Searching for Ancient Rivers in West Africa

PlacerGold Trip Reports February 15, 2022alluvial, artisanal, bedrock mapping, diamonds, geophysics, gold, gold mining, gold mining equipment, gold pan, mining, paleo-placer, paleochannel, placer, placer claim, seismic 0 Comment

In April 2021 West Coast Placer was hired to assist in exploration for a large-scale alluvial gold project in Sierra Leone, West Africa. This program took place in the Kono region of Sierra Leone which hosts diamonds as well as gold in their placer deposits. It was a great experience and it was really cool to see how they do things in West Africa compared to the West Coast of North America.

Sierra Leone is famous for its alluvial diamonds. We were working in the Kono district which is where the plot of the movie Blood Diamond took place. The region where Leonardo DiCaprio’s character died at the end (spoiler alert) is not far from the survey area that we were exploring.

Despite extensive diamond mining taking place in the region since the 1930s very little attention had been paid to the alluvial gold deposits. There are a lot of artisanal miners active in the area but their sole focus is diamonds and they often discard the gold that they dig up. That fact surprised me because even in Canada where the average income and standard of living is much, much higher nobody would ever throw gold back into a river. That’s one of many things that’s different in Africa.

The placer deposits in the Kono region are much older than anything in BC or the Yukon. Much of the bedrock is Precambrian (500 million to 4 billion years old) and hasn’t ever been glaciated. By contrast, the rock in BC is less than 200 million years old and has been bulldozed by large glaciers on at least 4 occasions. Despite the differences, some things are the same in pretty much every placer environment. Over time rivers and streams move and leave their gold deposits behind in ancient paleochannels. That’s what we were looking for. Our system is designed to map bedrock depth and show the location of paleochannels.

Ancient Channel Gold Map Africa — Actual Map from a survey in Africa in 2021

Travelling internationally during the covid-19 pandemic is quite an adventure. In April 2021 the vaccines weren’t available yet and travel restrictions were very tough. We had to do lots of covid tests at each leg of the journey and there were a few hiccups. One of our team members wasn’t allowed to board the flight to Belgium from Montreal because his test was taken too far in advance. He had to get another PCR test and catch a flight the next day. On the way back I almost had to stay in a covid hotel, fortunately, the Canadian government honored my essential service exemption.

It was interesting that Sierra Leone didn’t have a lot of covid restrictions. That’s because three years prior to the breakout of Covid -19 around the world West Africa was center stage to the worst ebola outbreak in history. When covid broke out in 2020 they knew what to do and locked the whole country down with no exceptions. By the time we arrived in 2021 the whole country had a total case count of 80 and zero deaths. With the intense screening protocols for international travellers they were able to keep infection rates to a minimum, something that wealthy western countries weren’t able to do, even with the advent of vaccines.

We spent a few nights in the capital city of Freetown and headed off to Koidu Town to begin our exploration. The bedrock mapping survey covered a large area that was chosen due to the prevalence of artisinal mining and topographic features that favoured the development of paleochannels. We had some knowledge of hard rock gold production in the area and anecdotal evidence from local artisanal placer miners.

excavator placer alluvial west africa — There’s no 6 month wait for permits in Sierra Leone

We had a crew of local laborers which included the son of the Paramount Chief. That was important for public relations since we didn’t speak the local language and it was important to explain to the villagers what we were doing. Having the chief on our side let everyone know that we were working along with local government and not just rolling in to take all the resources for ourselves.

Sierra Leone is ruled by a combination of federal government and chiefdoms. The mining claims are managed by both levels of government in a complex way. Without the support of the chief it would be hard to get the necessary permitting and support of the local community. Luckily for us, the local chief is a miner himself and we got along really well.

The artisanal miners do a lot of the work by hand. They often use gas-powered water pumps similar to what small-scale miners use in Canada. Mostly for dewatering though, they don’t have highbankers like we do back home. In Africa people carry everything on their heads, even the water pumps.

Most of the washing is done by hand using gem screens or large gold pans. The larger operations use a rudimentary hydrostatic jig. There are very few operations using heavy equipment but manpower is readily available in this area.

The local miners have a method of digging shafts that works really well in the clay-rich gravels in that area. They dig a shaft about 1 meter wide and dig out foot holds on the way down. In this way they can reach bedrock in a day or two and get really good samples from the bedrock interface. The company that we were working with hired a large crew of local miners to dig shafts instead of using a drill. The samples were better and expert shaft diggers were more than willing to work for $10 US per day.

shaft made by artisanal miners sierra leone — Shaft made by artisanal miners in Kono region

Getting supplies in a third world country can be an adventure in itself. We tried to bring everything that we needed with us but we counted on procuring some supplies locally. One thing that we need lots of was flagging tape. Since this is a mining area we thought it wouldn’t be too hard to find. It turns out that there is no flagging tape available for sale in the entire city of Koidu. Despite two full-scale kimberlite mines right next to the city. We had to buy fabric ribbon in bright colours and use scissors to cut it in order to mark our lines.

