GhostMiner

I don't want to divulge too much info LOL.

Make sure your plan takes water runoff into account. The creeks are sacred and they will want them protected. You'll need to have an approved settling area for tailings water. We have been able to pump directly out of the creeks depending on the plan. They want you at least 50 ft from the creek. Or you may need to dig ponds. One for fresh water & one for tailings runoff. Then recirculate everything. Every situation is unique. Your water usage comes in the form of a water license from the state water board. They will send out a hydrologist to look at your area and plan. Then plant and wildlife people will make a visit. Archaeologist from the state as well. If there are no issues you will get approved and a bond will be calculated.

May 25 1937 Part Seven It got quiet again and we waited to see if anything would happen. There was somebody on our property with guns and that was not good. After a few minutes someone from up on the mountain hollered down at us. They said we had killed some of their friends. They said they knew we had found treasure and wanted it. The guy doing the hollering said if we gave them half of it they would leave peaceful like. Otherwise more were going to get hurt. John yelled back at them. He called them cowards and said they had their chance before but they turned tail and ran. He said we would finish them off in the next battle. As soon as he finished saying that gunfire started up again. This time it was directed at us. I could hear bullets striking trees all around me. I saw the gun flashes and fired at them. Sarge opened up with the BAR and Ben did the same with the Thompson. We would see a muzzle flash and fire on it. The gun battle lasted for five minutes and it got quiet again. Sarge hollered out that he had shot one of them and to hold our positions. I was thinking that they were planning another attack but wasn’t sure from which direction. It was clear that they wanted the treasure wrapped up in the blanket. I hollered out to the gang saying come on in and take the treasure if you have the guts to try it. TO BE CONTINUED ..................

I don't think I have read that one. Thanks.

So as promised, here is the true story behind the journal. It all started one Winter day when I was searching the internet about information on our mines in the Sierra Nevada mts of California. I had been researching for a good hour or more when I came across a website that contained old mining projects that the U.S. Dept of Interior had been involved in. To my surprise, one of the areas of my company's mining property was in there. It was a huge report - 282 pages long. It was so large that when I tried to download it and send it to our geologist it would stall & refuse to load. I called my son in law who is our vice president and very tech savvy. He was able to get it done. The report stated there had been a mining company based in Los Angeles that went out there on a lease deal to test & work some of the faultline area way up to the northern area of the property. They were in a 50/50 deal that was funded by the government. The owner of that part of what is now our property was a woman from Indiana who had inherited the claim. She knew nothing about mining and decided to lease the property. After I sent the report to our geologist I got an email from him asking if I had read page 152. I said that I had indeed read through the report but wanted to go back through it several more times. He told me to look at that particular page as it talked about a location of sizeable tonnage. The test numbers were in the report but figured in 1960's gold values. He converted it to the values at the time he read the report. Gold was around $1650/oz. He said some of the tests were averaging $100/yard and there were hot spots over $400/yard. The location in the report was a bit vague but described as a certain number of feet south of a certain object. I told him I had an idea where that area might be. He said we needed to find it. The report had a number of pages with testing results. The bedrock up north was very deep. There had been an attempt at hydraulicking up there back in the 1800's and the old crew had cut about 50 feet of overburden away and stopped. The southern area of our mines were hydraulicked in the 1800's with over 1.3 million ounces of gold taken according to the report but they never finished up because in 1884 the state of California put severe limits on that kind of mining and the big companies pulled out. But the intersting area up north is nearly half a mile NW of there. The company in the 1960's did some churn drill tests where the ground had been partially stripped and still didn't strike bedrock until 112 ft deep. The results of the tests were only fair and after a long series of tests the company pulled out. The ground is placer and not hardrock but due to the depth of bedrock the company sank a main shaft and did some drifting along bedrock and also some raised tunneling to get an idea of deposit. It was deemed too costly for what they were finding. Their company geologist had determined that it was too far north of the main gut of the gold channel which was ancient river channel. He stated it was at the very northern edge of the channel. Then came the history of this mine. Back in 1936 the ground was privately owned and not Federal Land as it is today. It was owned by a logging & lumber company who had a mill about 5 miles away. They were aware of the old gold mine workings and leased out the northern faultline area to a man named Mr Stevenson (my Jed Stevens in the journal). He was working the claim under the direction of California state geologist C. S. Haley. The report doesn't mention much about this relationship but my guess is that Haley had a part ownership of gold percentage in this project. He instructed Stevenson where he should work and a small crew was assembled. The crew worked the ground during the Summer of 1936. Sometime in late Summer of that year the crew encountered an area of raised bedrock. The area was described as about 20 ft X 30 ft and was extremely rich ground. The crew glory holed it and removed over 1000 ounces of gold. The report goes on to say that there was trouble afterwords because Stevenson didn't live up to his contract as far as royalties. It goes on to state that Stevenson was murdered one night when he was showing his gold while in "poor" company. Eventually the lumber company sold the land to the government and now it is administered by the Forest Service. There were several attempts to go back into the property to mine the northern faultline but all were by amateur miners and were not successful operations. Those attempts were back in the 1950's. So there you have it - the story behind the journal.

