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GhostMiner

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GhostMiner last won the day on March 25

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  • Interests:
    Exploration & leasing of past producing placer gold mines in the Sierra Nevada Mts.
  • Gear In Use:
    Excavators, skid steers, large trommels, spiral wheels.

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  1. So now I'm thinking back and remembering that season so long ago. Seems like yesterday but they're all gone now.
  2. For anyone keeping score that makes 85.8 ounces of gold out of that cut so far. Will it hold up or get better? Stay tuned. The fun is just about to begin.
  3. September 11 2002 Bound For Glory Jacob was already up before dawn and eventually the entire crew was at the morning breakfast meeting and having coffee. We all took a minute in silence to remember those who had died in the Twin Towers attack last year. We had breakfast and Jacob and Clay went up to the dig site while Conor and I started the cleanup process. We were done just after 1:00 PM and I radioed Jacob and Clay. They came down to camp and I showed them a jar of gold. It was from this morning's weigh. It was good. The jar contained 56.8 ounces of coarse gold with some fine mixed in as well. I figured somewhere around 11 grams to the yard. Even old Jcob got excited. He stated that the further down he went the better it got. And it also was widening out to the west. Conor was nearly out of control and Clay was almost as bad. Jacob spoke softly and told everyone to calm down. He said it was bad luck to get too excited. He also told everyone to keep their mouths shut if they went to town. News of a strike could send all kinds of hooligans and prospectors out here looking for gold. We had dealt with enough of that kind of thing. After lunch we all got back to work. Conor and I washed another 40 yards of material by dusk and we called it a day. When Jacob came down the mountain with Clay just before dark he went straight to the sluice and grabbed a small scoop of the concentrates with his pan. We all followed him over to a water tub and shined flashlights down on the pan as he worked the black sand away from the gold. The pan was heavy with coarse gold. I think Jacob just wanted us to know we were still on the streak. We went back over to camp and I heated up some canned hash and fried up some Spam. Jacob uncorked a bottle and we all filled our cups. We did a toast to the mine and all the miners who had worked here before us. Then Jacob did a very somber toast to his brother Jed and the crew of 1936 and 1937. I saw a tear run down his face. Then he turned to us and flatly stated “Boys, we are bound for glory.” TO BE CONTINUED ...............
  4. We ended up doing good on this low cost plan. At one of the trenches on the operation we hit a honey hole that we got pretty excited about. I was at a creek about half a mile away running concentrates through a spiral wheel (Gold Magic) while my partners were running gravel. I saw my partner pull in with his truck and told me I needed to come check out the area they were digging. I had him stay with the cons while I drove up to the the dig site. They were test panning from the trench and were pulling pans of coarse gold like I hadn't seen there before. This stuff ended up being in the ounces to the yard. We all thought we had struck it rich but as soon as it started it faded away. It was a hot spot but it didn't last long. Mining can be cruel. However, sometimes I think running the small and inexpensive plans are the best ways to go. You have little to lose but your time and if you have done your homework on the ground you should make some money. For me it's not a fever any longer but a business. I like to get paid for my work. So do my partners. However, it will always be a thrill to see gold in the pan. It's something that never grows old. I just got smarter about how much money I spend to get it.
  5. We actually ended up using a Kubota 80 on this plan. We got a deal from a guy who owned it. They are good machines & fairly powerful for their size. Normally I would not go smaller than a mid size but the big mini was all we needed. Bedrock was only 6 - 10 ft in depth and there weren't any huge rocks to worry about.
  6. A low cost and small scale start & then scale up if possible. Some may prefer to stay small. Usually when the larger scale is considered it is time to find investors.
  7. Here is an old start up cost sheet set up about 8 yrs ago to run 100,000 yards per season. I'd have to check but i'm guessing you'd need to add about 20% to the final number today. Fault Line Gold Mine & Extensions Start Up Expense Sheet Additional Permitting & Bond $150,000 Trommel & Spare Parts 235,000 Water Pumps 100,000 Pipe & Hose 20,000 Excavator 100,000 Backhoe/Loader 60,000 Company Truck 50,000 Company Step Van/Storage/Workshop 15,000 Company 4 Wheeler with Utility Bed 10,000 (10) Steel Mesh Utility Trailer 2000 (11) Campers (5) @ $7500 ea 37,500 (12) Diesel Fuel Storage Tank (500 gal) 2500 (13) Gasoline Storage Tank (500 gal) 2500 (14) Generator 15,000 W 2500 (15) Generator 4000 W 500 (16) Storage Building/Workshop 5000 (17) Gold Room (Gold Cleanup & Smelting) 5000 (18) Shaker Table 10,000 (19) Pro Camel 24 in Spiral Wheel 900 (20) Repairs (2 Seasons) 40,000 (21) All Fuel (2 Seasons) 80,000 (22) Skidsteer 50,000 (23) Loader 100,000 (24) Kiln 600 (25) Misc & Shipping 20,000 (26) Total : $1,113,000