It turned out that the local kids like the fabric just as much as we did since they would come right behind us and pull all the ribbon off the lines as soon as we were done. Sometimes they wouldn’t even wait till we had completed the line which made a few sections really challenging.

Some of the more high tech mining devices in Africa are really cool. The company had some really efficient gold centrifuges for testing the gravels. They’re like a gravity concentrator that you see in North America but made to be economical and easy to deploy. One machine is called the Gold Kacha and works really well.

Centrifuges aren’t commonly used in placer mining in BC and the Yukon but that’s something that we should really consider. The gravity concentrators on the market are expensive in Canada but you can get a Gold Kacha out of South Africa for about the same price ad an average highbanker setup here in BC.

The local gold panning technique is quite different from what I’m used to. They use a large rounded bowl with handles on the sides. There are no riffles and the sides have a very gentle slope. My technique didn’t work to well with their pans. The local technique is to swirl the material in the pan while letting the lighter stuff wash over the sides. One of my crew members demonstrated the technique in the video below.

The bedrock mapping survey was a huge success. We identified a clear paleo-valley and an ancient river channel that spanned several kilometers. Much of the area that we identified with the seismic survey as an ancient channel had never been exploited by artisanal miners.

One great thing about working in Sierra Leone is you don’t need permits as you do in BC. We were able to start digging with an excavator right away. With a combination of bulk sampling with the excavator and teams of local shaft diggers sampling was completed in less than a month. The gold grades within the channel were excellent and alluvial diamonds were also present.

Exploring a new area is always a welcome experience. As explorers, we are constantly striving to search different areas and locate mineable gold deposits. This exploration program in West Africa did not disappoint. It was quite a contrast to use the latest technologies in an area where people are still living in mud huts and cooking with charcoal. Some of the ancient techniques used in Sierra Leone are very efficient, such as the shaft digging technique. If we could get hundreds of workers to dig shafts in Canada for $10 per day imagine the ground that could be explored.

We managed to locate a very rich placer deposit containing minable quantities of gold and alluvial diamonds. This project was developed with the support and mutual benefit of the local chiefdom and communities. It was a great experience to share knowledge of different mining and exploration techniques and learn a few new ones as well.

Placer Exploration in the Yukon

PlacerGold Trip Reports June 8, 2016drill, gold, gold mining, gold mining equipment, gold pan, gold panning, gold rush, Klondike, Nodwell, northern lights, placer, yukon 9 Comments

In the spring 2016 I was hired to help on a large scale placer exploration program in the Yukon. The property is located in a part of the Yukon where very little placer activity has taken place. We had a small team of three guys and a lot of equipment.

The Yukon, like BC and Alaska, was explored and settled by prospectors in the late 1800s. The Klondike gold rush of 1896-1899 was the largest and most storied gold rush in history. It is estimated that over 100,000 gold seekers migrated to the Arctic territory from places like San Fransico and Seattle. The Yukon’s economy is still driven by mining and the local culture is completely saturated with gold rush era influences. A great example is Yukon Gold, the flagship beer of the Yukon Brewing Company, has part the the famous poem “The Cremation of Sam Mcgee” on the label.

The Robert Service poem is part of Canadian heritage and is part of the school curriculum across the country. After several trips prospecting in the Yukon it takes on different meaning than a quirky poem that you have to read out loud in grade three.

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

On a Monday night in early April at 9PM I received a phone call. “Your flight leaves Vancouver in the morning for Whitehorse. We’ll fill you in on the way.” Typical for this kind of job. I had been expecting the call for a few weeks but it still caught me a little off guard.

On arrival to Whitehorse I had been advised that one of our crew would meet me there. I had never met this guy before but I knew he was an old placer miner. The Whitehorse airport is small and we were the only flight. There were several people waiting for passengers so I had to guess. I noticed a guy wearing rubber boots and looked like a placer miner to me. I introduced myself and luckily he was the right guy.

We spent a couple hours rounding up additional gear before catching the charter to the camp. I was crammed in a Cessna 206 with the pilot and a bunch of gear. We had all the 5 gallon pails we could buy at the Whitehorse Home Hardware, drill bits, my gear, a 45 gallon drum of diesel, and a bunch of other stuff.

