exonerated!

9/9/09
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….