MINING AND PROSPECTING EQUIPMENT AND

SUPPLIES.

BASIC SMALL
SCALE MINING
Handbook for the small scale gold miner.
 A BASIC INTRODUCTION TO

SMALL SCALE MINING

BY TONY ASHLEY

TO INFORM AFRICAN MINERS OF BOTH OLD AND NEW

SMALL SCALE GOLD MINING METHODS.

(And hopefully get a few more grams out of the ground).

2009

2
 CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

Introduction 4

Before you start.. 5

What is gold 7

The formation of gold deposits.. 10

Indicators 12

Where and how to sample... 18

Tools of the trade 25

Metal detectors... 29

Suction dredging. 31

Increasing the tonnage 33

Machines. 39

Wash plant concentrators 43

Hard rock mining 46

Concentrates and black sands.... 50

Pricing and selling your gold.. 54

Weights and measures. 58

Acknowledgments.. 59

3
 INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this book is to provide the reader with the basic
information necessary to be able to go out, find, mine and sell their
gold.

I have tried to explain things as simply as possible using diagrams and

pictures when relevant.

None of the methods in this book are definitive and there are hundreds
of variations on these and probably many more. In my experience these
are the easiest and most tried and tested.

If you are already mining, useful information on some of the modern

methods and machines will be mentioned. Also methods and equipment
used in different parts of the world.

The history of gold mining will not be covered as this would fill too
much space. If you research the history of an area it can help you to find
where gold has been found in the past and there is probably still some
left.

All measurements will be metric. Conversion tables are included in the

back of this book.

Remember the gold price is changing constantly; make sure you know
what it is worth before you start mining.

Gold deposits that contain less than one gram per ton will not be
discussed, as mining these requires large processing plants that can
process hundreds of tons per hour in order to make them pay. The basic
principles of gravity concentration are the same with most operations
the only differing factor is the scale on which this is undertaken.

4
 BEFORE YOU START

If you want to become a successful gold miner you should always start
by finding out the mining laws and regulations for the area you are
going to search. You cannot mine or prospect properly if you are in
danger of either getting caught by the police or an angry land or claim
owner. My advice is, always get the law on your side and do things by
the book, this way no one is going to take your gold, your equipment or
your freedom. There may be disputes with other miners or claim owners
but if your papers are all correct and you are doing nothing illegal, you
will win these.

Go to the local mining office and they will help you with all the
information you need. Do not listen to other people as laws and
regulations change all the time and only the mining officials are up to
date on this and will give you reliable information and the papers you
will need.

First you will need a prospecting license and an area to prospect. Then
you will need a claim and a mining license, probably more than this, so
you will get to know the office very well. Remember it costs money to
get started.

In the mining industry, information is the key to success. All aspects of

mining require you to know what, why, how, who, where. Gathering
this information is a continual process that never stops. Keep your ears
and eyes open, ask questions and learn as much as you can. As time
goes on you will become a better and better miner.

Get to know people who are in the mining industry and ask questions.
You will mostly get reliable information but not always, do not believe
everything you are told. There is a saying that a miner is a liar with a
hole, this is because if he is finding gold, chances are he wants to keep it
5
quiet and if he is not he wants to sell his claim. So take all information
and try to sort out the truth from the stories, this gets easier with
experience.

Hand of Faith

In the spring of 1980, Kevin Hillier took his new metal detector out for
a spin in his tiny hometown of Wedderburn, Australia. He found a 61-
pound golden nugget (27.66 kg) barely a foot underground.

The Hand of Faith is the biggest golden nugget in existence, the second-
biggest ever discovered, and the biggest ever found with a metal
detector. (And in case youre wondering, Hillier made out just fine. He
sold his golden nugget for over a million US dollars.)

6
 WHAT IS GOLD?

Before we look at where to find gold, you need to know what gold is
and how to recognise it.

Gold or Au (scientific symbol) has a yellow metallic shine and is

heavier than all other metals, except a few of the platinum metals. It
weighs 18.3 times more than water. It can be flattened with a hammer
until it is so thin you can see through it and it will not crack or crumble.
Nothing can destroy gold as it is one of the elements. Once you have
seen real gold you will never mistake anything else for it. Before you go
looking for gold find someone who has some in its natural form and feel
it in your hand, you will not forget how it looks and feels.

It is found in its natural form as nuggets; which are normally 0.2 grams
or larger and look like lumps of gold that has been melted. This is the
way they were formed in the host rock. They sometimes still show
traces of this rock in the gold. Nuggets can take any form, size and
shape; the surface can be smooth and shiny or rough and dull. No two
pieces are the same.

Flakes and specks; found either as formed in the rock or which have
been flattened or rolled by the natural process of erosion, weather and
water.

Gold dust and micro gold; can be visible or only visible with a
microscope and requires special treatment to recover from host material.

Gold found in nature is usually an alloy, containing between 50% and

95% gold, the rest being either silver, copper, other metals or a mixture.
To get pure gold it has to be refined by various methods. Its purity is
measured in parts per thousand ending at 999.9% purity or 24 carat
gold. Unless you refine your own gold you will have to sell your gold
7
under the international gold price, because your gold is not pure and it
needs refining which costs money. Nuggets can sometimes fetch more
than the gold price. The gold normally found by miners is above 70%
pure.

Pure gold bars and nuggets in a pan.