Soon after leaving Whitehorse we flew over Lake Lebarge which is the location where Sam Magee was famously cremated.

The pilot warned me that the runway was a little rough. We took a couple passes and lined up to land. It was rough all right, made of gravel and ice, we bounced so hard that we almost took off again. My two crew members were waiting to greet me at the plane. They were excited to meet me, especially since I brought a 24 pack of Kokanee. The beer didn’t last the night.

The two guys that I was working with had already been there for several weeks. It’s a rustic camp and there was no water available for showers or anything. I thought my team mates smelled pretty bad when I arrived but after a few days we all smelled the same. A few weeks later temperatures were high enough to rig up a pump system and a shower. This is not the first rustic camp that I’ve been to where we have satellite internet and no showers. These are interesting times to be an explorer.

The camp consists of three canvas tents, a seacan and an outhouse. The tents have “hippy killer” stoves that burn wood. They work well most of the time but you have to chop wood every time you want heat. Wood floors had been constructed which is certainly a luxury over dirt floors. Our kitchen is in the same tent as the office. There’s a propane stove/oven and plenty of food. We used paper plates so we wouldn’t have to wash them, they worked great for starting the stoves when we were done with them.

The main goal of this program was to carry out a sampling over the property. The drilling and sampling will allow us to find and evaluate economic placer deposits. Our primary tool was a Nodwell mounted drill with a 12″ auger. Some areas were sampled by excavator where the ground was not suitable to drill. Material was collected with the drill and excavator and processed on site with a small wash plant. In addition to gold values we developed an understanding of bedrock depth, characteristics and the distribution of placer gold.

Most of the gear was brought in on the winter trail. The trail is about 100km from the closest dirt road and requires the ground to be frozen and snow covered. Our two Nodwells, Toyota track truck, quads, fuel and everything was brought in over the trail. With a light load it can be travelled by snowmobile in about 4 hours each way. With the heavy equipment it takes 3-4 days. There are impromptu camps along the way but nothing with heat and very little shelter. The guys were prepared of course.

Nodwells are pretty cool machines. They were invented in the 1950s to service the oilfields of Northern Alberta and the Arctic. These beastly machines have super wide tracks to spread their weight on soft terrain. They have a unique drive system that uses rubber tires on the track. Operating one is similar to driving a tank. You pull levers to brake the track on either side. We had two of them, a big Nodwell for the drill and a smaller one for a support vehicle. The Nodwells have a lot of character, check out the yellow plywood interior and gun rack. The small one is named “Picasso”. The photos will expand when clicked.

We located and mapped several trenches that were used for ground sluicing dating back to the 1898 Yukon gold rush. The old timers diverted the creek to flow through hand cut trenches. The water was then controlled via a series of gates to strip away overburden. Sort of like hydraulicking. There’s not much left of the old workings today but it gives us an idea of where the pay streaks are.

Old Timer's Trenches — Old Timer’s Trenches

Sampling is key to any placer operation. Sloppy or inadequate sampling spells the death of many mining operations. After all you wouldn’t get married without going on a date first. We collected samples with a rugged 12″ auger drill. Each sample had a set depth interval and a measured volume. With accurate measurements we can extrapolate the sample data to evaluate the deposit over large areas. For example if we sample 500mg (1/2 gram) from 10 pails of material, that equates to just over 3 grams per cubic yard. We did have some just like that, and better.

After collection by the drill our samples were run through a mini wash plant. We were using a cool machine called “The Prospector” by Goldfield Engineering. The Prospector uses a water driven pelton wheel to create a vibration. That’s awesome because all it needs is a 2″ pump to run. The wheel rotates an eccentric weight similar to the way the a cell phone vibrates but on a larger scale. Using this machine I processed over 15 cubic yards of samples over 7 weeks.

The Prospector really eats through material. The shaker screen breaks it up almost as fast as you can feed it. It struggles when there is a lot of clay though. After each sample interval is run a cleanup is necessary. With this machine it’s a quick procedure. The concentrates from each sample are panned out with a gold pan. The gold is then dried out and weighed to be used in grade estimates.

As the summer solstice approaches the days get longer in the Yukon. In the summer the sun does not set in the Arctic it is after all the land of the midnight sun. The lack of darkness takes a little getting used to. In early May we had a couple of Northern lights shows that were pretty good. At that time there was about 2 hours of darkness where the Northern lights were visible. A week later it would no longer be dark enough.

We encountered few animals on the trip. This is described as a “hungry” part of the Yukon. One bear tried to enter our camp. It was a very large black bear, the electric fence slowed him down but it took a few bear bangers to scare him off. A huge mangey wolf casually pranced right in front of us one night. All the animals are big in the Yukon. Even the mosquitoes. They are so big that they often get up and fly away after you swat them. Unless you are willing to really smack yourself in the face, they are not going to die.

