GhostMiner
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Posts posted by GhostMiner
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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
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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
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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%.
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5 hours ago, dig4gold said:
Hope you took photos so that you can show us.
D4G
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.
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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 ................
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3 hours ago, GhostMiner said:
September 10 2002 Part Two
After lunch I helped Conor get the pump going and told him I was going up to the dig site to have a look at the area Jacob was working. I jumped in my truck and headed up the mountain. When I got over to the area where Jacob was digging I got a good look at what he was talking about. I was amazed. He had started into a section of mountain with a long trench and then was widening out the dig and descending his work down and forming a kind of rectangular shaped hole that was a good twenty feet in width and just as deep. He had backed out of the trench and reset his operation to form a deeper but less steep ramp which had increased his footprint. That allowed him to go deeper than the twenty feet his excavator arm was limited to.
Jacob saw me and gave me a grin and climbed down off the machine. We were looking into a big hole where the entire north or back wall as well as the east wall was bedrock. I went down the ramp and got into the bottom of the hole with a pan and personally took out a good sample. Then Jacob and I walked over to a water tub and he watched me pan it out. I could hardly believe my eyes. There in front of me was a pan half full of black sand and the other half heavy gold. Pickers and coarse gold like I had never seen. Clay was in the truck waiting to be loaded and came over to have a look. He let out a soft whistle. I looked at Jacob and told him I was having a hard time believing what I was seeing. My hands were shaking.
Jacob just chuckled and told us it just kept getting richer as he got deeper into the cut. I asked him how deep he thought it could go before bottoming in bedrock. Jacob flatly stated he was not sure but if it held up for another several days it was going to get pretty interesting. He said the rich ground might also extend to the west as well because it showed no sign of being contained to the twenty feet of lateral area. He said it was something like the 1936 strike but actually might be much larger. How rich the bottom might be was anyone’s guess.
TO BE CONTINUED ...............
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.
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Hey Big Clay - you may soon be able to buy yourself an entire fleet of trucks.
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September 10 2002 Part Two
After lunch I helped Conor get the pump going and told him I was going up to the dig site to have a look at the area Jacob was working. I jumped in my truck and headed up the mountain. When I got over to the area where Jacob was digging I got a good look at what he was talking about. I was amazed. He had started into a section of mountain with a long trench and then was widening out the dig and descending his work down and forming a kind of rectangular shaped hole that was a good twenty feet in width and just as deep. He had backed out of the trench and reset his operation to form a deeper but less steep ramp which had increased his footprint. That allowed him to go deeper than the twenty feet his excavator arm was limited to.
Jacob saw me and gave me a grin and climbed down off the machine. We were looking into a big hole where the entire north or back wall as well as the east wall was bedrock. I went down the ramp and got into the bottom of the hole with a pan and personally took out a good sample. Then Jacob and I walked over to a water tub and he watched me pan it out. I could hardly believe my eyes. There in front of me was a pan half full of black sand and the other half heavy gold. Pickers and coarse gold like I had never seen. Clay was in the truck waiting to be loaded and came over to have a look. He let out a soft whistle. I looked at Jacob and told him I was having a hard time believing what I was seeing. My hands were shaking.
Jacob just chuckled and told us it just kept getting richer as he got deeper into the cut. I asked him how deep he thought it could go before bottoming in bedrock. Jacob flatly stated he was not sure but if it held up for another several days it was going to get pretty interesting. He said the rich ground might also extend to the west as well because it showed no sign of being contained to the twenty feet of lateral area. He said it was something like the 1936 strike but actually might be much larger. How rich the bottom might be was anyone’s guess.
TO BE CONTINUED ...............
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September 10 2002 Part One Staggering Prospects
Clay fired up the old Mack and he and Jacob rode up to the digsite as the sun was coming up. It was fun to watch them in the truck. Jacob was in his element and the two of them were becoming good friends. I got the pump going and Conor and I started processing pay gravel. I was looking at the sluice and the concentrates were showing some nice gold. We were on a real pay streak that could turn our season into a big time strike. We will have to wait to see if the ground holds up over time.
Around noon Jacob rode back down the mountain with Clay as Old Bulldog delivered us another lode. We decided to stop for lunch. Over some sandwiches Jacob was talking with us about the pay he was digging. He said he had stopped twice to take some pan samples and he had one with him. It was absolutely brimming with heavy gold. I had to ask him if this was just from one of his pans he sampled and he said yes. Jacob went on to say that this was starting to remind him of the big 1936 gold strike which was just northwest of where he was digging. He said our current dig site was just a little east of the faultline but he had a suspicion that he had started to uncover a big pot hole or kettle at the top of the fault where gold may have been trapped before it traveled along the ancient river another 100 feet and tumbled over the old waterfall in that area. He said the strike of 1936 had occurred at the bottom of the old falls. The gold had piled up in a pothole and was buried over time. He said he was butting up against a rim of bedrock that was dropping straight down. That, according to him, was the first signs of discovering a kettle or natural gold trap. Jacob told us that depending on the size and depth of the kettle there could be the potential for big gold. I asked him what he meant by big. He looked each crew member in the eye one by one and softly said maybe 1000 ounces or even more.
