Small scale mine make money?

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I found a nice spot that im getting some okay gold out of. So far any where from 3.12 gpt to 38.21 gpt.

Iv take 8. 10kg chip samples out of the quartz
Lowest is 3.12 gpt highest is 38.21. With the average at 21.43 gpt.

Is this worth looking at a lease or just keep getting some samples from time to time.
Im in Victoria.

James.
 
Well worth trying a bulk sample over a wide area including any country rock that will need to be removed too access the ore body. depending on the size of the vein or lode 50kg would be minimum. but the bigger the better. If the gold is very course your results may be scewwed by Nugget effect.
 
Jamesgold said:
I found a nice spot that im getting some okay gold out of. So far any where from 3.12 gpt to 38.21 gpt.

Iv take 8. 10kg chip samples out of the quartz
Lowest is 3.12 gpt highest is 38.21. With the average at 21.43 gpt.

Is this worth looking at a lease or just keep getting some samples from time to time.
Im in Victoria.

James.
One way to look at it is that you would have to crush a tonne of rock and separate the gold to get your gold to sell. If the average was 21 g/t you would have trouble making a lot of profit (but might make some profit) using cheap processing equipment and putting through only a few tonnes a month. At 3 g/t you would need millions of dollars of investment and seven times the tonnes to produce the same amount of gold. An average of 8 samples is unlikely to give an accurate average (even though you do have fairly good grade) - in fact it would be almost a meaningless estimate inn terms of accuracy for central Victorian veins. And more to the point, how many tonnes of ore do you have? For a yield of 100 ounces you would have to crush and separate from around 130 tonnes of rock, which is quite a volume if mining a narrow vein.
 
Okay thanks for the info.
I just got back from from the area.
I took a 100 kg sample ran it through a small jaw, sieved it over a 1mm sieve came out with 42kg of minus 1mm.
I used a sluice to process the material.
I ran it through 5 times to make sure i got most of the heavys out.
Panned the cons and dried the gold and got.........

6.23grams
And still got to re run the over size back through the jaw so fingers crossed for another 6grams plus.
 
A few things to ponder:
1. If 100 kg sample = 6.23 gms then 1000 kg (1 ton) = 62.3 g/t !
2. Many producing mines in Australia operate at less than 3 g/t e.g. Granny Smith (Goldfields Australia) ....5.6 g/t
Cadia Valley (Newcewst Mining ) .....1.22 g/t Ravenswood (Resolute Mining) ....2.09 g/t
3. Over 50% of all gold recovered world wide is from quartz.
The grades that you are quoting are really amazing. I'm spending real money looking for an ore body on the basis of 2.32 g/t sample.I've found the gold (just like you have) I now need to find an ore body that will justify a mine. I won't try and crush and recover gold but rather, if successful, I'll sell it to a big mining company.
Give it some thought.
 
So at a rough estimate your ore is going around 4 ounces to the tonne of free milling mine run gold :rainbow: :goldnugget: :beer: Have you had the gold Assayed for purity As silver can knock the purity around and reduce its value. 8.( . But on the face of it you are onto a really good thing. Time to apply for a Prospecting Licence ( if In Victoria) :Y:
 
Harlequin said:
A few things to ponder:
1. If 100 kg sample = 6.23 gms then 1000 kg (1 ton) = 62.3 g/t !
2. Many producing mines in Australia operate at less than 3 g/t e.g. Granny Smith (Goldfields Australia) ....5.6 g/t
Cadia Valley (Newcewst Mining ) .....1.22 g/t Ravenswood (Resolute Mining) ....2.09 g/t
3. Over 50% of all gold recovered world wide is from quartz.
The grades that you are quoting are really amazing. I'm spending real money looking for an ore body on the basis of 2.32 g/t sample.I've found the gold (just like you have) I now need to find an ore body that will justify a mine. I won't try and crush and recover gold but rather, if successful, I'll sell it to a big mining company.
Give it some thought.
1. at that grade (2oz/t) it might be economic if there is any small but significant tonnage.
2. Keep in mind that mines that produce at low grades, such as these, crush many millions of tonnes of ore per year to be profitable. Narrow quartz vein mines are commonly low tonnage.
3. Possibly, although I am not sure. Other styles have become increasingly important. Most of Nevada's production and nearly all of South Africa's production does not occur in quartz veins (South Africa has produced more than 50% of all gold ever mined on Earth, but is no longer very important). So yes, that figure may be about right.
Keep in mind that you have only crushed one sample, and you panned only the 42% of it that would preferentially concentrate the gold. . And yes, selling it sounds a good idea, although $50 million is a tad optimistic for an undrilled ore body (companies pay less for entire goldfields in some cases, although that can reach six times that - Ballarat, Bendigo)..
 
