Mining Problem

[micropedes1]

I have a serious question for this learned group.

Is it possible to mine UNDER snow in an avalanche zone? Due to location, there is a water inflow problem as well as some rattling and shaking due to active faulting. This is not glacial ice, but persistently deep snow which severely limits surface activity.

[Joe S (AK)]

Glen,
If the ground is frozen under that snow then it would just be slow, dirty, dangerous, dark drift mining all year long. Not something that I'd want to do but others have in the past. "Flash Flooding" is a real concern when doing that - so, again, just not my thing.

[micropedes1]

The year that I found it was a warm, dry season with very little flow and no snow. The lode was visible at several locations. I managed to recover several ounces of color, even without a metal detector. Not being able to get back to it is making me crazy enough to try some unorthodox methods.

[micropedes1]

I must be getting senile in my old age. I have both a Thiokol 3700 snow cat and Cat D8 to move snow, just not on site yet. The question is just how much and how far upslope must I remove snow to maintain a margin of safety?

Depth starts at 10 feet at the mouth of the creek and rapidly gets to 20+ feet as you move upstream. The headwaters of the creek are about a mile away with a 3500 feet rise in elevation. That's a lot of snow!

[Ornery Cuss]

Might be prudent to wait till the melt
It aint goin anywhere
No amount of gold....

OC

[Joe S (AK)]

As far as the 'character' of the snow - it changes soooo much during the summer that it's pretty much anybody's guess. Only an operator with boots on the ground would have a chance of knowing.

[micropedes1]

I am strictly a flat-lander; I don't know squat about snow. Except that it is darned cold to try to dig thru and floods my diggings in the summer.

I tried digging down with a shovel to reach the seam. I'm from Texas; all I have ever seen is the fluffy white stuff. What I was digging was definitely NOT the kind I see at home. It was mostly ice.

The mouth of the creek is only 40 feet wide due to encroaching outcrops from both sides. This effectively plugs the channel with a dam of ice and compacted snow. I think that if I could ever breech this dam, the remainder of the build-up behind the dam would rapidly melt away. I have even considered bringing in a certified blasting crew to widen the creek mouth for better drainage (too expensive). And my FEL expired long ago, so I cannot do it myself.

OC, time limitations prevent me from being on site during late summer at the end of the thaw. It might be somewhat open during mid-August when I must be home for harvest. At that elevation, the first snow usually occurs late August which would give a very narrow window for access. Before this year, I have needed to leave Alaska by July 4 to take care of responsibilities at home.

[Ornery Cuss]

I understand better now

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do for sure
Send me the coordinates, I'd be happy to lend a hand
I'll work on it and let you know how it goes, I'll even send pictures everyday
wada ya think buddy

OC

[Joe S (AK)]

Glen,

What we do here in Idaho is to save all the wood stove ash. When it comes out of the stove (with some burning coals and a little smaller sized unburned charcoal --- but not any unburned wood) it is put into an empty STEEL bucket and taken outside to a NON-Flammable flat surface. Let it sit over night (out of the snow, rain or heavy wind) so that the charcoal can totally burn up.

Next morning make sure everything is dead out and cold!

Get a metal detector plastic scoop and stir/fluff up the ash.

Go to the snow and take a moderate scoop of fluffy ash and launch the ash straight up and away from you as far as you can - so that the ash cloud settles on the surface of the snow. Repeat but do not create a heavy layer (1/16" is heavy!).

The sun will melt the snow like mad from sun-up to sun-set - but the snow depth has to be less than head high. A couple of days of sun and above freezing and the ground is clear and the dirt starts to thaw.

Too thick and the sunlight's heat doesn't hit deep enough into the snow to transfer heat readily. Too thin and the process is slow.

Start early, let the sun work while you do other things. If it rains - oh well - reapply.

Joe

[micropedes1]

Thank you, Joe. That makes perfect sense. I keep thinking that the old timers missed this deposit because it was always covered with ice and snow. Only recently has it become exposed for short periods.

I'll let you know how it works. I assume that you will want pictures, right?