Nano GOLD!

[Geowizard]

Hi Everyone,

I have been busy "prospecting" at Ophir Mine the past few years.

My mission has been to seek out the SOURCE of the 100 thousand ounce placer GOLD recovered in Ophir Creek. It is arduous work and an ultimate test of the energy, resolve and fortitude that one man can put into the effort.

Background and motivation;

I think of the Alaska Gold Forum as I work. The prior two decades of having prospected in Arizona and having developed mining properties here contributed much of the experience and financial resources to extend my prospecting campaign to Alaska. The motivation for moving my prospecting ambition to Alaska was driven by several factors that are important to know. Our ACCESS to public lands in the Continental US has been reduced to the point that prospecting with an objective toward mining is a practical impossibility. I had to find greener pasture. That is - "greener" pasture that is not controlled by greed for control under the guise of "green" - but by hard working resource managers as I found in Alaska. Next is the realization that "time" is of the essence. I was not getting any younger and the importance of using my remaining time as efficiently as possible was becoming important. The third important factor was and remains to be forefront - the fact that Alaska is Elephant country for GOLD!

After a short summer on East Beach in Nome, where I met Leonard and a few other miners prior to the 2006- 2008 Gold Rush, I moved operations to Ophir, Alaska.

I spent five years proving in a "proof of concept" wash plant placer mining operation. After investing hundreds of thousands of USD, I concluded that the economics in terms of cost versus revenue and return on the investment, that the $10 per cubic yard GOLD in tailings cannot be brought into a business reality.

I began prospecting;

Having who Bobcat Skidsteers, a fully functioning mining camp, permitting in place and in reality, NO other option, I began prospecting for the source of the GOLD.

Yep.. It has something to do with Nano GOLD...

Stay tuned!

- Geowizard

[Jim_Alaska]

Welcome back Chuck, glad to have you back with us once again.

This should prove to be an interesting subject. I look forward to your experiences in this little known field of prospecting.

[Geowizard]

Thanks Jim!

I appreciate the opportunity to participate in discussion and share experiences in prospecting on your Forum!

Prospectors are trained to look for GOLD.

Our WORLD and our perception of ALL that is around us is controlled and LIMITED to what we SEE as we look. I may be hearing impaired... but I can recognize a large NUGGET across the room! We LOOK for NUGGETS.

A few prospectors I know, including myself use a LOOP. I use a LOOP when nuggets become scarce and I think there may be a few little specks of GOLD that my tired old eyes cannot SEE! After THIRTY years of prospecting, I have NEVER seen GOLD unexpectedly looking through a hand lens!

Here's why;

GOLD IS RARE. At one part per Million, GOLD is rare! I have moved countless thousands of LOADER buckets of GOLD bearing gravels - bouncing along - LOOKING at thousands of YARDS of ROCK... Nope... Never a nugget!

"No See-em GOLD"?

Stay tuned...

- Geowizard

[Leonard]

I recognize the time is running out" syndrome. Mine has as far as prospecting. One thing I regret is not being able to take you up om your offer to come up to Ophir creek and spend a month or 2. Now I'm looking at the wife's health and my own. At 75 it's time to reap the rewards of my years of hard work. I was fortunate to have had quite a few footloose years though.

I'm looking forward to your posts.
Leonard

[Jim_Alaska]

I have one year more than you Leonard, just turned 76 in December. One difference is that, like you my mining time is just about over, but still no rewards to reap.

[Geowizard]

Leonard,

That's a very kind compliment! Thank you.

So, the placer tailings have an economy of scale. It's a break-even proposition running tailings on the scale I was at.

In order to turn Ophir into a GOLD mine, something had to change... Prospecting provided a better understanding of the Geology at Ophir. I spent several seasons excavating overburden and exposing bedrock. This work revealed several quartz and monzonite veins. The significant geological feature was a line of "Black Shale" that runs parallel to the creek on a bench above the tailings. During the 2018 season, I went above the bench about 50 feet and cut a road along the hillside. The purpose of the road cut was to expose virgin ground and bedrock for sampling. No GOLD was found along the road cut. The road cut also marks the eastern limit of the Black Shale. No GOLD above the Black shale and 100 thousand ounces of GOLD recovered below the Black shale. Hmmm...

No (visible) GOLD in the black shale either!

There are recent reports of GOLD deposits in Black Shale. You can view several interesting videos on YouTube on the subject. Understanding the geology and forming a geological model will lead to discovery of the Lode in the short term. My belief at present is that the parallel creeks adjoining Ophir Creek represent a series of parallel "Grabens". These are fault zones that occurred in parallel on both sides of each of the modern creeks. The ground between the sides of the creeks was faulted downward and that event allowed the creeks to be formed. A later event occurred that brought in GOLD mineralization into and along weak fractures in the fault zones. I believe the GOLD was deposited according to a new model that involves metamorphic rock that formed below the surface and carried GOLD to the surface with CO2 and Carbon. Miners in Victoria, Australia have claimed for many years that the GOLD recovered there is found in the Black Shale.

Black shale represents a very porous and permeable rock that is easy for fluids under high pressure and at high temperature to flow into. The fluids cool rapidly and precipitate GOLD in the pore spaces.

Nano GOLD is only visible with high power microscopes. The GOLD can reach several ounces per Tonne.

Stay tuned!

- Geowizard

[Jim_Alaska]

Interesting Wiz. On a claim I had in Alaska I had shale and gold sandwiched between the sheets of shale, I always assumed that the gold was deposited over time by flood events and that was why it was between the shale sheets. I never occurred to me to look into the shale, nor did I have the means to do so.

[Slatco]

Interesting!!! What's the most cost effective method to recover this Nano gold?

[Geowizard]

Hi Slatco,

Welcome to the Forum!

That's a very important question.

The recovery of micron GOLD and Nano GOLD is most often carried out by chemical and electrochemical processes.

A process referred to as "leaching" involves chemistry. The chemistry can be as simple as introducing a reactive solvent such as salt or salt water. GOLD will react with the Chlorine atoms in Sodium Chloride (aka salt) and produce GOLD Chloride. Evaporation of the GOLD Chloride solution produces GOLD Chloride crystals. The crystals are then roasted to evolve the chlorine as chlorine gas and the remaining GOLD is melted in a furnace to produce GOLD bullion. This process was used by early Spanish Gold miners in the "Patio Process".

The faster process involves Sodium Cyanide. Although Cyanide can be dangerous if not properly handled, modern recovery processes include may safeguards to prevent potential safety problems. Cyanide dissolved in water is used to dissolve the GOLD into a liquid solution. One process that I have seen uses Zinc dust added to the leachant to precipitate the GOLD out of the solution. The precipitated GOLD is pumped through a filter to remove the GOLD as a mud cake. The mud cake is dried and melted in a Furnace. The resulting GOLD Dore' is shipped to a refiner.

Electrochemical processes, for example electrowinning can recover GOLD in an "electrowinning cell". The cell is composed of two metal plates with a DC voltage applied. The voltage creates current flow and the GOLD is plated onto a metal plate.

Carbon In Pulp (CIP) is another process that was used at Homestake Mine - incidentally a similar deposit chemistry to Ophir.

Many papers have been written on these processes. Videos can be viewed on YouTube.

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Slatco,

Your question was "What is the most effective method"...

The answer is determined by testing the various methods in a laboratory. Efficiency of recovery is controlled by the mineralogy of the deposit. There is a long list of variables that affect each of the known methods. It takes time and testing with careful study of the cost and efficiency of each method to make a decision.

- Geowizard