For some samples we had to use the excavator. The auger drill does not work well in areas where the permafrost has melted. We tried a few spots and the mixture of water and loose gravel would not stay on the auger flights. The excavator does not have that problem since it scoops up a bucket full of material, water and all. We used a huge 4″ pump to drain the holes first then sampled the bedrock and regolith with the hoe. The samples were of course put into pails and we measured the volume before processing.

We had a few other machines to help out as well. A couple of bulldozers, some quads, a side by side and a ’96 Toyota pickup with tracks instead of wheels. We took the tracks off once the snow was all gone using the hoe to lift the truck. Why bother with jacks when you have those Tonka toys kicking around.

The winter trail conditions rapidly deteriorated as the weather warmed up. The ground here is like muskeg with lots of water and mud. Just about everything got stuck at some point, except for the Nodwells. We had to cross a few creeks, mud and sometimes straight trough the trees.

The pursuit of gold will make men do strange things. In our case it involved a ton of work travelling over unforgiving terrain to drill holes down to bedrock. Our persistence and determination paid off though and we discovered a pay channel that extends over much of the drilled area. It is going to take some more work to map out the full extent but we already have clear evidence of a great deposit.

After 50 straight days it was time to go home. Our ride out was a DHC-3 Turbo-Otter, an impressive aircraft designed by de Havilland, a Canadaian company, in the 1950s. The Otter took our whole crew and all our gear without any issues. The turbine engine gives it the STOL capabilities to takeoff and land in a rugged bush airstrip like the one in this camp. We stopped along the way to drop off one of our guys and pick up some much needed beer before landing in Whitehorse.

I had a wild night in Whitehorse to close off the trip before heading home to BC. It was a good time in the bush but it is nice to return to the comforts of modern civilization.

Harrison Lake Adit Exploration

PlacerGold Trip Reports April 1, 2016gold, gold mining, gold rush, lode gold, lost mine, mining, vancouver 5 Comments

Last week my neighbour phoned me and asked if I wanted to go on a road trip to check out an adit by Harrison Lake. Of course I said yes. Who wouldn’t be down for a short road trip to check out an old mine adit.

The trip only took two hours from my home in Abbotsford, BC. We drove up to Harrison Hot Springs then transitioned to the 4×4 road called Harrison East FSR. Conditions were great for the trip out we got hit by rain on the way back but that’s to be expected on the West coast in March.

I brought along my mountain bike night riding light and it worked awesome! You can see the difference between my super light and a standard headlamp in the video. Check out the video below showing our exploration in the adit:

This adit was created a long time ago, probably a during the period of the Fraser River and Cariboo gold rushes (1860s – 1880s). No records have been found from that time period describing the adit though. During the gold rushes the Harrison was one of the major routes to the Cariboo and many miners worked in the region.

The adit extends for approximately 50m with a slight bend half way in. It cuts through altered schist formations and has several small quarz veins exposed inside. We sampled one of the veins which will be sent to a lab for fire assay. The map below is taken from a 1983 geological report of the area.

In addition to the 50m adit a vertical shaft had also been excavated. Unfortunately the shaft is filled with water so it cannot be explored at this time. Both excavations were carried out to explore a sizable quartz vein. The shaft is right on the 1m wide vein and driven vertically into the bedrock. The adit that we explored was intended to intersect the shaft and the vein. It seems that the miners missed. It is difficult to tell by how much.

Inside the adit there are wooden tracks that line the whole tunnel. These were probably part of an old rail system used to remove the excavated rock. It is not known why the miners abandoned the property, without any information we can only guess. There are other adits in the area that we’ll explore another time. Not bad for a Tuesday afternoon.

The Search for Klondike Lode Gold

PlacerGold Trip Reports December 23, 2015bonanza, dawson city, gold, gold mining, gold panning, gold rush, Klondike, lode gold, mother lode, placer, placer claim, quartz vein, yukon, yukon gold 3 Comments

In the summer of 2010 I was hired to work with a team to find hard rock gold in the Klondike. We explored a group of claims on the Indian River.

My crew stayed at a camp operated by a character called Big Al. That name might sound familiar because he has been featured on the popular TV show Yukon Gold on the History Channel. Of course at that time we had no idea he was going to be a celebrity. During the trip we heard a rumour that Hoffmans working a few claims over were filming for a TV show, it turned out to be the hit series Gold Rush on Discovery. We were surrounded by gold mining TV stars but didn’t know it yet.