I really know nothing about mining as such, just detecting, but over that area of this deposit, ie is it only a few mts square or 10's or 100's mts square?
That will also determine what you do there. If it is very small area then using small hand type machinery would probably be the go, as cost of larger machinery would outweigh the outcome. Just my thoughts
 
With the grades you have you must do something. You can't just sit back and do nothing. Sooner or later details will get out and someone else will benefit.
Crushing is not an option. The more people know what you're doing and the results you're getting the more chance there is that you'll lose it.
I am not being alarmist - I'm being practical having been there and done that. Some might deride the claim that having proven an ore body you can sell it for huge amounts is not reality. Pause and think about it. The big companies can treat 4,000 tons a day. If each ton is returning 2 ounces then the daily return is 8,000 ounces. Subtract costs of say, $600 an ounce (Can be more) then multiply 8000 by $2000 and you have $16,000,000 per day! I reckon I could scrape by on that! So for them to pay 50 million in order to gain $16,million a day for years is a no brainer. Even when a purity test degrades the quality from 100% to say, 80$ it's still a no brainer.
Some advice :1. Tell no one! This is hard but necessary until you have exclusive rights over the exploration area.
2. Investigate getting an Exploration Licence from Earth Resources Victoria. Don't be put off by the details they want. There is support available for on-line applications if you find it confusing. Print off what you can so you can study everything at your leisure.
3. You might find it useful to register a Business Name. This is really easy to do. Just Google, Register a Business Name.
4. So far it hasn't cost hardly a thing so what can you lose by at least checking out possibilities?
5. Check out my earlier posts for further suggestions.
6. One more thing: Most people think that a cubic metre of rock weighs a ton. In most cases this is true but quartz weighs heavier than normal. Google " What does 1 cubic metre of quartz weigh?"

Harlequin
 
Been getting a few samples out of all different spots of the reef. All crushing and panning of the 10kg samples have returned gold.. best being .43grams to the lowest being .031.
 
Sooo, 43 grams a ton... how much is there to crush.?

Your figures seem to fluctuate a bit each post.
Is your hand still on it.?
 
I have been test all over the reef to see how much of the reef is worth getting so i can do some calcs.
 
What area in Victoria is this..
I have done okay out of an old mine in Victoria but there a lot of costs to get you going..

If your getting those number your self with crushing and panning your doing great.

You need to know how much reef is payable
 
im still get gold out of the mine. finally crushed 1 tonne (wow that was hard work) out of the 1 tonne i got 9.8 grams. and i still feel there small gold in the heavy's that i cant get out with a blue bowl
 
The only way to work out if your small scale mine is making money is to calculate your income against your expenses. Then of course it makes a difference if your are enjoying the hobby or trying to make a living from it.

My tonnage rate is lousy compared to this but it's my hobby. I do have a lot of money invested in it so I need to get a return but I don't have to satisfy investors or cover overheads. We all need physical and metal challenges and activity to keep alive and healthy so depending of your circumstances it could be fun or enough to bury you.

I'm just putting together a little bit of poorly filmed video to give you an idea of my little operation. I'm getting about 0.2g per tonne at the moment but I come home by morning tea with dust in my beard and a smile on my face. My direct outlay is 5L of petrol and 20L of diesel as long as I don't break something :)

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/-EBqdoiKeec[/video]
 
Great video money box when you do the sink thing you could try tipping your gold into a tall glass then put the glass in the bowl and run tap into it start off slow water and when bowl fills up turn water up this will get rid of a lot more sand and any gold that blows out will get caught in the bowl I do this and it works well cheers Muk.
 
Muk said:
Great video money box when you do the sink thing you could try tipping your gold into a tall glass then put the glass in the bowl and run tap into it start off slow water and when bowl fills up turn water up this will get rid of a lot more sand and any gold that blows out will get caught in the bowl I do this and it works well cheers Muk.

Thanks Muk, it almost worked. The idea is good but like any good idea it needs a bit of practice.

1642735153_glass.jpg


See that sand in the sink, that's what she complains about :(
It worked ok until I tried to get it back out of the glass. I used a glass with vertical sides and the gold just didn't want to wash out again :)

1642735603_gold_today.jpg


I rescued a little bit and isn't that a beautiful colour.

Grams per tonne isn't too important if you're having fun :lol:
 
Moneybox said:
Muk said:
Great video money box when you do the sink thing you could try tipping your gold into a tall glass then put the glass in the bowl and run tap into it start off slow water and when bowl fills up turn water up this will get rid of a lot more sand and any gold that blows out will get caught in the bowl I do this and it works well cheers Muk.

Thanks Muk, it almost worked. The idea is good but like any good idea it needs a bit of practice.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/3960/1642735153_glass.jpg

See that sand in the sink, that's what she complains about :(
It worked ok until I tried to get it back out of the glass. I used a glass with vertical sides and the gold just didn't want to wash out again :)

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/3960/1642735603_gold_today.jpg

I rescued a little bit and isn't that a beautiful colour.

Grams per tonne isn't too important if you're having fun :lol:

Grab a sink from Cue Bunno's plumb it up either in/out side shed with the waste running into a trap to catch the heavies and run the waste from the trap into a hose buried in a garden/veggie bed :) I reckon you'll earn a leave pass or two :Y: It won't matter what state you leave it in then ;) :beer:
You could run the waste from the trap into an IBC and put a pressure pump on it to recycle for the sink/garden/cleaning etc.

Nice bit of ingenuity there Muk :clap: :perfect:
 
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