Remote Prospecting?

[Geowizard]

Cassiterite;

The "problem" with placer mining in many areas including the Ruby-Pooman mining district is a heavy mineral called Cassiterite.

Cassiterite is tin oxide. It has a density of 6.7 to 6.9. It's heavier than magnetite. In other places like the Kougarok, tin nuggets as large as 4 inches in diameter clog sluice boxes within minutes making GOLD recovery difficult to almost impossible!

https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1968/0565/report.pdf✎ EditSign

I did some research on Cassiterite;

Noting the abundance of cassiterite and the potential to recover cassiterite, does it make a possible revenue source in conjunction with placer GOLD mining?

The tin market;

Looking at LME tin, the market is paying $27,000 per metric tonne. In some areas, I have read about tons of cassiterite being stockpiled as a byproduct of placer mining in the Ruby-Poorman mining district.

https://www.lme.com/en-GB/Metals/Non-fe ... tabIndex=0

Having a marketable byproduct like tin, can make marginal GOLD mining operations profitable.

Cost of transportation;

The cost of transportation is low when the backhaul routes are used. On the Yukon River, barges generally are loaded going up river and are empty going down river. Down river is cheaper for barges to operate - going with the flow.

Furthermore, the backhaul routes continue to be available on barges returning to Seattle.

Tin in the news;

https://www.internationaltin.org/tin-bo ... batteries/

Problems can sometimes become solutions in marginal mining operations!

Stick around!

- Geowizard

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them” -Walt Disney

[Jim_Alaska]

Good information Chuck. I never heard of the recovery of Cassiterite as a by-product of gold in Alaska. It would certinaly be an asset in a marginal gold operation.

[Geowizard]

Shipping cassiterite;

Concentrates are commonly shipped in open top 55 gallon barrels with a lid.

Here's the calculation;

Cassiterite weighs 6.7 grams per cubic centimeter.

50 gallons = 189270 cc.

6.7 grams/cc x 189,270 cc = 1,268,109 grams

= 1.268 metric Tonnes.

It's reasonable to assume one metric tonne per barrel. If 60 percent cassiterite concentrates could be produced and they were at Kougarok. that amounts to 0.6 metric tonnes of tin per barrel. A ten barrel shipment would contain 6 metric tonnes of tin.

The barge;

https://www.rubymarineinc.com/#home

I don't know of any tin smelters in the U.S. The shipping would likely go to Seattle with forwarding to an Asian buyer. With a satisfactory supply, a shipping contract might be possible. An ambitious prospector might even buy cassiterite stockpiles from other miners at pennies on the dollar.

The indications to me are that several large mineral deposits exist in the Ruby-Poorman mining District. Each of the deposits represent mega-ton scale deposits. They aren't iron deposits. They are high probability cassiterite deposits with accessory GOLD.

The ore might be tin/GOLD and the resulting concentrate would be a "sweetened" tin concentrate!

Don't go away!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

South Dishna River;


This survey covers an area that is extreme for even the most extreme remote prospector.


Alaska Geophysical Surveys:

https://dggs.alaska.gov/pubs/geophysics

Southern Dishna River:

https://dggs.alaska.gov/pubs/gpdata/236

Download zip file:

Download gpr2018_005_sdishna_2012_documents

Before boots on the ground, remote prospectors are well advised to make use of information found in the links above and illustrated graphicly below.

Embedded in that information is data that can provide a cross-section of the terrain never seen by mankind.

Here's an example:

Image


This is an image of one survey line (L40380), 18 miles long. The line shows a graphic illustration of the resistivity of the terrain at three frequencies. It can be seen that the central section of the survey has LOW resistivity and the right end has LOW resistivity. Remember, low resistivity means HIGH conductivity. GOLD prospectors should understand by now that terrain having high conductivity is the best place to begin prospecting!

The red line is a graphic representation of Relative Magnetic Intensity (RMI). This is what a prospector would measure with a magnetometer.


Stick around, there's more!

- Geowizard

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them” -Walt Disney

[Geowizard]

Relative Magnetic Intensity;

Early in this thread the subject of Magnetometers and measuring the magnetic field of the earth for prospecting was brought under discussion.

GOLD is non-magnetic. The reason for measuring the magnetic field intensity has to do with "structure".

We know that the crust of the earth contains iron as a primary mineral and the iron has magnetic polarity. When faulting and folding of the crust occurs, the magnetic polarities are moved and changed proportionately.

