Thursday, September 24, 2009
Winter Wonderland
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Closing Up
It’s eleven o’clock and I decided to work an hour extra tonight, after everyone went to sleep. I am listening to a song called “Division” by the group Moby; it’s only two minutes long but it is moving and powerful. I heard it for the first time on my ipod while I was panning across the hillside at an old shaft. It was the first day it snowed here, about the middle of August. The light flakes filling the mountains and valleys, together with the slow crescendos of the orchestra took it out of me for a while. I stopped, and looked around at my surroundings, and I breathed. I feel the same way now.
Today was an interesting day. I managed (for the first time) to take the entire day (almost) inside a building. What a rare idea! I sieved and cleaned over half a million dollars of gold. I looked through hundreds of gold nuggets, and selected the best ones prime for jewelry or specimens. There are some fine specimens here, beautiful pieces! About midday however, the fluorescent lights were giving way above me, and I got up to change one. Before I could take it off, one of the long tubes came crashing down, shattering into a million flecks all over computers, tables, and the beakers, bottles, and bread pans full of gold. What a mess! Ironically, a song was playing called “All Fall Down” about the world crashing down – hahaha! It was like a reality check by God – working/playing with gold all morning was too much fun!
Anyway, I’ve got some panning to do around the pit, sampling for the next direction the mine will take. However, talking with Cy and Dick tonight it seems maybe this place (less a mine than an amazing ‘place’ really is the case) has more potential in tourism than it does as a gold producing mine. There’s over 420acres of patented ground, meaning it’s private land which can be developed however the company chooses. An interesting situation since building infrastructure for a mine out here would be problematic at best. Federal regulations can wreck havoc on a small wannabe mining company which Goldrich/Little Squaw is, and probably will be forever. I’ve gotten to know Dick Walters better, and like him so much more after things have relaxed. We booze a little bit every night, which is unlike anything I would expect out here; a little wine, a couple beers, JD, and even some Bacardi the last two nights! He tells me I should move to Argentina and live it up. Another interesting idea.
Deborah shall be here in about ten days. Though we’ve not been on good terms for a long while now, I think (and hope, and pray!) that this month together alone in the wilderness will be pleasant. I’ve been collecting and planning some things for a sauna, which will be my primary project during the first couple of days (I may even start it before I leave for town). We’ll be living in two “wanagans” down by the airstrip and Spring Creek, lower than where the current camp is up on Mello Bench. It’s colder but also forested, and the creek runs all winter long. The plan is to have the sauna next to a large pool in the creek, just large enough to be designated as the “plunging pool” a short trip from the hot and steamy spruce sauna! The idea is that it will relieve some tension built up in our relationship! Our main occupations seem to be arranging and arguing, since we’re never in the same place for long. She’s just accepted a pHd/teaching four-year contract in Zurich, Switzerland. I don’t think I’ll ever have any heart for Zurich; when I was there in January my disposition was firmly set against the city. Everything is controlled, including society, and everything must run perfectly, OR ELSE! When I returned to Glasgow after our trip there (to be educated about “sustainability”) I was never so relieved to see rubbish and a little disorder! Anyway, I have strong feelings about it all, and we’re in what on the sandlot you’d call a “pickle”.
Well, I should shut off the generator, brush my fangs, and hit the sack. Lots of people I miss out there, don’t know when I’ll have the chance to see you all, but I think of you often. And I miss Imogen.
This morning (19th) coming down the two miles to the ‘internet café’ was cold and dark. The knuckles on my hands felt the change in weather pattern, which started with a front from the North, over Mount Contemplation. Usually weather comes from the South, but when it comes from the North (over the Brooks Range) that means it usually is here to stay. At least it wasn’t from the West, which is usually stormy weather! Therefore, the mountaintops are again white with snow, although it only drizzled down here – what an amazing Indian Summer! Also on the way down here, a small Arctic Hare did about 8 zig-zags across the road before darting into the bushes. I’m seeing more and more along the roads, and they’ve all got their white coats crawling up their legs at the moment, ready for what soon will be approaching. It’s obvious in the mornings and evenings. We lose about 10 minutes each day, cutting the light out of our 6am wake up call, and the 7pm supper time. It seems very dark today with low clouds, but I think it will still be pleasant.
