Some questions about hard rock mining

[kcm]

So regarding the original question, how long would it take to pull out 10 lbs of a ledge of gold? And with only simple mining tooles, and once again, the ledge in this case would be of basically pure gold. A whole daylike 8-10 hours? More or less?

...I think I'd be ripping it out with me teeth! ...Providing I "had" teeth!!

Is too difficult to say. So much depends on 1) identifying the 'bench', 2) making a plan for extraction based upon machinery, experience, access to the ledge, topography/accessibility, etc, 3) equipment and condition of such that is available, 4) skill of operator, etc, etc.

It's easy to "say" what we might do if we found such a bench, but much more is involved. I have no experience in mining, so I would be at a huge disadvantage over someone with experience.



...Think of it this way:
Let's say a kid is flying a kite and the kite gets away from him and lands in either:
1) a small tree and within reach - with the tree being on a neighborhood sidewalk
2) in a large tree and about 40' off the ground
3) in a neighbor's tree (they have 2 very mean Doberman's!!)
4) in high tension power lines

More information is needed in order to estimate recovery time.

 

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[Mad Machinist]

So regarding the original question, how long would it take to pull out 10 lbs of a ledge of gold? And with only simple mining tooles, and once again, the ledge in this case would be of basically pure gold. A whole daylike 8-10 hours? More or less?

Wildlifeliving,

My apologies for getting off on a tangent. I just can't stand it when someone says you just need this, this, and this and hardrocking is easy.

As for your original question, 1 cubic foot of gold weighs about 1206 pounds or 0.7 pounds per cubic inch. So 10 lbs of pure gold would be would be a rectangle approximately 2" high x 3.5" long x 2" deep. How long to remove it? It would take me about 5 minutes as gold is pretty soft and it would only take about a dozen whacks with a chisel and a 4 pound hammer to remove it.

 

[Mad Machinist]

Just thought you would like to know that little block of gold I mentioned above would be worth about $145,000 at today's prices.

 

[itspaidfor]

Wildlifeliving,

My apologies for getting off on a tangent. I just can't stand it when someone says you just need this, this, and this and hardrocking is easy.

As for your original question, 1 cubic foot of gold weighs about 1206 pounds or 0.7 pounds per cubic inch. So 10 lbs of pure gold would be would be a rectangle approximately 2" high x 3.5" long x 2" deep. How long to remove it? It would take me about 5 minutes as gold is pretty soft and it would only take about a dozen whacks with a chisel and a 4 pound hammer to remove it.

To correct you once again I never said it was easy I said it is possible with the right tools and know how. You talk like Hillary and act like a little kid.Just let it go you will be okay.

 

[Mad Machinist]

To correct you once again I never said it was easy I said it is possible with the right tools and know how. You talk like Hillary and act like a little kid.Just let it go you will be okay.

Actually, you amuse me. You make me think of a few knuckleheaded greenhorns I've worked with. Those memories are always good for a few laughs over beers. We named one Smiley. He decided he knew it all too. Ran a jackleg full bore through highly fractured rock even though we told him to slow it down. Well the bit jammed and you can figure out the rest. Luckily in tore the soft line away from the hard line before anybody else got hurt.

Since you know so much answer me this. You have an ore body split in half trending northwest on a strike-slip fault while downdipping 150 feet. Where is the other part of the ore body?

But then again, what do i know? I've only been a hardrock miner for nearly 20 years.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

To correct you once again I never said it was easy I said it is possible with the right tools and know how. You talk like Hillary and act like a little kid.Just let it go you will be okay.

With the right rocket and a good computer a monkey can be shot into outer space too. Shut up, listen to MM, and learn something. He's got the real world experience and the sheepskins on the wall to boot.

 

[Mad Machinist]

With the right rocket and a good computer a monkey can be shot into outer space too. Shut up, listen to MM, and learn something. He's got the real world experience and the sheepskins on the wall to boot.

Its all good, brother. I try not to make a big deal out of my education. Though the wife is pushing me towards a desk job.

I'm still working on the equipment side of things. Problem is with the prices of things, I don't see a way for the small scale guy to get started without a serious outlay of cash up front.

And once you have equipment payments or are starting "in the hole" to begin with, and trying to "make a living" hardrocking, it changes the while perspective on this. When your sick, you go to work. When your hurt, you go to work. When it is raining or snowing, you go to work. When it is 100+ degrees, you go to work.

All of this takes a very serious toll on the body. Working with torn ligaments in a knee WILL guarantee you reconstructive surgery on that knee which WILL put you out of work for quite some time and put your family on "hard times".

Keep pounding away on the chemistry side of things. I'm headed out to the shop to pound away at the equipment side of things. I think I have worked out a way to build the needed equipment with commonly available hand tools.

 

[Mad Machinist]

Since you know so much answer me this. You have an ore body split in half trending northwest on a strike-slip fault while downdipping 150 feet. Where is the other part of the ore body?

But then again, what do i know? I've only been a hardrock miner for nearly 20 years.

Let me help you out a little here. You have to go to the surface. The clues are there IF you know how to read them.
https://www.google.com/search?q=riv...hUHxlQKHbH3AcAQ_AUICSgD#imgrc=plQ68xs7BJGCDM:

 

[Goldfleks]

I just want to see a bench of solid gold. OP where are the pics!

