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d.e.mcfarlane@exeter.ac.uk
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Background – ASM & Placers
Prospecting
Exploration & Development
Mining
Reclamation & Marketing
200 Pans = 1 cubic metre
1 cubic metre = 2 tonnes
> 1 cent 1 gram Au = $50 US
< $1
10 flyspecks = 1 milligram (dust)
1 A colour = 1 – 2 milligrams (ball point pen)
There are no B or C colours, and no nuggets
150 episodes over 5 seasons
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Artisanal & Small-Scale Mining
Artisanal certified ethical standard (ARM) Social & Environmental standards $ Premium
Titanium 2,400,000 tonnes 900per tonne $ 2,160 High grade TiO2/FeTiO3 feed
(mod from Credit Suisse)
Zircon 1,200,000 tonnes 1,100per tonne $ 1,320
Diamonds 13,200,000 carats 300per carat $ 3,960 12% of 110 Mct gem (mod.
From Bain)
$ 17,815
Iron 333
Gold 137
Copper 111
Silver
Potash 26
Nickel
Phosphate
Zinc
17
PGMs
Diamonds
Others
Nome, 6 Moz
14 mining regions
67 mining districts
230 mines
140 operate
70,000 oz
Gold is where YOU find it
Flood Gold
False Bedrock & Paleochannels
Prospect Explore & Develop Mining Reclaim
Prospect Explore & Develop Mining Reclaim
Prospect Explore & Develop Mining Reclaim
Geophysics? Unlikely…
Drilling must be done anyway, so most operators don’t bother with the distraction,
complexity, risk, and high costs. Cheap methods needed.
Then,
drilling &
bulk
sampling
Portable Highbanker
Up to 1 m3 samples
1.5” Pump
• Desert – wind principal transport & concentration agent although flash flooding
can locally enrich
• Most scams occur in the desert (stay away from Arizona!)
BOTTOM: 20g gold dust within 1 tonne gravel both sub-samples = 20 g/t
Prospect Explore & Develop Mining Reclaim
Heterogeneity and Nugget Effect
Proportion of Ore Mineral versus Homogeneity
Fans, Nuggety AD
Low Terraces D V
Flood- Creeks
plains, VS
Offshore n
SS
Proportion of Ore Mineral
n
Ni
PC
U
B
P
Fe
C
High
E
High Homogeneity Low
E= Evaporite; C= Coal; Fe= Bedded Iron Ore; P=Phosphate; B=Bauxite; PbZn=Stratiform lead-zinc;
Ni=Stratiform Ni; SSn=Stratiform tin; PC=Porphyry Copper; VSn=Tin veins; V=Gold, Silver veins; U=Uranium;
D=Diamonds; AD=alluvial diamonds (After Haddon King et al 1980) Source: King, McMahon & Bujtor CRA
(Australia) 1980
Prospect Explore & Develop Mining Reclaim
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How Do You Raise Finance? Ex: Petropavlovsk
Mini-Auger
Banka
Scale in
mg
Special
clean-up
pans
Simple model
PSD
Optimize
Continuous,
Water high volume
Mercury, then
Climate trapezoidal jigs
Prospect Explore & Develop Mining Reclaim
Davidson Ditch – 90 mile pipeline (1920)
1987 – 1990
World’s largest dredge
Marine deposits
118,000 ounces
1. Strip topsoil
2. Push overburden
3. Basic equipment:
1. 40t ext x 2
2. D6 dozer or 920
FEL & 40t truck
4. 2-man operation
1. Backhoe Feed
2. Ancillary (Tails,
Strip, Fuel, etc.)
5. Convey tails
6. Place overburden
Floating Washplant 7. Reclaim topsoil
8. Natural revegetation
Fed from Land < 2 years
9. Farmland restored!
FEL versatility
40 t Excavator
‘backhoe’
• Riffle Spacing
• Feed Rates
• Riffle Types (Angle
Iron, Flat Bar,
Expanded Metal)
• Matting
• Oscillation
• Hydraulic Riffles
• Punch-Plate
• Triple-Run Box
• Pre-Screening 85
Prospect Explore & Develop Mining Reclaim
Gold Wheels - Toy
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Best Practice
94
Books
• Wells, John. Placer Examination
• MacDonald, Eoin. Alluvial Mining
• IMM. Alluvial Mining Conference Proceedings
1990
• M.I.R.L. Reports & Alaska Placer Conference
Proceedings
95
Gold in Cornwall (Simon Camm)
University of Leeds Placer Mineral Group (Rob Chapman): http://see-web-01.leeds.ac.uk/misc/miner/
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Pandora’s Inn