Oh no! Not again!!

May 25 1937 Part Six There was a quick discussion as to what we should do about the gunfire at the eastern drift mine. We decided to stay where we were and spread out in a big circle around camp. We all took cover and sat and watched our perimeter. Our new found treasure was sitting at camp wrapped up in two blankets. This didn’t make us feel too secure about it. I couldn’t help but think back to our visit by the Indian Shaman and what he had warned. I had been in a number of battles out here since last year. When would my number come up? I tried to get these thoughts out of my mind and concentrate on what was at hand - guarding our goods and staying alive. I heard more gunfire up at the drift mine area. Then I heard Sarge holler out for everyone to stay put. If the gang was trying to divide us and get some of us away from guarding the treasure it wasn’t working. They would have to think of something else. TO BE CONTINUED .................

Always good to hear about a potential mine opening in this country. It looks like they are very early stages.

May 25 1937 Part Five We got the lid open and shined the lantern down close into the opening. Once again there was a red and yellow cloth covering the contents. I took it out and placed it on a second blanket the crew had brought over. The chest was layden with more treasure. At the top were emeralds and jewelry. We took the pieces out by the handfuls. Then another red and yellow cloth which we removed. There were crystal and gold skulls beneath it. Then another red and yellow cloth that covered small gold bars. When we finished laying everything out we just couldn’t believe our eyes. We had much to look at including some papers with writing we couldn’t quite make out. For a while the entire crew just sat in silence. I don’t think any of us had expected so much treasure and we were stunned. Finally, John spoke. He said that we were all rich beyond our wildest dreams. We were millionaires. All I could think of was what are we going to do with all of this and where will we hide it. John believed it was part of a Spanish treasure that probably came from Mexico. He said it probably had historical significance beyond anything ever found. He also advised everyone to keep quiet about this discovery. We needed to figure out what to do. As we were talking we heard gunfire. It was not far off to the east. Sarge said it sounded like it was coming from the area of the eastern drift mine dig. We had pretty much forgotten all about that area while we were on the treasure hunt. Ben said we needed to send a few people over there to check out what was going on but Sarge said it may be a trap. We may have been watched and what was left of the gang of thugs may be trying to divide us up in order to rob us. We were all standing in a circle around the treasure with our rifles pointed into the dark. TO BE CONTINUED ....................

Start with contacting the local Ranger District. They will want you to file a Notice of Intent. Then, depending on the plan, you will follow that up with filing a Plan of operation. The forms are online. You can mail them in or take them to the Ranger's office in person.

A little more on my experiences with permits. I knew a guy who was permitted on a claim in northern California. He decided to be a cowboy and go off the one acre that contained his plan. To his bad luck his minerals agent decided to visit his operation and caught him. He was given a cease & desist order and was told to do reclamation on the area he disturbed. When he completed the work he got back to mining on his permitted area. Lesson learned.

It's just paperwork LOL. We have a lady that works for the Forest Service as a minerals agent. She is fairly easy to work with if you are up front with your plans and follow the rules & regulations. Where people get into trouble is doing things not listed in the plan. I have learned to include everything you think you "may" do as long as what you will definately do. That gives you some space to change your strategy if needed. I always try to think way ahead when I write up a plan. That has kept me out of trouble so far. Alaska is the easiest place to mine from what I hear. California is strict but not impossible. And the gold is there as well.