A few days ago my bunkmate Gerhart (he’s a mechanic) took me up in his Cessna 180B. It’s a small aircrafts, but has great visibility and we toured around the Chandalar district looking down at sheep, and a great bull moose eating grass in a pond. There’s been a few hunters flying in (usually on floats to Big Squaw Lake) to hunt mountain sheep.
Closing Up
It’s eleven o’clock and I decided to work an hour extra tonight, after everyone went to sleep. I am listening to a song called “Division” by the group Moby; it’s only two minutes long but it is moving and powerful. I heard it for the first time on my ipod while I was panning across the hillside at an old shaft. It was the first day it snowed here, about the middle of August. The light flakes filling the mountains and valleys, together with the slow crescendos of the orchestra took it out of me for a while. I stopped, and looked around at my surroundings, and I breathed. I feel the same way now.
Today was an interesting day. I managed (for the first time) to take the entire day (almost) inside a building. What a rare idea! I sieved and cleaned over half a million dollars of gold. I looked through hundreds of gold nuggets, and selected the best ones prime for jewelry or specimens. There are some fine specimens here, beautiful pieces! About midday however, the fluorescent lights were giving way above me, and I got up to change one. Before I could take it off, one of the long tubes came crashing down, shattering into a million flecks all over computers, tables, and the beakers, bottles, and bread pans full of gold. What a mess! Ironically, a song was playing called “All Fall Down” about the world crashing down – hahaha! It was like a reality check by God – working/playing with gold all morning was too much fun!
Anyway, I’ve got some panning to do around the pit, sampling for the next direction the mine will take. However, talking with Cy and Dick tonight it seems maybe this place (less a mine than an amazing ‘place’ really is the case) has more potential in tourism than it does as a gold producing mine. There’s over 420acres of patented ground, meaning it’s private land which can be developed however the company chooses. An interesting situation since building infrastructure for a mine out here would be problematic at best. Federal regulations can wreck havoc on a small wannabe mining company which Goldrich/Little Squaw is, and probably will be forever. I’ve gotten to know Dick Walters better, and like him so much more after things have relaxed. We booze a little bit every night, which is unlike anything I would expect out here; a little wine, a couple beers, JD, and even some Bacardi the last two nights! He tells me I should move to Argentina and live it up. Another interesting idea.
Deborah shall be here in about ten days. Though we’ve not been on good terms for a long while now, I think (and hope, and pray!) that this month together alone in the wilderness will be pleasant. I’ve been collecting and planning some things for a sauna, which will be my primary project during the first couple of days (I may even start it before I leave for town). We’ll be living in two “wanagans” down by the airstrip and Spring Creek, lower than where the current camp is up on Mello Bench. It’s colder but also forested, and the creek runs all winter long. The plan is to have the sauna next to a large pool in the creek, just large enough to be designated as the “plunging pool” a short trip from the hot and steamy spruce sauna! The idea is that it will relieve some tension built up in our relationship! Our main occupations seem to be arranging and arguing, since we’re never in the same place for long. She’s just accepted a pHd/teaching four-year contract in Zurich, Switzerland. I don’t think I’ll ever have any heart for Zurich; when I was there in January my disposition was firmly set against the city. Everything is controlled, including society, and everything must run perfectly, OR ELSE! When I returned to Glasgow after our trip there (to be educated about “sustainability”) I was never so relieved to see rubbish and a little disorder! Anyway, I have strong feelings about it all, and we’re in what on the sandlot you’d call a “pickle”.
Well, I should shut off the generator, brush my fangs, and hit the sack. Lots of people I miss out there, don’t know when I’ll have the chance to see you all, but I think of you often. And I miss Imogen.
This morning (19th) coming down the two miles to the ‘internet café’ was cold and dark. The knuckles on my hands felt the change in weather pattern, which started with a front from the North, over Mount Contemplation. Usually weather comes from the South, but when it comes from the North (over the Brooks Range) that means it usually is here to stay. At least it wasn’t from the West, which is usually stormy weather! Therefore, the mountaintops are again white with snow, although it only drizzled down here – what an amazing Indian Summer! Also on the way down here, a small Arctic Hare did about 8 zig-zags across the road before darting into the bushes. I’m seeing more and more along the roads, and they’ve all got their white coats crawling up their legs at the moment, ready for what soon will be approaching. It’s obvious in the mornings and evenings. We lose about 10 minutes each day, cutting the light out of our 6am wake up call, and the 7pm supper time. It seems very dark today with low clouds, but I think it will still be pleasant.
