At $35 for a period of time there is a lot of silver production that will come online. We all have a lot of projects that been sitting on for years. I am a miner. Last year fuel was cheap and prices up. This year fuel much more expensive.

Most the old timers got the old placer gold. I have been finding new flood gold that has been deposited since the 1930’s. There is still a lot of gold out there. I am always looking for new prospects. South America is another animal. Look for we’re old timers were and where there was not easy access to large amounts of water.

Usgs is best place to start.

The one to the right from Alaska is close to the source.

Looking forward to the 2021 mining season. Was at one mine all day today. Still too much snow. Went through 6ft deep of snow and got stuck on Can am. Had to go get loader to pull out and clear a path. Trend lately is gold goes down around month end and up the first week of the month. Some pictures over the years.

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Here is the bigger stuff! The dozer is a Cat D11 and required to remove cab as too tall and go on a 13 axel heavy haul rig. (249,000 lbs) The blade goes on its own truck. Ripper and Cab on their own truck. Blade is 22 ft wide. It will push 96 cubic yards of material in one push using 930hp. One push is as much as 3 D9’s dozers combined.

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That would be huge.

I mine on all three. I have BLM leases, own private, and state/municipal ground. You pay a royalty from 5-20 percent. Of course lower the better. 20 percent it has to be really special. On equipment yes it does break. I have extra equipment so we can always do maintenance. I carry 1/3 extra equipment. Have my own heavy haul rig incase I get into a big bind which does happen. If more than 50 percent of your equipment is down, I can do a short term rental if needed. Private land is easier to permit and less time. I would not let public or private be a factor but where is the best gold. Pinball is fun and relaxing. Found a gold rush pinball and had to buy for a friend. Brought it back to life.

Thanks. Happy to post more but don’t want to be hog. Love to see the nuggets and stories. I think all precious metal do really well after COVID-19. That is when people realize printing money has long term costs. Here is a dredge that I followed. It was the most successful in North America. In its first month it did 3200 OZT of gold. Bought picture off eBay ironically.

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Yes so most of what we get is gold dust. Nuggets are rare in total gold weight volume. We then smelt it. Did that my self. We also have seconds that come off the gold MSI shaker table. The seconds have gold with black sand. At the end of year you will have a few buckets. You use acid and the gold comes out of it. That is where that bar came from. It is usually 2-3 percent of your total production but a nice end of season winter gift. Gold usually has small impurities and mainly silver with it. When you smelt you get the silver and gold to separate. I have found silver nuggets but they are extremely rare. Usually the acid from the rain breaks them down.

There are different levels of permits. The exploration permits are easy buy really low volume and just for testing. 60-120 days depending on state. You have to post a bond. A full mining permit can take 18 months-4 years. Full permits are broke down by disturbed acreage. You have to post a bond for everything. In certain counties you have to get a special use permit. This can be hard. Every large scale permit has public input at the state and county level. You have to go in front of the zoning committee and then county commissioners for approval. If commissioners vote you down you are stopped. You can appeal to district court. After you get a special use and state reclamation permit you have 30 days to post the bond. Your permit shows your mining plan. You have to reclaim constantly and replant grass or trees. Then you need a air emissions permit. It is a calculation and usually 12-18 months. Depending how close to the River you may need a army Corp of engineers permit. Water rights you need industrial or mining rights. You can buy or lease the water. Depending on the state you have to do engineering and get approval for your substitute water augmentation plan. 6-12 months. You may never get the permit and be stuck with fees. You can run all permits at the same time but have to have local approval prior to getting a state reclamation permit. I have been successful but have also had ones that politics required me to withdrawal or certain things that we could not comply with based on location to structures or neighbors. If you comply with the laws they use to not be able to deny you. That game has changed in recent years, as many are anti mining. This will cause the rise in construction materials to continue. Hope that helps.

It depends on the location. Anything I do in Colorado we get aggregate. Alluvial granite rock is really hard. I crush it and sell it by rail or trucks. It is made in different sizes for strength known as road spec. It is put in concrete or asphalt and mixed with lower grade aggregate make road material. Round material won’t “bind” like mine does. I also get silica material used in the semiconductor industry. Silver is a by product. Anywhere between 10 to 30 percent of volume Troy ounce depends on location and source.

In Alaska there is no by products. Cost of operations is usually three to four times higher. You do run 24/7 there but shorter season. You bring in supply’s and material on a ice road in the winter.

It is true it all begins with a pan. I prospect constantly. I use a pan and a gold cube. Next I will “pot hole”, this is where I use a hoe and dig, pan and gold cube slowly all the way to first layer bedrock and I will usually go through bed rock to the next layer. That is the true test. That is usually were I find what the old timers missed. Gold bearing pay dirt is in layers. You have to know what layers to watch and mine. Big boulders are great! It is a natural gold pan. Glacier ancient dams are good also. Never trust outside reports or drill logs. Pot holing only way to really understand. There are many ancient rivers that don’t show above the surface.

Those are beautiful. Gold is going to start to run as inflation is real in my opinion.