7 ounces/ton. Got super excited, bought a bunch of equipment, only to find out that there’s no way anything from that location had that much gold in it. I’ve since bought my own assay equipment, and do all my own assays. There’s quite a learning curve to get proficient at it, but I’ve ran a few hundred now, and feel pretty confident.
How big if your wilfley table? Have you ran it yet? Reason I’m asking is, I’m thinking about getting one to replace my wave table. I’m not a giant fan of the wave table I have, but it’s working ok for now.

Thanks for the reply!

The fireassay Hittle is where I used to get them done. Started doing my own as well. Like you said I'm about 5 years behind I've done... um. 1 now. The wilfrey is 7'x 12' runs on 3 phase and looks like it came from tales of the crypt. I have not ran it yet as I haven't found anything worth running and just got it this December. Hopefully it works. By the end of the year I should have run something through give me an idea of what's at the head whats at the tails and how clean the concentrate is. All depends on how the prospecting goes. Father-in-law has a 4" dredge we'll probably plop in a non-esh river this year. There's a few in Oregon that aren't esh. One of the creeks I have a claim on gets down to a trickle in the summer and it's listed as ESH. Father-in-law had a claim on a creek that dried up in summer and it was listed ESH. I guess that's where salmon spawn to evolve and grow legs?

 

[Load77]

The fireassay Hittle is where I used to get them done. Started doing my own as well. Like you said I'm about 5 years behind I've done... um. 1 now. The wilfrey is 7'x 12' runs on 3 phase and looks like it came from tales of the crypt. I have not ran it yet as I haven't found anything worth running and just got it this December. Hopefully it works. By the end of the year I should have run something through give me an idea of what's at the head whats at the tails and how clean the concentrate is. All depends on how the prospecting goes. Father-in-law has a 4" dredge we'll probably plop in a non-esh river this year. There's a few in Oregon that aren't esh. One of the creeks I have a claim on gets down to a trickle in the summer and it's listed as ESH. Father-in-law had a claim on a creek that dried up in summer and it was listed ESH. I guess that's where salmon spawn to evolve and grow legs?

The whole esh thing is kind of ridiculous. Especially since we couldn’t dredge when they were spawning anyway.
Gold refining forum has a lot of great information on fire assaying. A lot of other processes as well. I’ve gotten a lot of great advice there.