A few days ago my bunkmate Gerhart (he’s a mechanic) took me up in his Cessna 180B. It’s a small aircrafts, but has great visibility and we toured around the Chandalar district looking down at sheep, and a great bull moose eating grass in a pond. There’s been a few hunters flying in (usually on floats to Big Squaw Lake) to hunt mountain sheep.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
exonerated!
We have another two to four days of mining left. The water is going to dry up soon, and our small tailings ponds are too full of silt and clay that it keeps clogging the water pump. Alongside that, we’re losing some fine gold due to the murky water, but nevertheless we pull an average of 4 ounces per hour and we should make the 500 oz target before everything comes to a halt. It’s getting slowly colder and darker, but since the first of September we’ve had an incredible Indian Summer. It’s been in the 60’s during the day and 40’s at night – wonderful for this time of year! The fall colors have faded. They are starting to look like shag carpets from the 70s, in bland shades of orange and yellow and brown. The other day I was up on the “Eneveloe” prospect, on a saddle south of Little Squaw Peak. I was investigating a soil anomaly and dug a four foot pit, took some samples (two buckets of dirt) and managed to pan out about one hundred little flyspecks of gold. Anyway, after hauling the samples down from the talus slope, I was bit knackered, and decided to lay down on the moss carpet. It was wonderful! I lay there, sunk a few inches into the soft turf, and just looked up at the sky. Peaceful.
My plans for the coming months have somewhat solidified, at last. Deborah is coming at the end of this month and we are going to caretake together here at Chandalar during the month of October. We’ve got a Polaris 550 but I don’t know if it will get enough snow here for that, or the ice fishing I’d like to do. I’m going to town to gather a few supplies for a week soon, and then back here. On 1st of November, I’ll leave for Dar es Salaam and starting exploration/development of another placer gold deposit in Tanzania. That should be fun and interesting! So I will be in Florida next during December, for Christmas at my sister’s place in Jacksonville! Then, I’m still considering Sydney for a Masters in Mine Management, but I’ve started reconsidering again about doing a proper Mine Engineering degree for four years in New Mexico, Vancouver, or Johannesberg. I’ll reappraise the costs of all of those, and New Mexico will probably be the cheapest. I love it there anyway! So that’s a small question for now; I’m just glad work will continue, I’ll get some peace out here on my own for a while, get some quality time with my girlfriend, and continue my career with Tanzania. I do love gold mining, although this project in Chandalar would not meet my criteria for “sustainable mining”. More about that later, but I’ll just say that I do think that is possible. Reading this blog on the computer you are connected to over thirty large mines located all around the world. If we have to do it, we should do it right, and keep mining in line with environmental and social well-being. In Alaska, we’re blessed with both! Ok, there goes another day. Bright stars and aurora tonight, yes.
9/12/09
VINDICATED!
Dick found 60ounces of gold in a bread pan the other day. It was gold that Jim (the head geo and mine director) placed there almost two weeks ago. At the time, while the company executives (and my current and future bosses) were here visiting, they took the gold out one night to weigh it all up. I had calculated that we should have 300 ounces, after which they issued a press release to raise attention to the fact. Well, I was somewhat scolded the next morning when it was discovered there was only 240 ounces, and we concluded that we had “double-counted” somewhere. It was pretty disappointing to everyone, but I really got on myself for two days. Of course, I never went into the storage room to double-check, and all along the gold had been there and my calculations had been right! Well, I was so happy it was found again (not just because it’s $60,000 worth of gold!) and I am vindicated.
We are now past 500, and we’ve reached our target. We’ll stop tomorrow and I’ll do a full and thorough final clean-up of the entire sluice. I’ll start cleaning up all my equipment and machinery will go to storage. I’ll help break down camp with my good friend Josh and Brent Sass, a great musher….