Gold fever is the feeling you will get when you find your first gold,
some of you will spend the rest of your life looking for gold and often
enjoy this feeling.

Gold prospecting and mining can lead to an independent lifestyle with

the possibility of getting rich. You will see wonderful nature, meet
interesting people but make no mistake in thinking it is easy. Hard work
and knowledge are the keys to being a successful miner. Be prepared for
this before you start, a strong back and a clear head will be needed.

In the beginning luck will play a large part in how much gold you find,
as you become more experienced and learn where gold is often found,
luck will become less relevant.The element of luck will however never
disappear completely.

8
Gold found by a friend dredging in a Californian river.

Dredge on the river in California.

9
 THE FORMATION OF GOLD DEPOSITS

No one knows exactly how a gold deposit is formed or where it is to be

found, but using our knowledge of geology and mineralogy we can
make a reasonable guess. This guess will be based on all the information
we can find in an area where gold has been found and relating this
information with other areas that are similar. As you can see, this is no
exact science. In fact if we knew everything, all the gold would have
been found. A lot of the easy gold has been found but there will always
be gold left behind.

Imagine gold that has been heated to such a high temperature that it
turns into a vapour, Similar to water that turns into steam. Now imagine
that this is inside the earth. The gold vapour is trapped under kilometres
of melted rock and the earths surface, but as it gets hotter it expands
and tries to find a space to expand into. If there is a weakness on the
earths surface these expanding vapours and gases will force their way
up and out in the form of an eruption. The gold, however, will be cooled
down and turn back into gold before it reaches the surface, because of
the surrounding temperature of the rock and all the minerals it is mixed
with. These have also been vaporised or turned into gases cooling down.
The path taken, the material the gold is mixed with and the surrounding
materials will determine how the gold is distributed throughout the now
cooled and hardened rock.

If the rock surrounding the rupture is hard, there will be a distinct fault
line and a lot of the gold will have cooled next to this rock together with
the other minerals it travelled with. If however the surrounding rock is
soft and full of cracks the deposit will be more spread out. It is all a bit
complicated but if you imagine steam pushing its way through rock, if
cooled quickly in a large space for instance it will turn back into large
droplets. If it is forced into sandy rock it will cool slower and form very
10
small droplets evenly through the porous rock. This explains the various
forms gold takes and how it comes to the surface into our reach.

There are many more ways gold deposits have been formed but they
would fill a whole book. My advice is to travel to various areas gold is
found and study the geology and mineralisation so you will be able to
recognise these when in another area. You will be led to the gold
deposits by following the small clues that nature leaves.

A highly mineralised rock containing quartz, pyrite, iron and many

other minerals including gold.

Many books are available to explain the formation of gold in detail, try
and find some in your local library to gain more knowledge.

11
 INDICATORS

One of the main indicators that lead to gold is gold. If you know an area
has produced gold, then it is possible to find more in that area. There is
also a chance to find more areas nearby with the same geology that also
could produce gold.

Another main indicator is quartz that looks as though it has been forced
into cracks in rock and has formed a reef. Normally white, solid quartz
without any other colouring rarely contains gold but check anyway.

Cracked and crumbly quartz that also has coloured mineralisation may
contain gold. This is called a lode or reef.

One common fact of all the areas where gold is found is that other
minerals and metals are also present.

12
Iron which stains the rock and surrounding soil red can be a good
indicator that heavy minerals are in the area.

Black minerals in the rock and soil can also be an indicator as these can
contain silver and other heavy metals.

Rock that has green or blue stains in it can contain copper and
sometimes gold.

This is a pyrite deposit that contains microscopic gold. This can only be
released from the ore with special treatment and chemicals.

Pyrite is also called fools gold because it looks like gold, but it is much
lighter and is easily crushed to dust with a hammer. Pyrite can also be
an indicator for gold. There are a few minerals that can be mistaken for
gold by people who do not know the properties of gold but weight is the
main difference between gold and all other gold coloured minerals.
Remember gold is a soft metal and can be flattened and worked like
lead; it will not break or shatter.
13
These pieces of ore contain very small specks of visible gold.

Notice that they are very different. There are no absolute indicators.
Samples must be tested for gold by crushing and washing.

A trace of gold from a crushed ore sample.

14
In many areas nature has eroded the original deposit so the gold, being
resistant to the elements has been freed from the rock and is found in the
soil (which is the decomposed rock). This is called a secondary deposit
or eluvial placer. These deposits are normally close to the original ore or
can be all that is left of the ore.

These nuggets were found with a metal detector in an eluvial placer

only 10 meters from an ore deposit. Notice they are still sharp and
rough. This means they have not travelled far and have not been in a
river.

Gold that has been washed into a river by rain and erosion is called
alluvial gold. This is normally worn and a lot smoother than eluvial
gold, depending on how far it has travelled.
15
These nuggets were found with a metal detector in an old alluvial
placer. Notice how smooth they are! Also the mineral coating on one of
them making it hard to recognise. The round one is a lead ball or bullet.

Water will concentrate gold in a river by washing the light material

down stream and making the gold sink to the bottom, where it will rest
on the bedrock and sink into cracks. Over many years the gold from the
surrounding areas will build up in the river forming rich deposits.