TO BE CONTINUED .............
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September 9 2002 Big Time Gold Again
The morning finally came. I didn’t sleep all that well. I kept thinking about the gold weigh. What if we were wrong and were over estimating how much gold was in the concentrates from 100 yards of washed gravel? Today we found out.
We finished the cleanup just after noon. It was a good one. We had 29 ounces of gold. Nearly 9 grams to the yard. Jacob was right, we are onto something special. If this holds up we are going to end the year on a high note.
Big Clay was dancing around camp at lunch time like he was a new millionaire or something. Everyone was in a good mood. We finished lunch and got back to mining and worked straight through until dusk. The tom had processed 60 yards of gravel and we could see the pickers practically jumping out of the sluice. Jacob said we would run another day and then do a cleanup. The morning couldn’t come fast enough for us.
TO BE CONTINUED ..................
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8 hours ago, Bedrocker said:
100' eh? I've got flashlights that will light up a 1/4 mile or more. You don't have to walk in too far.
Yes, ours weren't very good and we had safety concerns as well. More on Dreamwind Canyon in the future.
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MORE ON DREAMWIND CANYON : I've got a lot of information on this canyon and a few more experiences to relay. This particular one came about in the Fall of 2016. My brother in law & his wife along with my wife Lindy and I were doing a bit of exploring in the canyon. The weather was much cooler than the extreme Summer heat that sucks the water right out of your body. There had been some old rumors of an old mine entrance on the west side of the steep cliff. We had an old map from way back but there was no date on it. It did show a drift marked out in a location that seemed to match up with the stories.
We hiked out early in the morning wearing heavy back packs. We were heading north from the lower elevation and climbing in altitude. The going was tough and slow. The canyon floor was strewn with heavy rocks and boulders as well as thick Manzanita. All four of us were also sporting snake gators for safety as the rattlesnake here may be more abundant than the gold. We took a short break around noon and the girls stated they thought we ought to go back. I talked them into continuing for another hour. What happened next is something I can't explain.
About 45 minutes into the extended hike my brother in law hollered out and pointed to the left. There was the entrance that was marked on the old map. I couldn't believe it - the stories were true. The entrance was timbered but they were old and partially rotted. They looked to be hand hewn and were probably set back in the mid 1800's. I shined a flashlight inward and the tunnel looked to be solid. The adit was just tall enough for me to stand upright and was about five feet in width. Who wanted to venture inside?
My brother in law and his wife said they wanted to take a look so they headed in as my wife and I watched. I asked them how the air was and they replied it was good so far. As they got in about 100 feet both their flashlights died. They came back out. It was strange for two flashlights with new batteries to die at once. More than strange. However, they were not ready to quit so my wife and I gave them our flashlights which also had new batteries. Well, about the same distance in both lights went dead and back out they came. Now they were visibly disturbed. This just wasn't right. Reluctantly, the four of us eased on out of Dreamwind Canyon. The mine had seemed to want to keep its secrets. And it did, at least for that day.
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September 8 2002
Well the day finally came and we were mining as the sun came up. It was perfect weather as well. I told Conor to go ahead and feed the new tom with the skid steer. I wanted him to get his confidence back. He was being extra careful but after an hour I could see his confidence return and he was operating the machine like a pro. Jacob was up on the mountain digging pay gravel and Big Clay was hauling. Jacob loves to run that excavator and he knows how to stay on the pay gravel.
At noon I jumped in my truck and took some sandwiches up to Jacob and Clay. Jacob climbed down off the machine and walked me into a fresh cut in the mountain. He scooped out a pan of gravel and panned it out for me to see. There were seven pickers and a lode of coarse gold. Jacob gave me a wink and told me he was onto something special in this location. I asked Clay to come have a look as well. He blinked twice to make sure he was really seeing the pans’ contents for real. I told him he was hauling some very rich material. Then I headed back down to tell Conor.
The plan was to process carefully and not overload the tom. That way we could get a good read on the values we were mining. The toms’ sweet spot seemed to be around ten yards an hour so that’s how we fed it all day. We shut down at sundown having washed 100 yards. Then Conor and I pulled the mats. The concentrates were heavy and we could see abundant gold in them. Tomorrow morning we’ll do a cleanup and get back to work after lunch. I am hopeful that this gold weigh is going to be a whopper.
TO BE CONTINUED ...............
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1 hour ago, Joe L said:
Whiskey and beer, ahh to be a miner….oh yes, that gold stuff too.
LOL. But only after working hours. Never on the mine site.
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September 7 2002 Part Two
Just like the Forest Service agent said, when I got to the ranger station my paperwork was approved and waiting for me. I asked if I needed to talk with anyone and the lady in the front office told me I was good to go. When I got back to the mine I drove up to where the crew was working and showed them our approved permit. As long as we didn’t go near those reclaimed areas we were good to mine.