The Klondike is a place that has a very storied history and was the site of the greatest gold rush of them all. California, Oregon, and British Columbia had their gold rushes and stories but the Klondike was like no other. Between 1896 and 1899 over 100,000 adventurers made the journey from all over the world to the largely uninhabited Yukon territory in search of gold. What made this rush different is the long journeys and overall inexperience of the Argonauts. At the time of discovery El Dorado and Bonanza creek were the richest creeks in the world. Some claims on El Dorado were getting $27 to the pan once they hit the pay streak. That is equivalent to about $750 per pan in today’s money.

My team met up in Whitehorse the capitol city of the Yukon Territory in early August 2010. We then rounded up some remaining gear and drove in a rented truck up to Dawson City. As you arive in Dawson City you can see the remains of over 100 years of placer gold mining. Before you reach the town you can see large tailings piles lining the sides of the highway. When looked at from above they look like something that was produced by a giant insect. The tailings piles were put there by humongous dredges that scoured the Klondike drainages until 1966. It is estimated that each of the dredges were producing as much as 800 ounces of gold per day!

Aerial View of Kondike Tailings — Aerial View of Klondike Tailings

Dawson City is a cool town. The residents have maintained the look and feel of Dawson’s heyday during the Klondike gold rush. The streets are dirt with wood plank sidewalks. Most of the buildings are original in the downtown area and many commercial buildings have the false front that was the norm during the gold rush era. There is even a law that all signs have to be hand painted.

There are no corporate stores or businesses in Dawson. Everything is locally owned and operated. Some of the original establishments from the 1890s are still in operation today. Diamond Tooth Gerties is one such establishment which offers games of chance and nightly can can dancers 7 days a week. Anouther is Bombay Peggy’s which operated as a brothel during the gold rush. It has turned into a classy bed and breakfast now.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — My Crew posing with the Can-Can girls

Dawson has several historic bars as well. One such bar is the Downtown Hotel. We stopped in there one night after visiting several other bars and took part in a local tradition. It is called the Sourtoe Cocktail. Only one of my crew was willing to take the shot with me. The Sourtoe Cocktail is a shot of Yukon Jack whiskey taken with an amputated human toe in the glass. They keep the toe in a jar of salt above the bar. Apparently the tradition started with a bootlegger losing his toe due to frostbite. I was informed that this was their 6th toe which makes you wonder where they new ones came from.

The Bonanza Creek Road is the main access to Indian Creek. Along this historic route there are plenty of relics of past mining adventures. Most notably the historic Dredge No. 4 which mined Bonanza Creek until 1959. There are other dredges as well and plenty of old heavy equipment that was abandoned by miners of the past. There are abandoned bulldozers, excavators, trucks and other random big machines. There is such a surplus of iron that many bridges use large dozer shovels as retaining walls.

We were tasked with finding the source of the placer gold in the Indian River. We stayed at Big Al’s camp and were exploring mineral claims that overlapped his placer claims. His knowledge of gold bearing benches as well as historical research was very important in our search. Likewise our findings were beneficial to Al in exploring new placer areas. Most of our time was spent exploring old miner’s trails on quads and by foot. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a great time.

We came across several old mine shafts and evidence of placer mining was everywhere. My crew participated in some of Big Al’s cleanups too. It was exciting to see the amount of gold that he was pulling out. We participated in all the steps of his cleanup process from cleaning the sluice to the concentrator jig and so on. At each stage a fair amount of rum was consumed it seemed fitting when surrounded by hundreds of ounces of gold.

Yup, that's exactly what it looks like. — Yup, that’s exactly what it looks like.

In our hard rock exploration we employed several techniques utilizing traditional prospecting as well as soil sampling and statistical pebble counts. The soil sampling was conducted with helicopter support which made it a lot easier. We were bagging close to a hundred samples per day each which was more than we could carry in the bush. At the end of the day we’d chop out a helicopter landing area and radio the chopper. Then we’d pick up the samples that we cached during the day. Hard work but a lot of fun too.

We spent a total of six weeks prospecting the area. We took a lot of samples to be sent in for assay from all over the claims. Prospecting in the Yukon is similar to BC, there is not a lot of exposed rock around. Unlike the barren lands of the North West Territory and Nunavut there is plenty of forest and vegetation covering the rock. We spent a lot of time in the helicopter scoping out rock outcrops.

There seemed to be a correlation between the garnets that were showing up in the placer operation and high grade gold. When the placer miners hit the paystreak they got a lot of garnets with it. We started prospecting up a creek called “Ruby Creek” assuming it was named for the abundance of garnets. The hunch turned out be be right. We chased the garnets up to some large outcrops near the top of the mountain. The samples contained a lot of garnet but not a lot of gold.

