Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Frosted Candy

Yesterday morning I opened the tent and a low ceiling of clouds hung down to the valley floor. A blanket of white covered my view - a couple inches of snow splashed all around us during the night, covering the yellow, orange and red alders and willows. It looked like sugar coated candy for as far as the eye could see. Chandalar is beautiful.

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

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