On the permitting process & regulations - Our claims are on national Forest Service ground. They are subject to regulation by the U.S. government, the state of California, & the county they are located in. When I started out with my first mining claim 11 years ago I was told by some people that it was impossible to get a permit to run heavy equipment on a claim in California. Being dumb and not up on any of the process I called the Forest Service. They told me what steps to use and there was a form online that could be used or to submit the plan using my own form as long as all the questions were addressed. So I used their form. It is free including the environmental people who go out to view the ground and look at the plan. The Plan of Operation form is fairly easy to use but you must limit disturbance to 1000 cubic yards for each plan. If you go over that level you trigger SMARA whichis the SURFACE MINING and REGULATION ACT of 1975. That requires much more permitting & can take a year or longer. I found that if you have enough ground you are able to put in several Plans of Operation at once. You can run them all at once with seperate reclamation bonds if you have enough crew or do them one at a time. You finish one plan, do the reclamation, move the bond to the next plan, and keep going. I have done 3 plans at a time. We actually have 3 plans in the process waiting for approval as I write this. The time frame depends on how busy all the various people are that need to come to the claim. It usually takes anywhere from 6 months to a year to get them approved. If there is a problem with the plan they will notify you of any changes needed. So far we have not run into any issues. Our bond is based on equipment used and disturbance needed to reclaim. We have used a mid size excavator, skid steer, small rock truck, pumps, generator, & various other items. We live off grid in tents, trucks, & occasional RV. All that must be in the plan. Our bond has been under $6000 & gets refunded after they check your reclamation & sign off on it. Happy to assist any future miners with a dream.

May 25 1937 Part Four The top of the chest was filled with jewelry and some kind of yellowed papers. We spread out a blanket and placed them on the surface. I took out handfuls of jewels. Below this level was another red and yellow cloth which I removed. This took me down to approximately the halfway depth of the wooden chest. The rest was filled with small gold bars or bricks and blank gold coins. It was endless. When I finally got to the bottom there was a human skull that sent shivers through me. I felt like we were going to pay a heavy price for uncovering the treasure. Then John broke off the lock to the second chest. I could only wonder what this one held. TO BE CONTINUED ................

Am I a miner? Part time yes. I have done projects on & off for 11 yrs. I have always come out to the good and not lost money which is more than I can say for some miners I know. A few yrs ago I got more into the exploration and leasing end of it. I prove there is gold with hard numbers & lease ground. I always make sure to explain to people that there are no guarantees in mining and tell them it is high risk. They also are encouraged to do their own testing. I've seen a lot of prospectors with gold fever that make poor decisions. Gold does that to people. I have a few projects I want to work myself with a small crew eventually and do it more as a treasure hunt. Jed's dig site is one of them. I have done short term leases with good people for next to nothing as far as return because the claims are not tested yet. They get to have fun prospecting & all I ask is they tell me what they find and where they found it. That's how I found a good mining partner one day. He found good gold and we ended up mining some of it together.

Sounds like a good project for sure.

beatup, I have not heard from you in quite awhile.

How risky is gold mining? That depends. You should have lots of info on a claim before you start mining. Hopefully you know the history of what has happebed there in the past. Who mined there previously? How did they do? Why did they leave? Then comes the exploration phase. I wouldn't commit to a mining project unless you have prospected the likely ground. By hand & hopefully with heavy equipment. Bulk samples. I prefer trenching. Possibly 20 - 50 yards at each trench and moving across a possible permit area. Then crunch the numbers. keep all emotion out of it & never fall in love with a property. I once personally witness a guy lose $300K in one short season because he didn't do his homework and relied on info from someone selling the claim. Nothing wrong with getting info from a claim owner but do independant research as well. And TEST THE CLAIM BEFORE MAKING A COMMITMENT. There are absolutely no exceptions to this rule.

The Fed has just hiked rates by 3/4% and will do another most likely in November. We can expect gold to slide a bit lower for now but by early next yr I would think it starts to rise again. I'm thinking $1500 an oz or so is a new bottom.

So another question people ask is what does it cost to go mining. That is pretty open ended and dependant on scale of an operation. Up in northern California you can rent a new or nearly new mid size excavator & skid steer for around $10K / month. You'll need some good pumps and water line. Lay flat is fairly cheap and will do the job well. You'll need a generator. The other item is the wash plant/trommel. Buying a new one is expensive. For a 15 yard trommel you'll pay around $40 - $50K. They go up from there. I wouldn't waste money on a 15 yard an hour trommel because it's not enough processing capacity to make money and you aren't utilizing your other equipment's capability. You may be able to do a deal for gold or rent one. If you're flush with cash or have great credit you could just go out and buy a larger trommel. Plan on spending over $100K. Or, find a good used trommel somewhere or make your own. If you've got ground that pays an ounce per 100 yds & you process 300 yds/day that comes out to 3 ounces of gold a day. You'll need a minimum of 2 people but most likely 4 or 5 people. A good mechanic is an absolute must because they are the most important person on a mine. If you are a good mechanic then you already have a jump on the process. Also, you must have a welder on site as well. Usually the mechanic & welder are the same guy. Then subtract other expenses such as payroll unless everyone works for gold and also fuel. That's why a 15 yard per hour trommel isn't enough. It would barely pay the bills.