From an old mineshaft that we found near a cabin we discovered that the miners hit a layer of pure quartz conglomerate. And it was loaded with gold. We then knew what to look for. The search for the source of the Klondike gold continued for several weeks. We encountered giant moose, grizzly bears, Northern Lights and some great people. On several occasions we thought we found the fabled mother lode but the samples returned disappointing assay results. Some of the more random samples showed the highest grades. They say gold is where you find it. We did not find the source of the klondike but we did manage to have a great time and got paid for it.

Hunting for Diamonds in the Arctic

PlacerGold Trip Reports December 7, 2015arctic, aurora, diamond mine, diamonds, geophysics, kimberlite, magnetometer, northern lights, showshoe 0 Comment

Back in 2010 I had the opportunity to work on a diamond exportation program in the Canadian Arctic. The camp was called Credit Lake and was located near Lac de Gras in the North West Territories. The Lac de Gras region was the epicentre of the 1990s diamond rush after the discovery of the Point Lake kimberlite pipe by Chuck Fipke. Today there are three operating diamond mines in the region Diavik, Ekati, and Snap Lake.

Diamonds are found in volcanic structures that are called kimberlite pipes. These are volcanic events that take place very rapidly. Most volcanoes take thousands or millions of years to develop. A volcanic pipe can develop and explode in less than a day. These volcanic explosions are charged by high pressure carbon dioxide and water vapour. And travel from the below the crust melting through rock at over 100km/h.

It is important that volcanic pipe events happen quickly if you want to mine diamonds. The environment where diamonds form is under intense heat and pressure. Once the pressure is removed diamonds will melt into graphite which is much less desirable. In kimberlite pipes diamonds are carried to the surface as the superheated kimberlite melts its way through the layers of the crust. When the pipe reaches the surface it releases its energy in a huge explosion and then quickly cools. The diamond crystals do not have time to melt, they cool with the rest of the pipe and stay in place.

The volcanic events that created the North West Territory kimberlite pipes took place millions of years ago. The surface has been subjected to many ice ages over the years and different continental ice sheets have scoured the surface like a bulldozer. To find a pipe today you look for the debris field left behind as the top of the pipe was scraped by ice sheets. As the glacial ice sheets retreated they left behind a trail of ground up rock and indicators for diamonds if you’re lucky.

My first stint at the camp was for six weeks in 2010. We were searching for diamonds as well as nickel. My role was to analyze pulverized rock samples from an R/C drill as well as preparing samples for assay and general exploration work. I returned in 2013 to conduct geophysical surveys including ground (snowshoe) magnetometer and HLEM. Both trips were in early spring when the temperature in the Arctic ranges from -50°C to -10°C. Show storms were frequent and the ice on the lake was five feet thick.

The camp is extremely remote, approximately 300km North of Yellowknife,NWT. Everything is brought in by ski plane or helicopter. In addition to exploration work we had to work together to keep the camp running. When a plane would arrive we would all pitch in to get the groceries, diesel drums, and any other supplies off the plane and into the camp. The same was true for getting water out of the frozen lake for showers, laundry and the kitchen. Water is always a challenge in remote areas when it is extremely cold.

While I was at the camp we experimented with several different water gathering techniques they all had their merits. What we ended up doing was using a chainsaw to cut out a section of the lake ice. Then used an ice auger to drill the final few feet (see video above). We used a snowmobile toboggan to transport pails up to the reservoir inside the kitchen.

To travel to and from the locations we were exploring we took a helicopter. We had a Eurocopter Astar B3 to shuttle people and move the heli-portable drill around. We also had a couple of snowmobiles and a GMC pickup truck that had tracks instead of wheels.

The RC drill is a super light weight drill that produces crushed rock instead of core. The RC stands for Reverse Circulation. The drill is air powered and behaves like a giant hammer drill, like the kind that you use for masonry work. The air returns from the bit carrying the rock chips to a hopper where samples can be collected. The advantage of an RC drill is that it doesn’t require water and breaks down for rapid transport. RC drilling is quicker and less expensive than diamond drilling.

After field samples were collected I conducted several tests on them inside our field lab. We had an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer which is a pretty cool instrument. It bombards the sample with high energy X-ray radiation and the atoms re-emit photons which gives information about their structure. XRF basically gives you a rapid geochemical assay. I also conducted magnetic susceptibility tests and identified the lithology of chip samples using a microscope.