 

[desertson]

I read in a thread a few comments that I was thinking about: "There is no such thing as easy mining" and "That's why it's called hardrock mining because its so hard to do lol" So if you had a large gold ledge with solid gold and when carving out chunks of it they were to be basically pure gold, would that be considered hard rock mining? Or would it maybe be called something else?
And how do these statements aply to that, ie is that considered to be hard? What time frame would you put if it was pure gold you were carving and mining in to pull out like 10 lbs with a hammer and a tool like this http://www.pothierenterprises.com/old/images/PNEUMATIC-STEEL-CHISEL.jpg its like 5 inches long and 1 inch wide at the top. Sorry if this seems like a stupid question, pretty new to this stuff.

Well if I found that ledge of yours, I would be unable to touch it because for sure I would be on someone elses claim, or in the middle of Death Valley with a Ranger sneaking up right behind me.
That chisel you linked goes to a jack hammer, or air hammer of some type, so I wouldn't hit it with a hammer unless I had a pretty good swing and wasn't worried about my fingers.
But yeah if the heavens opened and your ledge there was mine free and clear, I would go get my generator and concrete saw and see how big a piece of that jewelry I could remove in one piece.

 

[Mad Machinist]

Well if I found that ledge of yours, I would be unable to touch it because for sure I would be on someone elses claim, or in the middle of Death Valley with a Ranger sneaking up right behind me.
That chisel you linked goes to a jack hammer, or air hammer of some type, so I wouldn't hit it with a hammer unless I had a pretty good swing and wasn't worried about my fingers.
But yeah if the heavens opened and your ledge there was mine free and clear, I would go get my generator and concrete saw and see how big a piece of that jewelry I could remove in one piece.

If ya ever find that ledge of gold in Death Valley let me know. I'll lead up my Raptor 660 and come run some interference for ya.

 

[KevinInColorado]

I'd immediately be thinking about how I was going to sell this as one solid specimen to a museum. A careful extraction would ideally be done with guidance from paleontologists or archeologists or similar scientists I think to best preserve the specimen!

 

[SaltwaterServr]

If ya ever find that ledge of gold in Death Valley let me know. I'll lead up my Raptor 660 and come run some interference for ya.

I'll provide overwatch.

 

[desertson]

Call me Superstitious but in Death Valley proper, (the monument seems just to be expanded to shut down original mining sites) if you find that ledge, or the lead/silver one I found a piece of once upon a time, the desert herself is just going to cover it up as you walk away, sure your going to remember how to find it later.

 

[Mad Machinist]

Call me Superstitious but in Death Valley proper, (the monument seems just to be expanded to shut down original mining sites) if you find that ledge, or the lead/silver one I found a piece of once upon a time, the desert herself is just going to cover it up as you walk away, sure your going to remember how to find it later.

The desert is a very mean mistress. She will show you her ways if you pay attention. She gives no second chances and has no mercy.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

The desert is a very mean mistress. She will show you her ways if you pay attention. She gives no second chances and has no mercy.

That right there is on the money.

There's an old out-of-print magazine called Desert Magazine that still has all the issues going back into the 30's online. It always had prospecting stories in each issue.

One month mentioned a search for guy who was out south of Tucson somewhere looking for gold. Car broke down, he carried no supplies for more than a day trip. They found his corpse thanks to the buzzards, not too far from his car with "THIS IS HELL" scratched in the ground.

For the folks who've never been in the desert proper, in the heat of summer, you haven't an idea of how quickly she'll kill you. Walk 150 yards uphill without hydration to keep you cool inside and you'll get lightheaded.

She does not eff around.

 

[Golden_Crab]

Guess I'll be the jaded one here.. who the hell lives in arizona (or even visits) then plans some desert excursion to the middle of nowhere (at this point doesn't matter it's the desert) with ZERO "ohshit" plans? Nature fixes stupid imo

 

[Mad Machinist]

Guess I'll be the jaded one here.. who the hell lives in arizona (or even visits) then plans some desert excursion to the middle of nowhere (at this point doesn't matter it's the desert) with ZERO "ohshit" plans? Nature fixes stupid imo

You would be surprised how many people I run into out in the desert who are unprepared and think this is easy because they watched Gold Rush on TV. Very little water and food. No shelter or portable shade. Broken A/c in the vehicle with the vehicle low on fuel.

I've gotten to the point that when I am out and about in the desert, I carry twice what I need because I know I'm probably going to run into some idiot that just about got his family killed because he was stupid.

 

[kcm]

We do the same thing here as it's 50 miles to town, and very.......make that VERY few houses most of the way!! Always have water, food, extra clothing, ....hell, you'd think my wife is expecting the coming doomsday or something! But I can't say nutin', as I gotta have every tool I might ever POSSIBLY need out there!

 

[desert-rat]

I always get a kick out of the people out riding around in their 4x4 on some road to rough to fly a helicopter over. I always carry more water than I could possibly drink and then leave another case of it in the truck in case end up walking back. Ive never got in a real bind out there but I have stepped off a quad quite a few times and just let it go to keep from having it ride me down the side of a mountain. Those machines heal up easier than I do. you would be surprised how many times ive come back to the truck to find someone has grabbed a couple of bottles of water out of the back and left me a beer roasting in the sun.