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Frosted Candy
Today I travelled up to St. Mary's Creek to take a few soil samples. There is snow on the ridgetops that does not melt, although it's a few degrees warmer in the valley. I've been offered a job "caretaking" during the winter season here, to protect the equipment and property from hunters and snowmachiners. I've put it to my girlfriend Deborah, but the prospect of being in close quarters for a long, dark winters in a place known to get -80 F (COLD!) may not be the right incentive for a loving relationship! Nevertheless, I'm considering it. I've missed the winters in Alaska dearly now for many years, and I would like to take up skiing, ice fishing, and learn how to trap marten, fox, rabbit, lynx and wolverine. Internet would be available and that would open the possibility of taking correspondence classes.
Anyway, the operation here is looking towards closure. I think we have about a fortnight left of operation, and then we'll be frozen or broken down or worn out beyond repair. The company seems to be doing well, and selling more shares and pleasing investors and shareholders. This may turn into the large scale, low grade, bulk placer mining operation they envision.
I will be prospecting in Tanzania for two weeks in October. It may carry over into a small mining operation, but more information later. I'd still like to do a masters in Mine Management in Sydney beginning February, but I don't think I'll make the budget to do that, so I'm looking at other options meanwhile. All the best from Chandalar,
Dylan
Saturday, August 29, 2009
29th August 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
There's Gold in an Old Tanzanian Lake
Today we cleaned up perhaps 11 ounces. Better, but still not great. There is a little too much invested into the overhead of this project, and not the gold mine itself, therefore this endeavor may be a failing enterprise. But today we did manage to expose over thirty feet of old shafts, drift mines into the rich placer which supposedly removed over 30,000 oz of gold! Cy also found an old rifle the other day dated 1894, and we had a nugget today weighing in at just under half an ounce, it’s about the size of a date.
My roommate Gerhart has gone home. He flew out on the flight that brought in investor David Atkinson, and tomorrow he’ll return in his own aircraft, a small 126 Cessna. He’s great, just like all the other men and woman working here at camp. We’re still hopeful that the gold will continue to accumulate in the riffles, and I’m anxious to know what tonights clean-up will actually weigh-up to.
After two freezing nights, the weather has warmed a little. Two mornings everyone worried, because once freeze up comes, the water disappears fast. I had to knock ice off everything, get pumps working, but I did have a little fun. In the large circular tubs that we use to pan inside, I took out large 2’ diameter circular sheets of ice, and placed them conspicuously around camp. They melted into things for about 2 hours, looking strange as though they had formed there, and then broke.
The hillsides are wonderful shades of yellow, orange, and red. They should have better adjectives, like Mojave, sepia, and maroon, because it’s really a very magical sight. I’ve seen the first glitter of starlight a few days ago with a pale showing of green aurora slowly waving down from above.
I’m gaining some weight and a little muscle back, which I tend to lose when I’m being all academic as Scotland the last few years. I still hope I can fly Deborah over to Alaska in the coming weeks. I’m sore (especially the back) when I go to bed, but that’s how work should be. The best part of my job is cleaning out the nugget box in the wash plant, which involves climbing up into the innards of the best, the trammel, a 40’ long mesh tunnel where tons of rock, water and mud come spinning down. A small gated box near the top end catches nuggets occasionally, so I clean it out, sort of like the city sewer – it’s a dirty, messy job. I wash my hands, and my face before dinner, because I predictably splatter mud all over my beard and forehead and cheeks.
The future is still uncertain for me, but I’ll be here for a little while yet, and I look forward to seeing family in Florida this Fall.
I met Bob Moriarty last night (24th). Cool, pony-tailed down-to-earth guy. I'm going to Tanzania in October to check out Douglas North's very large paleoplacer deposit for him and Jeff. Should have enough money then to complete a Masters in Mine Management in Sydney, Australia in February.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Aug. 8th thru 12th, 2009
It’s been about one week since I arrived in Chandalar. I spent today alone collecting soil samples at a prospect called St. Mary’s pass. It is steep terrain, full of talus, and makes a pretty good amphitheater. Tomorrow Dick Walters arrives on a plane – the president of Goldrich (aka Little Squaw Mining Company). Also, it is raining! Just lightly at the moment, but at an important time as the wash plant is nearly ready and soon we’ll be operating. I guess it makes sense that the clouds have finally moved in, because in Fairbanks the Tanana Valley State Fair began a day ago, and everyone knows when the fair rolls into town, so does the rain! Tomorrow is also my 24th birthday. Yippee, hooray, done.
