2022 Season Vid

[Slatco]

Here is a little vid of my season. It was a grind lol. I will share the details behind the video in a later post.

https://youtu.be/wQbOvps2ZQM

[Joe S (AK)]

Jeez - Really nice to see. That thumb sure does come in as a handy thing!

All the best!

- Joe S -

[chickenminer]

Well glad to see you got that Volvo back up and running! How did it work during the season?

[Slatco]

Good morning gents. Joe, that thumb is a must have if you are dealing with boulders and trees. I use it all the time and for the trees, it will snap a 10 inch pine in half no problem to make it easier to deal with. Also really good for picking up stumps.

Chickenminer- The truck was awesome after I fixed it all up, I was blown away by the terrain it can operate in! Looking back, while it sucked at the time, I now know that I have a mechanically sound machine that won't let me down when I need it. Also, when you go that deep mechanically into something, you gain a ton of knowledge and experience and if anything goes wrong in the future, I know I can fix it. (That was also my reasoning for buying a older C series machine rather than a newer D series - less computer needed lol)

[Jim_Alaska]

Thanks for the video, it really adds to a post when we can actually see what is going on. Looking forward to more as time goes on and you are able to make provisions for video.

Your excavator is a nice touch also. Komatsu makes excavators that are a joy to operate. I used a Komatsu 300 for a whole season at an open pit hardrock mine. It is amazing what it can do and the ease with which it does it.

The rabbit feature,( usually in later machines,) is a " faster mode " for the machine operation, You will find a button on the excavator dash, ( right next to where you are sitting in the machine,) the button has a icon of a running rabbit on it, and what you do is when driving the machine long distance, you get it up to speed, then touch the rabbit button , and the machine will increase speed about %20, ( less power though ) sort of a top gear button, the rabbit button also applies to the overall speed of the excavator when loading trucks / digging, which does require noticeably faster operation,

This was the real workhorse at this mine, I loved operating this machine.

Komatsu1.jpg

Mill Site 003.jpg

[Slatco]

Thanks Jim, the 220 Komatsu has been a really good hoe. The previous owner blew the engine and put in a chinese 5.9 cummins clone that tends to smoke under load so we avoid the rabbit mode for preservation sake. The new undercarriage is awesome on it.

[Geowizard]

Slatco,

It doesn't look like a placer diggin. Is it an alluvial/colluvial deposit below a lode?

- Geowizard

[Slatco]

It is a alluvial glacial deposit with no known lode source. I am about 750 yards away from the current creek bed. All the gold is from surface down to a depth of about 10ft in hard consolidated material. Generally the best gold is found with the big boulders.

[waveaction]

Thank you for taking the extra time to take the video of your operation and to share it.