Clay hauled gravel until dark and the crew got together for supper, just like a family would. We were all anxious to put the new tom to work in the morning. We had a huge mound of pay gravel to start working on until we got the trommel back. I fried up hash and cooked up some hot dogs to go with it. We all had a couple of shots of whisky to celebrate. Clay was going on and on about how anxious he was to see that gold come out of the mountain. I told him we were digging on rich pay ground up there and we should have gold soon. We all turned in except for Clay who once again sat up drinking beer.
TO BE CONTINUED ................
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1 hour ago, Gold Seeker said:
If I recall correctly Dave never did anything at Jason's claim because as mentioned the lack of water.
Jason however joined up with Dave as a crew member on the show.
Howdy Skip. Hope you are doing great. Dave offered the crew a chance to buy the mine in Alaska with all equipment for one million but supposedly they turned the offer down which may have been smart. The operation there was prone to flooding which caused many problems. I think Dave was just sick of fighting everything and wanted to spend time with family.
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September 7 2002 Part One Uncle Sam Pays Another Visit
I was actually up an hour before sunrise and had breakfast and coffee ready for the crew when they rolled out of their sleeping bags. It was a cold but clear morning with temps around 40 degrees but we all knew that as soon as the sun rose they came up quickly. The high temperatures lately have been in the mid 70’s to maybe 80 degrees. Perfect for working and a much needed change from the Summer of brutal heat.
The crew got to work hauling pay gravel and I headed for the ranger station. I was at the door when they opened and actually caught our minerals agent before he headed to his office. He was quite surprised to learn that we had completed the reclamation process where required. With some kind words just short of begging I plead my case to him and asked if he could possibly head out to our mine for the inspection first thing before he got caught up in other paperwork. To my relief he agreed, saying that since we had an active permit and he was only tending to a few late applications that wouldn’t start operating until next season he could do it for us. I thanked him and told him I’d be waiting when he got to our property.
I actually didn’t have to wait very long before he arrived. My crew were all up on the mountain working. The agent walked through the reclaimed sections taking some notes and also some pictures. He seemed quite pleased and told me he would take his report to the ranger for his signature. He told me to come back to the ranger station at 4:00 PM and our new permit should be approved. I shook hands with him and he drove away.
This was great news and I could hardly wait to tell the others so I jumped in my truck and drove up the mountain to the dig site. When the crew heard the news they were hooting and hollering like we just won first prize at the county fair. We were hopefully back on the road to mining gold once again.
TO BE CONTINUED ...................
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37 minutes ago, Aureous said:
A real SMH moment with Dave being the 'host', my understanding was that he was never a prospector anyway, just a quarry owner/earthmover...everything he learned about gold mining was since he joined Gold Rush. The real-deal guy to do this sorta thing would be Freddy Dodge methinks.
These shows are quite manipulated by the producers I think. I don't know if you remember way back in Gold Rush when Todd Hoffman moved his crew to the High Bar mine in Oregon. I talked with the head of a group that was trying to sell it. Just a small part of the acreage was permitted. He told me that when Todd & Dave & rest of crew got there they only spent a few hours actually mining for the show before they moved to Fred Dodge's claim in Colorado.
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2 hours ago, jasong said:
It might have been a few of those first season ones? Definitely E1 and E102 from the thumbnails. I'm way disconnected from TV these days. I must have seen their operation out there after they were already done, which means they probably didn't get very far on it.
I think there were 6 shows where he visited possible mine sites.
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1 minute ago, jasong said:
Eh, I bet you could find better. I think that's just a part of an old channel that probably pops up other places too. Though, looking at that big nugget - if it really did come out of there - it seems likely to be locally derived, not nearly as water worn as I woulda guess and bears crystalline structure remanants.
It's just basically this little chunk of gravel up on a hill. It'd be mined out quick IMO.
My wife thinks they use the same pans of gold over & over on the Gold Rush shows LOL.
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20 minutes ago, jasong said:
Ah yep, that must have been the show, the Lost Mines one, and I think Sanchez sounds familiar in terms of last names of whoever owned that when I looked it up a while back but I can't remember exactly.
I wonder if Sanchez still owns that claim. If it's for sale I might be interested in partnering with some people if it proved out. He owns a bar somewhere in Montana as well. Maybe I can hunt him up.
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15 minutes ago, jasong said:
Ah yep, that must have been the show, the Lost Mines one, and I think Sanchez sounds familiar in terms of last names of whoever owned that when I looked it up a while back but I can't remember exactly.
Here it is.
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2 minutes ago, phrunt said:
Was it this show? Dave Turns Lost Mines
I would have access to it if I knew the episode.
Yep. Dave is attempting to sell his Alaska claims & all equipment for somewhere around one million dollars from what I am hearing. His attempt to mine in Alaska with his hand picked crew ended in failure. He is about 64 or 65 yrs old & said he was done with gold mining. Looks like he is now going to do some smaller stuff on TV.
** Lost Gold At The Dead Man's Mine ** A Miners Journal **
in Detector Prospector Forum
Posted
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.