A Modern Take On Old Time Drift Mining

[chickenminer]

Kurt,
I would very much appreciate you putting that list of parts together and any details on building those
heating rods. I'd love to give them a try.
What do you figure each of those rods draw in watts ? Curious what size gen you have to run to power
15 of those rods?
Thanks!

[Flintgreasewood]

Each rod is about 300 watts. I have been running 15 of them on a 5500 watt Generac. I have needed to write up a “recipe” so this is a good time. It will take a few days. Two components you’ll have to order. The rest you can purchase here in Fairbanks

[Geowizard]

Flint,

Are you running them on the 220 volt outlet?

- Geowizard

[Flintgreasewood]

no

[Flintgreasewood]

I do run 10 of them on the 30 amp circuit and 5 on a 20 amp circuit

[Geowizard]

Flint,

I have a Generac GP5500 at Ophir for camp power.



(Image courtesy of Generac)

Each of the two 120 volt outlets are rated at 20 Amps.

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Generac Brushes;

The brushes wore out at about 190 hours. They are available on Amazon. I recommend having a couple spare sets on hand. Last season, first thing - it quit again... I brought in A backup Generator to keep the camp going. After doing some troubleshooting, the Generator had no spark, and with disassembly of the pull-start end cover, and exposing the flywheel, it was evident that the magnet attached to the flywheel had separated and fragmented. I recently bought some Neodymium magnets and will plan on JB welding a magnet onto the flywheel.

Bush repair like this is necessary if an operation is to keep running.

- Geowizard

[Flintgreasewood]

My 5500 went down but I was able to get my Lister T2 running so that’s what powers the operation. In process of building an enclosure for it to keep it warm. I’ll use a kerosene heater on low.
Your bush fix is impressive. I need to take some time to fix the Generac next summer. I got a good deal on a Generac 6500 watt with 8000 starting watts. Ill be using it to for a new shaft or possibly a decline I’ll start this winter/spring

[Flintgreasewood]

I'm not mining gold these days. After about two weeks away from the shaft I returned to find a glacier inexorably swallowing up a Frost Fighter, three generators, jack hammer, a lot of lumber and plywood and threatening the shaft itself. Some of the ice is over two feet thick and the area affected is around 20' wide. Of course the urgency is to get the equipment free and clear of the encroaching ice before everything is completely entombed. The only tool immediately available to me was my rock hammer and I went to work extricating an almost new 6800 watt Generac generator. My plan was to, once freed, use the generator to power my hammer drill equipped with a pointed bit to attack the ice, but I first needed to thaw the ice out of the pull starter/fan assembly with a weed burner. But even that was partially froze in, hose included. Unfortunately I ended up puncturing the hose with the rock hammer point. The hose would have to be replaced back in town. I had had enough for a day and still had to drag a truck battery and the chainsaw that I couldn't get started up the hill a quarter mile to the truck. The battery was to be used to start the mine pickup parked at the cabin. However, the choke stuck, flooded the engine and it died, not to be started again that evening. I trudged the 2/3 mile up the snowy road to the highway and my waiting truck.
Next day I was back at it, first getting the mine pickup running and warmed up so I had a comfortable place to eat my lunch while I also thawed out my chain saw. Before hiking down to the shaft I spent an hour dragging my old Skandic snow machine in position to set a double sized Eskimo ice fishing shelter over it. The Skandic needed repairs on the electrical system and the tent would allow me to do the work in relative comfort. But the mechanicing would be next day's work. I was able to get the chain saw running so I hiked down to the shaft to begin surgically cutting and removing blocks of ice around the large Frost Fighter heater.
The ice cut easily with the little Stihl 170 and using the chisel end of a heavy tamping bar I was able to break off mega 12" ice cubes. As i cut down past two feet I hit soft ice which when removed revealed flowing water, the source of my headaches. I had only enough daylight left to chip a channel to divert the water away from the heater. I'll find out tomorrow what the glacier has decided to do while I've been away.

[Slatco]

Holy hells, that is some bad luck. A guy really has to have the desire and persistence to succeed in this game. Good luck out there and hopefully things start to go smoother.