The rivers are always the best place to determine if gold can be found,
as the river will collect gold and it can be washed from the river gravels
with a pan. This gold will have been washed down from the surounding
area by rain and the force of the river. Many large deposits of gold have
been found this way, but you need to know where on the river to look.
16
Working a bench placer or former river bed. Madagascar.
17
 WHERE AND HOW TO SAMPLE

Sampling is the most important part of gold mining. If a miner does not
take samples or is not accurate with the samples taken it can lead to
wasted time, work and money. A miner must be able to measure the
amount of gold in any sample of gravel, earth or rock to gain a
reasonable idea of how much gold can be won from a mining operation
before it is started.

Iron stone deposit. Greenstone deposit.

When arriving at an area you assume to contain gold your first task is to
look at the way the land has been formed. Remember gold is heavy and
will always travel down hill and down stream from where it was
formed. Instead of starting on the top of a hill, start at the bottom.This
way you can trace the route the gold has taken and avoiding sampling
areas that have no gold.
18
Start in a valley or stream as gold will be forced into these by gravity.
Gold will always follow the shortest and easiest route down.

When sampling you need to dig down to bedrock to find the gold that
has been caught in the cracks and crevices of the rock. Any gold found
in the soil or gravel is still on its way down hill or down stream.

Sampling can be done in many different ways but we will stick to the
basic and most trusted shovel and pan method.

If you have found a trace of gold in a river or stream it would be a good

idea to find out where this gold came from. Tracing the gold up to its
place of origin will most likley lead you to larger and more profitable
deposits. While traveling up from the first trace of gold you should be
taking samples on a regular basis, looking for areas gold could become
trapped by the rock. These traps will collect gold, forming a deposit.
Look at the gold you have found, is it smooth and flat? Is it rough and
large? This will tell you how far the gold has travelled. Small flat specks
of gold can travel many kilometers down stream from where they
entered the water. Pounded by the rocks and movement of the water
they will become worn down losing weight and moving faster down
stream. These small specks are the ones you are most likely to find in
the sand and gravels not resting on the bottom of the river.

If you find a piece of gold that is large and rough then you are close to
where it entered the water. Take samples more often and continue up. If
you suddenly stop finding gold or the gold becomes small and smooth
again you have gone past the entry point and should go back to where
you last found rough gold. Now sample on both sides of the water to see
if you can find where the gold is coming from. It could come from both
sides or only one. Try and find the richest line and follow it up, this will
lead you to the eluvial run possibly from a gold lode further up the hill.

19
Another source of gold coming from a hill alongside a stretch of water
could be an old river deposit or bench placer. This is where the river
used to run higher up before cutting down forming a valley. The gold
deposited by the river long ago is washed back down into the current
river. It will leave a trail of water worn rocks down the slope and can be
traced up to a bench deposit. These are sometimes very rich.

Remember streams and rivers can have many sources of gold entering
the water at many points so finding the source is a hunt where you are
looking for as many clues as possible. Good luck!

Use the same method when searching in dry areas, the only difference is
that you will have to carry your samples to water to pan or you will have
to carry water up to your sample area. This means a lot more work and
energy will have to be spent digging and carrying dirt. Always check the
water nearby first, water will free the gold from the rock saving you the
work. Remember look for the easy gold first!

20
Gold will almost always take the shortest route in the river and will only
stop when it encounters a hinderance. Look for large boulders laying in
the golds path. Gravel banks on the inside of a bend can also trap gold.
Hard bedrock that cuts across a river will erode slower than the
surounding soft rock making a barrier for the gold to cross also trapping
gold.

Remember gold is heavier than all else in the river so you need to look
deep down on the bottom of the river in the cracks and holes. This is
where you will find the larger pieces of gold.

Flood gold is the gold moved and redeposited by a large flood or storm
this can be found in the newly formed sand and gravel banks but will
normally be small to fine sized as these are easier for the water to move.

Remember to check the old river banks that are now dry, dig deep down
to the bedrock and check every crack and crevice.

21
Sampling does not stop when a deposit is found! You now have to
sample to find out how big and how rich your deposit is. This is
necessary in order to know what tools and machinery is best used to
mine the deposit, also how many men can work and how long before the
deposit is mined out. All these factors determine how much money you
can make. Sometimes you may find a large deposit that has a low grade
of gold. This would mean to make a profit large machines would have
to be used in order to proccess many tons of material. You may not have
the capital to invest in these machines, in which case it would be better
to sell the claim or take in a partner that has capital to invest.

As a small scale miner you are more likely to be looking for small rich
deposits that can be mined with the minimum of expence.

A common mistake made by small scale miners is finding gold and

starting mining straight away without sampling for the richest area.
Always look for the richest area before starting mining otherwise
someone else might find the best area and you will be left with the
feeling that luck is not on your side. Remember luck plays a very small
part when you do things right.

When digging a sample hole remember to check all the dirt that you dig
out as you need to know if the gold is on the surface or laying on the
bedrock. So always pan the dirt in layers, panning the bottom 10 cm
last.

22
If you have to carry the dirt to water make sure the bags or buckets are
marked otherwise you could get confused and forget where the dirt
came from.

Gold panning in Madagascar.

When calculating how much gold is present per ton you can take a
number of bucket sized samples from the area to be tested and multiply
the amount up to get a ton of dirt. Eg: One bucket = two pans. 400 pans
= one ton of dirt. 200 buckets = one ton.