This would be a good size trommel to match up with a mid sized excavator and skid steer being used as a feeder. You could count on 35 - 40 yds per hour production. https://www.savonaequipment.com/en/new-savona-equipment-st70-trommel-p111383

Here is an example of the Gold Claimer Pioneer 30 with a shaker hopper feeder. If I were mining full time I would want a larger trommel able to process more yardage. http://www.goldclaimerbrand.com/Pioneer30Shaker.html

One of the main reasons id Fed tightening with higher interest rates and removing liquidity from markets. This will end early next year & gold will march higher. Each low in gold is a higher low now. Mining ETF's are horrible because miners constantly dilute shares to raise capital. They have been cut in half just in the last few years. I will take gold long term over anything else. Period.

In this example we were actually runnubg the Heckler 2410V and feeding it with a custom built Gold Claimer hopper feeder to keep a staedy feed pace.

From time to time I like to take things back to reality and talk about what I love - mining & exploration with the emphasis on exploration. I know this is a metal detecting and prospecting site but exploration using heavy equipment could qualify as prospecting on a larger scale. Maybe there are some people out there who have an interest in scaling up their efforts. So I thought i'd share what I have learned from 11 yrs of work on mining claims. I have used several trommels. One was a large home made job that processed about 40 cubic yds of gravel per hour. The last two I used were a Gold Claimer Pioneer 30 & a brand new Heckler Fabrication 2410V. The Pioneer 30 was very easy to use and did it's job withot any real issues even though it was an older unit. The sluice box was very easy to set up. After we constructed a pad to set it on we had it ready for water in less than two hours. It is towable as it comes mounted on an off road trailer. Very mobile and I liked it. It is rated for 15 - 30 yards/hr. We never processed more than the lower end of the range. One thing I have learned about the yardage ratings on most trommels is to cut them in half and if you know that going in you won't be disappointed. The Heckler Fabrication trommel was a beast. Everything on it is heavy duty. It is also mounted on a triler. The 2410V gives you a shaker hopper / feeder as well as the trommel. It is built to last but we had a few issues with jam ups as material entered the trommel from the shaker. it required us to keep a man on the back end dedicated to watching for rock & gravel jam ups because if you don't catch them quickly be prepared for an hour or more of shoveling out the hopper & sometimes even crawling into the barrel with a hammer. Not fun as the barrel is tight. Once again the rated yardage was about double what we achieved which was around 14 yards/hr. The yardage of each trommel matches up pretty close but the Heckler is cheaper and gives you a shaker if you buy the V series. The capture was better on the heckler. I think this was due to the shaker which had a pre-wash and a superior sluice box. Speaking of the sluice box on the heckler, it's a royal pain to set up. It has a short rubber sleeve that the box attaches to and a lousy hose clamp to hold it in place. Forget it. It wouldn't hold and it is very hard to get the box level while keeping the stubby rubber sleeve attached. We ended up chaining it in place. The first time we set up the Heckler it took an entire day because of the sluice box which drove us crazy and caused tempers to flare. The other lesson i learned about the mining aspect of trommels as opposed to exploration is that more yardage is almost always better. If your digging with a mid sized excavator and loading with a skid steer you are very capable of processing 30 - 50 cubic yards of pay gravel per hour. Skid steers work really good as pay loaders. They are fast and much cheaper to operate than a loader. If you're going over the 50 yard per hour range you may need to go to a loader. So it becomes very frustrating when you limit yourself to a 15 yard per hour trommel. When we processed gravels on one of our good locations we had to pump water nearly 2000 ft across a mountain. We used two three inch pumps in series to get enough lift to get over a 100 ft rise. One pump couldn't do it. Things never go as expected and it's rare to run all day withou stopping for something giving you an issue. Our last test run was at a location where hydraulic mining had stopped in 1860 & we were the first ones back in. We were able to run 50 - 60 yards per day and were averaging about an ounce a day. That's with a 15 yard per hour trommel. So you can do the math on a larger trommel. We leased that project out to a group in Nevada. Anyway, that's a little bit of what I have learned over the years. Living off grid on a mining claim & making gold is a feeling like no other. I think they call it freedom.