  8. So here is a small scale plan executed in 2020. It was a 3 month operation involving 3 - 5 people. It used 4 separate plans of operation so as not to trigger SMARA (surface mining and reclamation act. SMARA is triggered when surface disturbance exceeds 1000 yards and requires much more detailed and expensive permitting. We do our own plans of operation at no cost by using federal and state agencies to do the proper environmental evaluations. Average time for plans to be approved can vary depending on how busy the agencies are but 4 - 6 months should be expected. Our bond was moved from one site to the next as each plan was finished and reclaimed. If you want to run multiple sites at once you would need a bond for each site. Our bonds vary from around $3500 for a small plan like this upwards to $10,000 or more for larger scale operations. The bonds are refunded as reclamation is finished and approved and all equipment removed. I am posting a very small scale plan here first. We did this plan after several years of hand prospecting to ensure success by proving the ground as best we could. One word concerning mining in California now - I noticed on Dave Turin's new show when he was up at Happy Camp he kind of clouded the issue on mechanized mining. Mechanized mining can still be done in California but you must be at least 300 ft from the creeks. For our claims this is not an issue as our commercial grade ground is anywhere from 600 - 2500 ft from any creeks. If you are planning to mine with equipment closer than 300 ft to a creek in California you may as well forget that plan for now. Perhaps it will be changed someday. Here is the small scale plan with the gold values conservatively adjusted for today's price per ounce. I will be posting a larger scale mining operation here as well. MINING PLAN FOR 2020 Equipment & Starting Expense : Super Hog Highbanker $ 2033 Custom built hopper/grizzly 500 Small 2 Yard/Hour Highbanker (Vern) 0 Semi Trash Water Pumps 2000 2100 ft 3 inch Lay Flat Hose & Fittings 2267 300 ft 2 inch Lay Flat Hose 149 Extra Fittings & Clamps 100 Bobcat E85 Excavator Rental (one month) 4667 Delivery & Return Fee 500 Porta John (one month) 300 Storage Shed 2000 Fuel 500 Misc & Shipping 500 Total : $ 15,516 Production Estimates : Run Time (8) hrs/day Monday - Friday Saturday/Sunday make up time & gold cleaning & processing. 7 yds/hr 56 yds/day 280 yds/wk 1120 yds/month $ 50/yd gold value after refining $ 2800/day $14,000/wk $56,000/month Operating Cost : $ 5467 1st month (fuel & excavator rent & misc) Net Revenue : $ 50,533 per month Would be scaled up to the larger operation Description of Operation : At Site #3 the north bluffs at Upper North Mine have 300 ft of baseline gravels that will provide 37 cuts or trenches into the base to bedrock. From each trench 45 yds of pay gravel will be processed. At Site #2 the west facing bluffs at Upper North Mine there will be 250 ft of baseline gravels that will provide 31 cuts or trenches into the base to bedrock. From each trench 45 yds of pay gravels will be processed. Site #2 Production : 31 cuts 1395 yds @ $ 50/yd $69,750 Site #3 Production : 37 cuts 1665 yds @ $ 50/yd $ 83,250 Total From Production : $153,000
  9. I was thinking it might be interesting to take a look at our mining equipment & supply information from one of our exploration & mining seasons. I will see if I can post something later. This would give anyone who is interested in starting a small operation an idea of what it takes in costs to get started. The latest yrs I have are from either 2019 or 2020 so you could figure to adjust the expenses at least another 20%.
  10. We didn't bother to take very many pictures in 2002. However, I will look around or see if anyone else has any. I am not much for taking pictures & didn't even own a camera back then. Even today I do not own a smart phone but have a chrome book for occasional pictures. There are some pictures taken on the mine from much later yrs that were taken by one of my partners but by then that 2002 project was completely reclaimed and buried. The bond was huge for the 2002 project because of all the ground we were disturbing. Cheers.
  11. September 10 2002 Part Three We ended up the day stopping with 100 yards of washed gravels. The cleanup will be done tomorrow with Conor and myself while Jacob and Clay continue to dig and haul pay gravel to the processing site. It actually started to rain as the crew was getting ready for supper so we went into Jacobs camper and ate. We were all eager to get that cleanup done tomorrow and find out if the gold values were getting even richer. Jacob figured they were and I thought so as well. We were all talking about gold and mining. Jacob told us that this glory hole was something for all of us to remember. He said we would be able to tell our kin about it someday. He seems to think that there is over 1000 ounces in the hole but possibly much more. There is a big drop in the bedrock there for sure. He is down about 25 feet and also widening the dig to the west. We all want to see the bottom of that pit. We finished supper and hit the sack. Tomorrow will give us more answers. TO BE CONTINUED ................
  12. A glory hole. Without an excavator we would have never found it. And on top of a faultline. A bit unusual. Kind of like walking down into a secret gold vault. I still get the chills. I found another in a remote area 2000 ft to the south on top of that fault line back in 2020. Completely mined out by the old hydraulic crews. They left me very little. But those old boys missed the one we found in 2002.
  13. Hey Big Clay - you may soon be able to buy yourself an entire fleet of trucks.
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