While the image above is visible, it a good opportunity to observe the red line that represents magnetic intensity and notice it is flat (no structural changes) and on the right, there is a large vertical anomaly. This indicates a major fault zone. Notice also there is conductive mineralization associated with the magnetic anomaly. This association infers the fault provided a "conduit" for hydrothermal fluids containing mineralization - possibly GOLD to intrude the local host rocks.

What have geochemical surveys of this area shown?

Stick around and find out!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Platinum and Palladium;

One of the many resources available for remote prospectors is USGS Bulletins.

USGS Bulletin B1946 contains important Geology and Geochemical information that gives clues to Platinum and Palladium prospects.

Link to B1946: https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/1946/report.pdf✎ EditSign

Section on South Dishna begins on page 44

Map (Figure 1) showing trend extending to Mount Hurst - page 45

Discussion about Platinum and Palladium - page 48

Snippet from B1946:

"Mafic and ultramafic rocks of the Dishna River area
are on trend with the mafic-ultramafic complex at Mount
Hurst, which lies about 38 krn to the northeast (see fig. 1).
The better exposed mafic-ultramafic rocks of the Mount
Hurst area have been interpreted as part of a dismembered
ophiolite (Loney and Himmelberg, 1984; Roberts, 1984).
Rocks from both areas have similar rock compositions,
mineral textures, and alteration assemblages and are adjacent to radiolarian chert, basalt to basaltic andesite, and
metasiltstone of the Innoko terrane, suggesting that they
share a common orogenic history. "

Note: Mt. Hurst is a KNOWN Chromite and Platinum Group Metals deposit!

Are we on to something here?

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Getting there from here;
There's a river (or two), the Dishna River and the Iditarod River. Each of them deserves an entire thread to cover their history and opportunities for access. Suffice it to say, the GOLD RUSH to Iditarod and Flat-Discovery GOLD placers (1,500,000 ounces) was by means of the Iditarod River, a tributary of the Yukon River. Small steamers made the round trip with miners, their families and supplies!

Note also access by air; Rivers have sand bars and sand bars look like runways to Bush Pilots!

Cat Dozer and Sled;

A miner at Ophir moved his Cat Dozer, Excavator, wash plant and camp including several cabins on a sled from Manley to Ophir down the Yukon River to Ruby and via Cat trails to Long - Poorman and then to Ophir. Permitting would need to involve winter use of existing trails.

Knowing this, it is possible to "sled" a camp and equipment to the Iditarod trail and then down the Iditarod trail to the Dishna survey area. The community of Iditarod (now abandoned) was the turn-around point for the 2021 Iditarod Dog Sled Race.

Don't go away!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

The Iditarod Trail;

"In fact, the last full-scale, old-fashioned, frontier-style gold rush in the United States roared into life in 1909 at Iditarod, 629 trail miles west of the future site of Anchorage and half way to Nome. By the next year, Iditarod eclipsed Nome and Fairbanks to briefly become the largest city in Alaska with 10,000 inhabitants. It boasted several banks and hotels and even a newspaper, all supplied by regular sternwheeler service up the Innoko and Iditarod Rivers, tributaries of the mighty Yukon River."

"Roadhouses were located a day's travel apart"


https://iditarod.com/booms-and-busts-id ... l-history/


The Iditarod trail runs through the length of the South Dishna River survey. Having a trail to use for transporting all of the needed supplies for exploration and mining makes all of these things more practical. Supplies can be barged or flown into Takotna. Takotna is on the Iditarod Trail. A road goes from the village of Takotna to Ophir. The Iditarod Trail continues from Ophir along the Innoko River, turning south to Iditarod.

Iditarod GOLD;

The trail served the GOLD camps from Anchorage to Nome. Early GOLD prospectors that used the trail had one ambition - to find more GOLD. The GOLD was hidden.

Here's an example;

Using data from the Southern Dishna River Geophysical Survey, a series of anomalies appear. It can be seen that the anomalies form a line. The line can be interpreted as a vein that extends for six miles or more. Geochemical sampling shows GOLD in the samples below the vein.

http://www.alaska-gold.com/s_dishna/iditarod_trail.jpg.



Hang on, there's more!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

The latest NEWS;

Stick around right here for more NEWS!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Remote Prospector Humor;


Don't go away!

- Geowizard