If you take 10 sample buckets and wash out 0.2 grams of gold, multiply
the amount of buckets by 20 to get one ton and multiply the amount of
gold also by 20 which will give 4 grams per ton. The more samples you
take the more accurate your result will be. (200 buckets to one ton is an
estimate and will depend on how much rock and how much water is in
the soil).
23
 Also remember to spread your sample holes evenly over the whole area
to be mined so you dont risk getting a too rich or too poor result. The
concentration of gold will vary a lot over the area to be mined. You
want to get the average amount of gold per ton so you know how much
you will earn by mining the whole area. If you hit a rich area this will be
a bonus.

If you want to know how many tons of gold bearing dirt you have all
you have to do is multiply the length of the area by the width and
multiply this with the depth of the ground and you will have the amount
of cubic meters. One cubic meter is roughly two and a half tons of dirt, a
bit more if there are many stones or it is wet. Eg: 10m x 10m = 100m2 x
0.5m = 50m3 = 125 tons. If you get 4 grams per ton you have 4 x 125 =
500 grams of gold in this area. Now all you have to do is get it out of the
ground in the quickest and cheapest way, avoiding losing any of your
gold. This is a rough estimate and can vary quite a lot.

If the top layers do not contain any gold but the bottom layer does, there
is no point in washing the top layers of dirt as this will not give you any
gold. It is better to discard the top layers and use your energy on the dirt
close to the bedrock. The same applies if the gold is only in the top
layer, do not waste time digging dirt that contains no gold. But
remember to get an accurate sample. All the dirt that has to be dug must
be calculated in your overall tonnage even though you are not going to
wash all of the dirt.

Now if you calculate that one man can dig one ton per day you can work
out how many men and how many days it will take to dig the area you
want to mine. This only applies to loose material. If it is hard rock and a
pick has to be used it could be a lot less. Also how far the material has
to be transported to the road and by what means will affect the time
required dramaticaly.
24
 TOOLS OF THE TRADE

This list is my personal choice of ideal tools. Sometimes you have to

make do with what you have and what is available.

One long handle pointed nose shovel for digging in loose material.

One short handle pointed nose shovel for digging in holes where space
is tight.

One square nose highsided shovel to move dirt from ground into
wheelbarrow or trailer.

One wheelbarrow.

One pick to loosen hard pack dirt and rock.

Two pans for washing gold one large one small.

Two sieves of various mesh size to remove stones and rocks before
panning.

Buckets to carry water or samples, you can never have to many.

Large tub to pan in where water is scarce. Can also be used to carry
tools.

One two meter long crowbar with wedge end to dig in hard ground and
move large rocks out of the way.

Small plastic bottle with screw cap to carry gold in.

Old screwdriver to scrape dirt and gold out of cracks.

Henderson pump for sucking gravel and sand from the river bottom.

One portable sluice.

25
As you can see this is far to much for one man to carry and to have all
of these items would be luxury. When traveling alone taking samples I
would carry the following items.

One foldable shovel.

One pan and sieve.

Henderson pump.

Plastic bottle.

Screwdriver.

One bucket.

Also all the other items needed when traveling in the wilderness like
food, water, clothing, maps and compass etc. These must fit your
personal needs and depend on the area you are traveling in.

Transport to and from the area must also be arranged. I know of some
miners who had to be flown in and out of an area by helicopter as there
were no roads and by foot would have taken weeks. This is of course
extreme and can only be done where very rich deposits are to be found.

These lists are for basic sampling and small scale mining where small
rich deposits are searched for and mined within a short time by one or
two men. Larger operations will need much more equipment and
supplies. Always buy the best tools you can afford in the strongest
quality as breaking a shovel could end your mining and force you to go
back into town to buy a new one.

Your main tool will be your pan. This is used in nearly all stages of
sampling and mining and it is important you become proficient in its
use. What pan you use is personal choice and there are hundreds of
26
variations to choose from. I suggest you learn to pan from someone who
already pans gold, as being showed is the only way to learn this skill
properly.

A sluice can greatly increase your production. It will save you spending
time panning and will proccess about 50 times more dirt than with a
pan. A sluice uses gravity and water to concentrate heavy minerals.

27
Sluice boxes of various sizes are used in running water to sort heavy
from light materials. Gold will be trapped in the rubber matting or metal
riffles. All you need to do is
shovel dirt in the end and the
flow of the water will wash light
material out leaving gold and
other heavy minerals behind.
This can be cleaned out and
washed in a pan when full.

The flow of water can be

adjusted by changing the angle of the sluice. Too much water will wash
the fine gold out, too little water and the sluice will fill up with dirt and
wont let the heavy minerals sink to the bottom and get trapped.
The Henderson pump is used to
suck gravel and sand from river
bottom. It works better than a
shovel in running water as sand
and gravel cannot be washed
away.

It can also be used to force water

down into sand to loosen rocks
and stones so they are easier to
remove. After sucking material
up into tube it is quickly moved
to a pan or bucket and pushed out
using the plunger. Remember the
larger pieces of gold will be on
the bottom on the bedrock.

28
A rocker can be used where water is scarce. This uses a rocking motion
combined with a little water to separate the heavy from light material.

This is a modern homemade model

which has a sieve on top to remove
rocks and stones and a hose attachment
which can be used with a pump.

Dirt is poured in to the top then the

box is rocked using handle, at the same
time water is added to break up the dirt
and separate gold.

The gold is caught in the riffles the same as with a sluice.

A rocker is slow and will only double the amount of dirt processed
compared to a pan, so I would always use a sluice where possible.