Over at the old Mikado mine, we’ve seen a single caribou, a single sheep, and one lone wolf. Jim proposed to name the area ‘Lonely Valley’. The caribou has stuck around a few days, and the sad look on its’ face reminds me that getting lost in the mountains really is a very dangerous situation. I also had the opportunity to visit Tobin creek, where the Mikado mine processed ore until the underground shaft caved in the 80’s and the man in charge accidentally crashed his plane and was killed. Down at Tobin is a bunch of old stuff – I like the fleet of old Toyota Landcruisers from the 70’s. There’s two planes which crashed there (it’s a problematic airstrip) and a mill. The mill is a great big building which had a ball mill, jig, floatation, and cyanide leach cells to extract the gold from the ore. There is a ghostly air to the facility now, as it looks like the entire crew disappeared mid-run. There are barrels of concentrate eroding, and various solutions and materials strewn about the place. It’s now an attraction for snowmachiners and the like during the winter, although the company has done a decent job of “recycling” old spare parts and other paraphernalia.
It’s really pouring outside now. Nice cool, clean air for once, and I hope the Little Squaw creek will be flowing enough to drink from again. We’ve had to haul water from 2 miles down, because the flow was so low that the creek nearby was full of arsenic and other crap.
I am looking forward to mining. I think we’ll be pushed until the middle of September at least, and possibly longer, weather dependent. After getting back to Fairbanks, I am planning some spearfishing on the Chatanika with friends, more work for a while with Metallogeny, and then we’ll see. I need to head to Florida sometime in the fall or early winter, and I don’t yet have the funding needed for a year-long Masters in Mine Management in Sydney. Deborah may take a teaching/pHd position in Zurich, Switzerland in January – so lots of questions with few answers at the moment. I’ll enjoy listening to the rain hit the tent as I fall asleep tonight.
All the best,
Dylan
9th August 2009
It was blowing 50mph at the mountaintops this morning. By the end of the day, snow began to fly. Happy Birthday! But everything cleared up too, just like that! From hot and smoky to cold and windy, the weather changed dramatically. I’d call it the official first day of Autumn: the alders have begun to dye yellow and there’s a special chill in the air. It is magical out here, seeing the edge of ANWR to the East, watching a pair of moose wind their way down Little MacLeelan Creek. It’s a joy and privilege to work here in Chandalar.
12th August 2009
We are nearly ready to sluice! Again, I tested the pit, but we're not ready to start production yet, and this afternoon I buzzed up to a prospect called Eneveloe. It's just below Little Squaw Peak (about 5,000ft. elevation - doesn't seem high, but in this country, that's pretty up there). Eneveloe is named after Frank Yasuda's eskimo wife, who discovered the giant gold bearing lode which has since eroded and formed very rich gold placers in Little Squaw and Big Squaw Creeks, which we are about to partially mine! Yesterday operators found an old shaft that the Manuel Mello sunk in the 1940's. He was portuguese, and with the Japanese Yasuda, this place has quite a worldly connection! The weather had become moderately better. Yesterday I went across the hillside to prospect an old shaft and windlass, but came up with dust, or fly shit gold, however you choose. I've been watching two of my favorite films: Hook and Hearts and Souls. The Peter Pan story is my favorite movie of all time, and sometimes I think of this place as Neverland. It's full of Lost Boys, you have to fly out into a faraway land to get here, and it's full of adventure. The only woman here, Marcie the cook, is a wonderful soul like Tinkerbell too. The days are still long, and I've yet to see darkness, although I hear it's creeping around 2am now. It is sheep hunting season, and somebody has spotted some sheep across the valley on Mount Contemplation, named that because the camp faces North directly towards the beautiful mountain, and the primary outhouse has a beautiful view of it, which is great when you don't want to be thinking about the cold seat or the nagging mosquitos! I am reading a "Bible in a Year" but Genesis decidely sucks for the most part in my opinion. The Geologist Jim leaves in a couple days, meaning just as the wash plant is pouring out loads of concentrate, I'll be inundated and probably start working 14hr days. Woof!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
First three days at camp
Hello everyone,
I have arrived safe to Chandalar and been pretty busy the last few days, although we are not yet mining. The man in charge of building the wash plant, an old placer miner from Alaska named Cy, probably won't be ready for a few days yet. Since freeze up comes in mid-September normally, we're getting tight for time. On top of that, it's been a very dry summer and the creek is almost all but dried up. No water, no sluicing, no ounces of gold. On the plus side, these down days have meant I've had the chance to head up on four-wheelers with Jim Barker, the head geologist here the last 6 or 7 years, and take some fun trips around different prospects in the mountains. Tomorrow I will be heading out to the mountains alone to take some soil samples.
