How goes the battle gents?

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Re: How goes the battle gents?

Post by chickenminer » Wed Oct 01, 2025 4:05 am

Joe,
Only for cleaning out the tracks :)
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Re: How goes the battle gents?

Post by Joe S (AK) » Wed Oct 01, 2025 3:30 pm

Did you get much gold in all that "high grade" from the tracks?
One year "The Queen of Our Realm" brought her boots back from one of those adventure filled summers and decided, in the middle of the winter, to pan out the "stuff" sticking to them.
Yeah - she pulled them from the plastic bags they were stored in and found just enough to effectively rub it in for the rest of the winter.
No accountin' for luck, good or bad, - huh?
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Re: How goes the battle gents?

Post by Geowizard » Sun Oct 05, 2025 4:39 pm

The big nugget;

Alaska produced one big nugget, the Alaska Centennial Nugget that weighed in at a hefty 294.1 troy ounces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyy2gW3vGZo

Way back in 2012, a lone prospector having learned of the Big Nugget and learning about the mining district in which it was discovered went on a mission. A mission of discovery to discover where on earth this awesome specimen was formed and where it's relatives resided. The question of "where?" had never been answered!

The Ruby (Nulato) mining district is a gold mining district with accessory tin oxide (cassiterite).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassiterite

I found an anomaly in the form of an electromagnetic hit. The hit was shown on a map. The hit was the highest grade hit in the Nulato mining district. The map came from a State of Alaska report about an airborne electromagnetic survey of the mining district. Coincidentally, out of 3000 square miles, a 160 acre parcel of BLM domain appeared to cover the anomaly. The parcel had been conveyed to "The Community".

This is background info for this seasons work. Stick around! There's more! :)

- Geowizard
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Re: How goes the battle gents?

Post by Geowizard » Tue Oct 07, 2025 5:31 pm

Closer inspection;

Closer inspection showed the high grade anomaly was outside of the BLM conveyance to the community. I flew in by helicopter in 2021, staked claims and returned to Fairbanks to get tools and camp equipment to build a remote prospecting camp.

Fast forward to this season. After a short run into the bush late last season on the Argo to test the machine, I returned to plan the big hurrah this season.

Remote prospecting:

I made two round trips to Fairbanks from Arizona. The first trip was in May. While still in Fairbanks, I decided based on polar weather aka the Siberian express, it was too cold and risky to make an eight mile trail. I returned for a second attempt in Late June. Interestingly, when I made contact with my usually friendly B&B and storage I was met with unexpected and unexplained passive resistance. Frustrated with the lack of needed cooperation, I returned to AZ to regroup and reorganize.

Rather than run back and forth to Alaska, I decided to hire a project manager that lives in Fairbanks to make trail, move supplies and equipment to the mine site and camp. It's a thirty mile haul on 20 miles of dirt road and ten miles of fresh cut trail. The weight of the tools and equipment adds up to over 5000 pounds. I planned ahead by getting a new one ton utility trailer in North Pole and barging it down the Yukon n 2023.

My project manager reported that my two four-wheelers had been cannibalized for parts. Five thousand dollars and two weeks later, repairs were made, and the Argo was broke down out on the trail. Drive chains, sprockets, drive shaft stripped and broken.

There's more! :)

- Geowizard
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Re: How goes the battle gents?

Post by Slatco » Thu Oct 09, 2025 10:28 pm

Geowizard wrote:
Tue Oct 07, 2025 5:31 pm
Closer inspection;

Closer inspection showed the high grade anomaly was outside of the BLM conveyance to the community. I flew in by helicopter in 2021, staked claims and returned to Fairbanks to get tools and camp equipment to build a remote prospecting camp.

Fast forward to this season. After a short run into the bush late last season on the Argo to test the machine, I returned to plan the big hurrah this season.

Remote prospecting:

I made two round trips to Fairbanks from Arizona. The first trip was in May. While still in Fairbanks, I decided based on polar weather aka the Siberian express, it was too cold and risky to make an eight mile trail. I returned for a second attempt in Late June. Interestingly, when I made contact with my usually friendly B&B and storage I was met with unexpected and unexplained passive resistance. Frustrated with the lack of needed cooperation, I returned to AZ to regroup and reorganize.

Rather than run back and forth to Alaska, I decided to hire a project manager that lives in Fairbanks to make trail, move supplies and equipment to the mine site and camp. It's a thirty mile haul on 20 miles of dirt road and ten miles of fresh cut trail. The weight of the tools and equipment adds up to over 5000 pounds. I planned ahead by getting a new one ton utility trailer in North Pole and barging it down the Yukon n 2023.

My project manager reported that my two four-wheelers had been cannibalized for parts. Five thousand dollars and two weeks later, repairs were made, and the Argo was broke down out on the trail. Drive chains, sprockets, drive shaft stripped and broken.

There's more! :)

- Geowizard
Gahh, Geo that is terrible. Hard enough to get ahead without all the misfortune along the way......
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Re: How goes the battle gents?

Post by Geowizard » Fri Oct 10, 2025 1:40 am

Slatco,

Very true! We can plan for all of the predictable events in remote prospecting. There are too many possibilities of unexpected things that may fall upon us. "Expect the unexpected" is the old saying! :)

- Geowizard
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