Dry washing will not be covered in this book as it is too slow to pay.

METAL DETECTORS

These are battery run electronic devices that can detect metal, buried
under the surface of the ground. There are many different types, but for
finding gold I can only recommend detectors specifically designed for
this task. Those with automatic ground balance will help eliminate most
false signals in mineralized ground.

Metal detectors will only find larger pieces of gold, down to about 0.2
grams if it is not too far under the surface. The depth of detection will
depend on the size of the gold, the mineralization of the ground and the
detector used. With the best detector on the market at the moment about
50 cm is the deepest you can expect to detect larger gold pieces.

29
Detectors are easy to use and will find gold nuggets if you have an area
where nuggets can be found close to the surface. As the majority of gold
is small there use is limited to lodes, reefs and areas where erosion has
brought the larger gold pieces to the surface.

Detectors can vary a lot in

price but you get what you pay
for. Beware of false claims by
the producer. Always test
before you buy to avoid
buying a machine that does
not suit your purposes.

The range of minelab gold

detectors have a good record
for finding gold and I have
used them with success.

They are expensive so only

buy if you have ground
containing nuggets.

30
 SUCTION DREDGING

This is a specialized method of mining gold from river deposits and

requires the use of a water pump and a sluice box together with some
other equipment. It is a very effective way of mining under the water
surface and is within the scope of the small scale miner as it can be done
alone. It does however require the purchase or construction of a dredge.

Dredges can vary in size and the amount of material it can process, this
would depend on the size of the river you want to work, the depth of the
water and the size of the rocks in the river.

The pump used with the dredge must have enough water to run and will
need to be supplied with either petrol or diesel and oil for the motor.

Special permits are often required to use a dredge and in some areas it is
forbidden.

Gold dredge in action on a river in the USA.

31
Principal components of a gold dredge.

You need to be comfortable under water when dredging. Air is supplied

by a small compressor attached to the pump.

Water temperature and clarity must also be considered as not being able
to see or being cold will affect your work load. A wetsuit is normally
used as long periods in water will cool the body temperature even if the
water is warm.

Dredging is about the most effective form of gold mining that can be
undertaken by just one or two men on a limited budget.
32
 INCREASING THE TONNAGE.

There are three ways to increase production and the amount of material
you process. The first is to make the work easier so more work can be
done. The second is to increase the man power. The third is to use
machinery.

Making your work easier could involve working as a team. One man
digs and one washes the dirt so you dont have to do both tasks,
therefore becoming more efficient and processing more material than
two men each working on their own. Using the right tools can also
improve production.

Obviously ten men can move more material than one but the amount of
gold each man will get is not increased unless a more efficient way of
processing the dirt is used.

One example could be a group of ten men work together and feed a
sluice box. This means noone has to spend time panning and everyone
can work digging and transporting the dirt to the sluice. The sluice has
to be big enough to handle the amount of material it is being fed and the
amount of water also has to match the sluice size.

Each situation must be reviewed to find the best and most economical
method of extraction and processing.

Sometimes the only economical way to extract the gold in a certain area
is to use machinery. This is normally where a large amount of gold
bearing material is present but the gold percentage per ton is too low to
warrant digging out by hand. If you would have to hire one hundred
men to dig, it would be more economical to buy or hire a machine.

Simple machines to improve production can be built by anyone with a

few tools.
33
A long tom is a long trough that washes and sorts the material before it
reaches the sluice box. It allows a group of up to ten men to feed a large
sluice box at the same time, if there is enough water.

Gold ore from Sweden.

34
Using a wheel barrow instead of bags or buckets means up to four times
the amount of dirt can be moved by one man, increasing production.

Two pulleys, a rope and two buckets can save a lot of work and energy
moving dirt or rocks across a steep valley.

Water is very often not available in an area you want to sample or mine.
A simple solution could be to dig a large hole and line with plastic
sheeting and catch rain water saving you a long journey to the nearest
water source. Sometimes it can pay to redirect a stream by digging a
trench so running water comes to your site, this could be several
kilometers long. A flooded mineshaft could be pumped out and the
water used for processing. Just catching the rain water from your shelter
means you have drinking water without having to travel for it.

A little extra work can save a lot of work in the long run. Planning your
operation from the start will save you from making mistakes.

35
Gold nuggets found with a metal detector.

A simple device to crush ore is a pestle and mortar

which can be made by welding a piece of pipe to a
thick steel plate for stability and a long tube welded
to a round piece of solid steel to use as a crusher.

Ore is placed in the tube or mortar and by manually

stamping the pestle up and down the ore will quickly
be crushed.

A stamp mill works on the same principle

Wind and water can very often be used to drive simple machines like
stamp mills and basic pumps. Solar power is also an option to charge
batteries and run lighting.

A simple hand driven pump can be made with very little expense
36
This form of pump can be simplified even further by using cups
screwed to the rope that simply empty into a bucket, eliminating the
need for a pipe. These sorts of pumps can be run by the wind or animals
as well as by hand. They are an alternative to factory made hand pumps
which are high in purchase cost. Where the mine is filled by ground
water a faster method will have to be used, probably a fuel or
electrically run pump will be needed to keep the mine dry.

37
A stamp mill is a large machine driven pestle and mortar.
38
 MACHINES.

A small motor driven crusher at work.