The accommodations were first class. At least as far as small remote exploration camps go. We stayed in Weatherhaven dome tents which are heated by diesel stoves. As long as there is fuel in the stove you will be comfortable in any weather conditions. The stoves are prone to issues though and use half a drum of diesel per day when its super cold. Our beds are constructed out of 2×4 lumber that was flown in and everybody uses a sleeping bag for bedding. This camp was not a “dry camp” which means that alcohol was allowed. That is a huge plus when you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere for six weeks.

The high latitude makes for great northern lights viewing. That is actually my favourite thing about the Arctic. Interestingly the mechanism behind the glow of the Aurora Borealis is the same as the XRF machine. The molecules in the upper atmosphere are excited by a stream of radiation from the sun called the solar wind. When molecules are excited they reach an unstable electron configuration and rapidly release a photon as they return to a stable state. The different colours are due to different molecules being excited such as high altitude ozone, oxygen and nitrogen. The phenomenon is difficult to photograph but here are some of my best shots below. The best photo in the world doesn’t compare to seeing it in real life though.

The days out in the field can be pretty tough when the temperature drops. We built a survival shack that would travel with the drill. Other than that we were fully exposed until the helicopter arrived at the end of the day. The survival shack also made a great place to have lunch out of the wind.

In addition to drill sampling I conducted geophysical surveys to identify kimberlite pipes. We used two types of geophysical survey, magnetometer and HLEM. Magnetometer or “Walk Mag” is a sensor that measures changes in Earth’s magnetic field in very high precision. As you pass over different kinds of rock the sensor will record minute changes in the magnetic field. Once the survey is complete you can produce a map that looks like a topo map except that the you are showing magnetic field instead of elevation. Click here for a sample of a magnetometer map. Kimberlite pipes stick out as an anomaly because they have a different magnetic signature to the surrounding rock. You have to use the old school snow shoes because any metal will mess up the readings.

HLEM (Horizontal Loop Electomagnetic) works in a similar way except that there are two parts to the system. One provides a source field and charges up ore bodies. The receiver records the response signal from the rock. HLEM actually works the same way as a metal detector just on a larger scale and records actual data. The instrument is from the 1980s and is very uncomfortable, fortunately in the winter you are wearing lots of clothes.

I have always enjoyed working in the Arctic. Its not for everyone though. It is insanely cold in the winter and the summer has a lot of bugs. The wildlife is breathtaking I have seen Muskox, Wolverines, Caribou, different coloured bears, Narwhals, and other wildlife that you cannot see below the Arctic Circle. The Northern Lights shows are simply amazing. The people are different too. This kind of work attracts a different breed, those who are willing to travel to remote areas. Arctic explorers all share a strong sense of adventure.

Late Season Prospecting on the Fraser

PlacerGold Trip Reports November 9, 2015ghost town, gold, gold mining, gold pan, gold panning, Lillooet, placer, placer claim, pyramid pan, rock climbing, vancouver 0 Comment

This claim is located in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region of BC. The location is fairly remote and there are no paved roads for quite a distance in any direction. When you are out there you are definitely alone. It has sort of an eerie feeling all day and night, it feels deserted. There is a ghost town near the claim and some signs of a more active human presence from a distant time. Check out this post for pics on of the ghost town, Southern Cariboo Prospecting Trip.

The hike down to the river is pretty tough. There is about a 1000 foot elevation change from the access road to the river. We went down there the first day to sample the beach. We came across a couple of bedrock outcrops which prevented us from travelling any further. The bedrock had some gold stored in the cracks and we were able to get some of it out. Near the river we saw some decent colour in our test pans. We marked the locations on my GPS and made our way back up to the camp.

We had some great burgers cooked on the campfire and a couple of beers. It is getting pretty cold up there this time of year. Once the sun goes down the temperature quickly falls below freezing. We had a nice big fire and enjoyed the stars for the evening. It was pretty tough to get out of our tents in the morning. The moment when you unzip your sleeping bag and start putting on cold clothing is the worst. I’d like to stay in my nice warm bag for a couple more hours but we came up here for a reason.

We found an old claim post with tags from 1989/90 right in the center of the claim. The post was actually carved out of a tree trunk and is the most creative claim post I have ever seen. As far as industrial markers go this is a work of art. I hope to find out more about this G. Johnson and what he had discovered on the claim.

As we were making our way down to the river for day two of prospecting we came across a creek that seemed to appear out of nowhere. My partner noticed some gravel near the surface and we thought we might as well pan it. In that pan we saw a small coarse chunk of gold. This was pretty exciting since it was located several hundred feet above the river. We took several more pans in that spot and found a little bit of gold in each one. Now we have to find out where that mysterious little creek is getting the gold from.