The weather is still smoky and I guess the conditions in Fairbanks are even worse. We have about 1-2miles visibility which changes during the day. New fires have started around the interior, and we're somewhere between 2-3million acres burned this summer, and probably more still left. 2004 was the last time it was this bad, and around 7 million burned then. There's a subtle wheeze in the back of everyone's lungs, and it's irritating to the eyes, nose, ears - not to mention the brain! Spend a lifetime not smoking and inhale two summers of this atmosphere and you're at the same spot - whoopee!
The connection is fast enough here that skype will probably work. Unfortunately with the long hours, there will be little chance to arrange a suitable time to speak, as other workers here need to use the internet as well. Until next time, hope all is well wherever it is you are reading this from,
All the best,
Dylan
Sunday, 2nd August 2009
I arrived into Chandalar this afternoon. It was a pleasure to leave the smoky skies of Fairbanks, and land in the idyllic setting here, 160 miles north. The temperature has noticeably taken a dip from the interior valley, and I can sense the weather which is soon to come. About nine or ten guys are working here – and the cook Marcy and her dog R.I.P. (yes, that’s the name of her retriever) together with Larry and his lab Clyde, are running a great camp. I ate two steaks for dinner tonight! We are not yet starting production, but the operation is very near. There are a few mechanics and one old placer miner working hard to get the large wash plant ready. There’s also three operators pushing overburden. I am working with Jim Barker, the head geologist. His wife Charlotte (also a geo) left on the plane I came on to return to their ranch in Eastern Oregon, where a fire has burned down fence line on their ranch. When Jim showed me the pit near to camp, my first instinct was a little horrid. All the secrets we were trying to discover about the true value of the gold here that the old timers thawed, picked, shoveled, sluiced, and panned are about to be extinguished. We are about 35ft down, and some test pits are at 50 or 55ft. My job will be to transport concentrate from the commercial wash plant to the Goldsaver, a smaller wash plant which will concentrate the gold. The concentrate will come in 55 gallon drums and I’ll be working nonstop to extract the gold. So far, the tests we’ve run indicate the exploration in 2007 we did was correct; and there’s significant grades to be mined the rest of the season. We hope to be seeing some rich cleanups! The median age of the crew here is 57 years. One operator is in his twenties, but then there’s a 35 year gap, and it’s interesting. It’s quiet and peaceful and incredibly beautiful. This week I’ll be prospecting some creeks nearby with Jim. His dog (the third and last here) is a fantastic sheep dog named “Chiga” and not long ago was nearly killed by a lone wolf at MacLeelan Ck. Also there is a bear’s den (we don’t know if it’s active) and in a couple days we’ll spend the night down in the creek to investigate another possible placer deposit. So it should be an exciting and interesting week before the grind really begins. The company president, Dick, comes out next week, so if we’re not producing I think he might shoot somebody. Everyone has been out here about 60 or 70 days now, and it’s a funny, awkward feeling coming into the camp as the “new guy” rather than the other way around. Nevertheless, everyone is in good rapport and I am doing well. I should be out mid-September, and if our work cleans up well, perhaps a wee bonus to go towards a new (used) vehicle in Fairbanks. There was a good looking ’85 Chevy with 80,000 miles at the Bakery restaurant, although the Bronco and Saab I borrowed from Jeff and Fred were great to have for a while! Miss you, and see you all soon,
Dylan Elek McFarlane