By crushing the gold ore more gold can be won from it. Crushing by
hand is normally only done in sampling as it is too slow for production.

Machines can be used at every level of mining and processing but they
increase the start up and running costs by a considerable amount, this
must be accounted for by an increase in production and ultimately gold.

Many small scale miners use machines, not to raise production but to
save work, even if this means higher running costs and less profit.
39
Pumps are probably one of the most useful machines in the mining
industry. Allowing miners to remove water from mine shafts, pump
water to their site for processing and thereby opening areas for mining
that would otherwise be to dry to work.

Before investing money in a pump find out if you have a water source
that is elevated from your site. In this case you could simply run a pipe
or trench down to your site saving the running costs of a pump.

If your mineshaft is on a hill it would be better to dig a horizontal shaft

to join the vertical so that water can escape and fresh air can come in.
This can also be used to remove ore more easily.

A petrol or diesel driven pump must be the right size and have enough
power for the job to be done. Make sure you know how high, how long
and how much water needs to be pumped before you buy a pump.
Pumping water from low down to a place high up requires a stronger
pump than if it is to be used to pump water on the same level. Suction is
also different from one pump to the next.

40
Pumps that are used in the mining field tend to be larger than the pumps
used for agriculture because they have to be able to pump higher and
from greater depths than normal pumps.

Diesel generators can be used for a variety of applications, from running

lights and tools to running a whole mining operation. Again, size is the
major factor of what its capabilities, purchasing and running costs will
be.

A number of electric power tools can be used with a generator, but they
will normally be too small for serious mining operations. For serious
mining an air compressor is better and more economical to run tools.
41
Typical air driven tools include drills and rock hammers.

Hydraulic driven tools are also a good option. They are more expensive
to buy but a hydraulic power pack is easier to transport than a
compressor and is cheaper to run because it is more efficient and uses
less fuel.

If you invest large amounts of money in tools and machines you need to
be certain you will get enough gold to pay for everything and still make
a profit. Large scale mining operations sometimes invest millions of
dollars in machinery before mining starts, but they know how much
gold they have and how much they can get a day and for how long they
can mine. All this adds up to more than they have used to start mining.
Before investing find out how much gold you have.
42
 WASH PLANT CONCENTRATORS.

Wash plants are the next step up in small scale mining. They allow a
much larger amount of material to be processed than can be achieved by
hand and are usually fed by plant e.g: JCB or front loader.

Using a wash plant, many tons of dirt per hour can be processed and can
be run by just a couple of workers. They can be portable or built on site.
Water will be needed but some units work with recycled water,
eliminating the need for a fresh water source. Some run on electric,
others use petrol or diesel. A few use water from a pump to run the
whole process. There are many different types and sizes. It depends on
what you need for your specific operation. They are expensive and the
larger units can only be justified if you have thousands of tons of
material that contain gold. Remember any expense has to be paid for
from the gold won.

Small portable wash plant with hopper feeding unit.

Prices will probably start at around 5000 USD.

43
Larger single unit.

With the many different types of wash plant available to choose from,
you should seek expert advice before you buy and do a very expansive
sampling of your claim so you know what you have and how much, as
the type of material you have will determine your wash plant type.

One hundred tons per hour transportable unit.

44
Wash plant built on site in action.

Small portable units for sampling or limited production.

45
 HARDROCK MINING

Very often a miner will come across a reef or lode that after sampling
shows traces of gold. This is the first step towards hard rock mining.
Digging a hole in dirt or rubble to retrieve gold already released from
the native rock is surface mining. Mining the bottom of an old river bed
situated under a layer of dirt or rubble, forcing you to tunnel vertically
down and then horizontally, is drift mining.

Hard rock mining is the hardest and most costly form of gold mining.
Without machinery it is very labor intensive and slow, but it can still be
profitable if a rich lode is found on the surface of the ground. The
further down you get the harder and more expensive it becomes to mine.

The first stage after finding a gold bearing lode is to trench along the
run of the reef to find the richest place to start. Remember always
sample to get the easiest gold first. A reef can have a continual run of
gold or it can be patchy, all you can do is to try and keep mining the
richest area and follow it until it runs out of payable gold.

46
After the ore has been mined, it has to be crushed and processed to
retrieve the gold. Transport has to be available and access to the mine
has to be made. Sometimes a road has to be made and if the area is very
remote and no crushing facilities are available, these will have to be
built on site all amounting to a lot of money.

Ore processing plant in South Africa.

This book is concerned with small scale mining so these large

operations are of little interest to us, but if you find a large gold deposit
you could find yourself negotiating with the big companies, and a
million ounce deposit will make you richer than in your dreams. If you
have the claims in your name you have the chance to offer a partnership
to a larger company. In most cases drilling will be needed to sample the

47
lode. This will determine how much gold is in the ground and how big
an operation will be needed to mine and process the ore.

Drilling the face of the gold bearing layer ready for blasting. The
supports stop the roof collapsing.

My advice to the small scale hard rock miner is to take the easy pickings
and either take on a partner to develop the mine or sell to the highest
bidder and move on to another rich area. By sampling and proving the
value of a claim you can possibly sell it for many times the amount you
paid. This will enable you to finance your next mining operation
perhaps on a slightly larger scale.

Remember if you find a rich area you should secure as many claims as
you can, otherwise others will come and mine the gold all around you.
A large operation needs a large area to work to make things pay.

48
Digging tunnels is a skilled job and not doing it correctly could cost you
your life. Tunnels collapse if the correct support is not used and
different soils and rock pose different problems which have to be dealt
with. I would only advise tunneling after proper training or together
with an expert. Do not risk your life for gold. Any time you have dirt or
rock over your head a hard hat should be worn. Safety equipment should
be provided for all workers and they should be educated in its use.
Always have a first aid kit on the mining site to treat injuries. If working
underground make sure a fresh air supply is available by ventilation
pumps or shafts.

NEVER RUN FUEL MOTORS UNDERGROUND AS THE

EXHAUST FUMES WILL KILL YOU. ALWAYS SITUATE
MOTORS DOWN HILL FROM THE SHAFT ENTRANCE WITH
GOOD AIR CIRCULATION.

Mining underground should not be undertaken without proper planning.

Get the easy gold from the surface first and use this to finance any
underground mining. Put safety first. A small stone can injure you.

.
49
 CONCENTRATES AND BLACK SAND

Concentrates are the heavier minerals and metals left in your pan, sluice
or other specific gravity separation device. How you treat this will
determine how much gold you get.

Treating concentrates is firstly about size. They have to be sorted into

their respective mesh sizes, this means passing everything through a
series of sieves so that large, medium, small and fine particles are
separate. This makes separation of the heavy from the light minerals
much easier. A large stone weighs the same as a small piece of gold so
if they are together in the pan they will both sit on the bottom.
Separating them makes seeing the gold and getting rid of the unwanted
materials much easier.

Normally you should sieve down to 8 mesh before panning or sluicing.

This keeps the rocks and stones out of the way allowing the gold to
settle making panning a lot quicker and will stop the sluice from
clogging up.

If you are production panning and not sampling it is quicker to throw all
your concentrates in a bucket and sort out the gold at the end of the day.
Running them through a small sluice will remove up to 80% of the
lighter material leaving just one or two pans left to process.

50
DONT THROW AWAY YOUR BLACK SANDS AS THESE CAN
CONTAIN MICRO GOLD. SEE PROCESSING BLACK SANDS!

There are many inventions to separate gold from heavy minerals; gold
wheels, spiral pans, micro sluices, shaker tables and hundreds more, too
many to mention. I like to keep things simple and cheap so stick with
your pan and sluices until you have a lot of money to spend. You will
have to work a bit harder but it will pay in the end.

If your gold is very fine and you have a lot of heavy black sand mixed
with it, panning can become difficult. In this case I would dry and crush
all the concentrates down to fine powder then process as black sands.
Sometimes micro gold is attached to the black sands and by panning too
much you lose gold.

If you process your dirt or ore at a stamp mill do not wash with cyanide
water as this will dissolve the gold as it is being crushed and be washed
out to be caught by the mill owner. Unless your gold is in rock it would
be better and cheaper to wash your dirt in a sluice to retrieve the
concentrates yourself. Also catch all the tailings coming out the mill for
reprocessing as a lot of gold will still be attached to the rock and the fine
micro gold will not be caught by the cloth. Using a stamp mill, more
than 50% of your gold could be lost. That is why they are not used in
modern mining today. If the mill has a leaching plant this is where
youre gold will end up. Use the mill to crush your ore but catch all the
crushed material and reprocess this by further crushing and
concentrating. A ball or rod mill can be used for this, or if not available
run again through the stamp mill.

If you have tested your ore you should know how much you should get
per ton, if this is not realized you are losing gold somewhere! Or your
sampling is poor? Double check, you cant sample too much or too

51
often. Take things slow, use your pan and use your sieves. To check ore
for gold a microscope can also be used, this will show gold not visible
to the naked eye.

When you are left with micro gold and black sands it is best to dry this
before proceeding. This can be done by placing them in a metal pan and
roasting them over a fire or leaving them in the sun for some hours,
dont heat them to much as there might be lead in the sands. The final
separation can be done in a wind free room. First remove the magnetic
sands with a magnet in a paper cup. Run the cup over the sands and all
magnetic metals will stick to the bottom of the cup lift it up and shake
over a piece of paper to check that no gold was extracted, do this a
couple of times until no magnetic particles are left. Sieve your sands so
that they are separated into different piles and process each pile
separately. Now you have very little black sand left, this can be
removed by placing on a piece of paper and gently blowing while
vibrating the paper so only the heavier gold is left. Do this in half a
cardboard box so you dont lose any gold if you blow too hard.
Remember to keep your black sands.

52
After you have removed all visible gold and lighter materials from your
concentrates you will be left with black sands, which is a mixture of
heavy minerals and metals. What is in your black sands can be
determined by a mineral assay carried out in a laboratory using different
chemicals and separation methods. These tests are relatively expensive
so unless you are looking for more than gold I would not bother. You
can quite easily check the sands for micro gold yourself using a couple
of household items.

First you need to crush and wash the black sands in cider vinegar; they
need to be about 20 mesh in size. This is done easiest in a tumbler or
small rod mill left to run over night. In the morning you can pan off the
dissolved iron and muck. Whats left should be dried and mixed with an
equal part of salt. Put this mixture in a heavy metal pan and roast over
night on some coals, in the morning heat the mixture up again and pour
into cold water in another metal pan or bucket. This process has
removed the sulfides that hold onto gold and removed the tellurides that
also contain gold, you can now pan the sands carefully to remove the
released gold. It is best to collect your black sands until you have a large
amount, as this process is quite time consuming and is only worth doing
in large batches.

If your black sands contain a lot of silver or platinum it would be worth

saving these for selling also. I would suggest you seek help in removing
these from your sands, as chemicals have to be used unless the pieces
are visible and can be removed by hand.

Sometimes you can sell your black sands to a company that specializes
in processing them for a percent or a set amount per kilo. This saves you
all the work and can give a small bonus on top of the gold you sell.

Mercury and chemical treatments will not be covered in this book.

53
 PRICING AND SELLING YOUR GOLD

Know the international gold price before pricing your gold as the price
can vary from day to day. You can get the price from banks, the
internet, and some newspapers. Keep updated as this is what you use to
fix your price.

You must also know the exact weight of your gold. For this a digital
scale like the one shown is better than traditional weight scales as these
can be manipulated. Always use your own scales if possible. The
difference between 104 grams and 104.8 grams could be $20 US so be
accurate.

Now you know what pure gold costs, and you know how much
unrefined gold you have you can work out a price.
54
Remember, you decide what price you want, but a buyer will always try
to buy as cheap as possible.

If you travel to a large town you should be able to find a couple of gold
buyers who will normally offer a set price, shop around to see who will
pay the most. A gold refinery will also buy your gold if it is a larger
amount. Ask for prices before hand as they only pay for the pure gold
and charge a fee. Sometimes you will have to wait for your money until
after it has been processed. Get informed first. If your gold is only 70%
pure you have already lost 30% off the gold price, then comes the fee.

If you sell to a travelling buyer expect to get less for your gold. Driving
around buying small amounts of gold is expensive and a lower price has
to be paid in order for the buyer to make a profit.

55
Specimens and nuggets can fetch more than the gold price if you can
find a collector or buyer for these. Keep beautiful and interesting pieces
and try to find a buyer! It can be worth it.

Nugget shaped like Africa, worth double the gold price to a collector.

Large nuggets are rare and could be worth a lot of money. Find a
collector or dealer as they will give a good price for large nuggets.

Nuggets and sometimes gold ore is used in jewelry, a jeweler will also
pay well for a piece they can use. Attractive gold ore can be shaped and
smoothed so it can be used in a ring or pendant. The ore has to be hard
and the gold visible. White or black quartz with gold is best for this.

Always ask around before selling to get the best price.

56
Specimens that contain a collection of minerals can also be interesting
to collectors. Keep anything out of the ordinary to show to mineral
collectors as you may find something they will pay for.

Crystalline specimens can be very pretty and are sought after by

collectors. Even small pieces are interesting under a microscope.

If while you are looking for gold and come across some mineral you do
not recognise, keep a sample to show to a minerologist it could be worth
mining.
Calverite is a telluride
containing up to 70% gold
so keep your eyes open for
this silver/black metallic
looking mineral. It is heavy
so it will be in the bottom of
your pan. It does not look
like gold but dont throw it
away.
57
 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

1 grain = 64.798 milligrams = 0.0647 grams (g)

24 grains = 1 pennyweight (dwt) =1.555 g

20 pennyweights = 1 ounce troy (oz t) = 31.103 g

20 ounces troy = 1 pound troy (lb t) = 373.241 g

1000 grams = 1 kilogram (kg) = 1 liter (ltr) water weight

1000 kg = 1 metric ton (t) = 1000 ltr water weight

1 cubic meter (m3) = 100cm x 100cm x 100cm = 1000 ltr water volume

1 inch = 2.54 centimeter (cm)

1 meter (m) = 100 cm = 1000 millimeters (mm) = 39.37 inches

1 square meter (m2) = 100cm x 100cm

1 m2 = 0.0001 hectare (ha)

1000m = 1 kilometer

10,000 m2 = 1 ha = 100 m x 100 m

10 ha = 316.22 m x 316.22 m

100 ha = 1 square kilometer (km2)

Gold (Au) = specific gravity 19.3 = 19.3 g per cm3 Water = 1g per cm3

Melting point = 1064.18 degrees centigrade

24 carat = 99.9% pure 18 carat = 75% pure 12 carat = 50% pure

58
 Acknowledgments

The aim of this book is to give a brief and basic introduction to small
scale mining. Hopefully more books will become available covering the
individual subjects in more detail.

Contact Mining and Prospecting Equipment and Services for further

information and any questions you may have on the subjects in this
book.

Thanks to all my friends around the world who have contributed to this
book with photos and knowledge. I wish you continued success in your
lives and look forward to see you all again whenever our paths cross.

Disclaimer; Mining and Prospecting Equipment and services, nor the author take any
responsability for any mistakes or errors that may appear in this book.

59
NOTES

60
Tony Ashley was born in 1964 and has lived in England, Germany and
Denmark. He has studied and participated in small scale mining in a
variety of countries since 1999. He is still learning new skills and
knowledge every day which he tries to share with as many other miners
as possible. This book is another means of doing just that. His goal is to
expand and improve the small scale miners knowledge and
opportunities so that they may prosper.

Produced and distributed by

Mining and Prospecting Equipment and Services P/L.

33 IRVINE CLOSE

MARLBOROUGH, HARARE, ZIMBABWE.

TELEPHONE: +263 913 448 676

CONTACT US FOR ALL YOUR MINING NEEDS.

miningandprospecting@hotmail.com
61