My partner had a Bazooka Gold Trap and we tried it out on this little creek. The gold trap seemed to work pretty well. It’s an interesting design that has a chamber at the back and a water scoop underneath that forces water into the trap.

That was our last trip of the season to this area. The weather forecast says snow is coming this week and it will probably stick until the spring.

Autumn Prospecting on the Similkameen River

PlacerGold Trip Reports October 16, 2015gold, gold pan, gold panning, placer, placer claim, pyramid pan, Similkameen, Tulameen 0 Comment

Earlier this week I traveled to the Similkameen to prospect a gold claim. I was joined by Bernie, who I met on the internet. The goal of the trip was to due some reconnaissance prospecting of this claim to determine where to focus our efforts in the future. We were prospecting using hand tools and gold pans. In addition to gold panning we took several large samples using a pyramid pan to concentrate the material on site.

This claim is located a short drive to the East of the town of Princeton. The weather in October is a bit of a gamble but we had great conditions for this two day trip. It was sunny both days and slightly below room temperature. The scenery is spectacular this time of year with the bright colors of the fall leaves contrasting the evergreen trees and the surrounding mountains.

The Similkameen river has a long history of placer mining and exploration. Prospectors began digging in the area soon after the Fraser River gold rush that began in 1858. By 1860 prospectors had found gold on the Similkameen and men were soon staking claims. The area experienced a gold rush and a town called Blackwood was created just South of present day Princeton. Prospectors descended on the Similkameen again during the Tulameen gold rush of 1885. People have been pulling gold and platinum out of the river ever since.

The first day we made the two and a half hour journey from Abbotsford early in the morning. There is a small farm between the highway and the claim. We stopped to talk to the land owner and the refused to allow us to access the claim through their property. This meant that we had to hike an extra 2km to access the claim without trespassing.

We began digging test holes right away focusing on the gravel bars and floodplain above the beach. It was easier digging than expected which allowed us to dig deeper holes to get closer to the bedrock. This area has numerous channels that show evidence of water flowing during the spring melt. The area close to the river is a bit of maze of channels and will take several trips to sample them all.

Usually I camp right near the work site on a claim but this time we went for the glamping approach due to the unexpected hike into the claim. We stayed in a historical cabin in Princeton that was built in 1937. The owners have upgraded the interior over the years with power, hot water and so on but the structure is original. These log cabins only cost $65/night, definitely worth it if you are staying in Princeton.

We were at it again the next day covering more ground. We managed to dig some big holes and take some volumetric samples and lots of gold panning. During the two days we did see some color but no platinum. This area has produced a significant amount of platinum in the past.

Hard Rock Prospecting near the Thompson River

PlacerGold Trip Reports October 4, 2015adit, gold, gold mining, lode gold, lost mine, Lytton, mother lode, quartz vein 4 Comments

In September I went out to check out a claim in the Thompson River area of Southern BC. This claim has an adit on it that was hand excavated prior to World War 1. A government report from the 1930s says that a sample from this adit assayed at 9.12 g/t Au. The report also claims that the adit extended 80m into the rock face and intersected several large quartz veins.

The claim was staked in 2006 by the previous owner who held it for several years. They were able to locate the adit in 2007 but were not willing to enter the portal because of its precarious position on a vertical rock face. It seems as though nobody has entered this lost mine since the 1930s era. Naturally I wanted to check it out.

I was accompanied by a guy that I met on the internet named Rob. He turned out to be a great partner, and took most of these photos. We geared up with some rock climbing gear as well as prospecting equipment and a camera.

The claim covers an area with a couple of narrow valleys with steep sides. Its beautiful country but tough to get around in. According to a prospecting report from the previous claim owner they were able to photograph the adit from the other side of the valley. Take a look at their photo below.

So we had a photo and even a coordinate from the report. We were ready to show up and heroically rappel into the adit. We did not know exactly what we would find in there but I wanted to verify the old assay and hopefully find some gold. Whoever put in the time and effort to dig an 80m tunnel into solid rock held a strong belief that there were riches in there. It was all looking good and as usual I remained skeptically optimistic.

Right off the bat we headed up the creek towards the coordinate from the 2007 report. It didn’t take long to reach the location. There were no signs of an adit or anything that matched the picture. It is difficult to tell though when looking straight up a rock face. We proceeded to hike along the bottom of the vertical wall trying to spot the entrance. Later we climbed to the top of the ridge to see if we could spot the adit from above and rappel down as planned.

We did not have any luck. We walked all over that ridge but were not able to spot the adit. We went around for one last look and managed to find a decent quartz vein. The vein was a decent size and seemed to continue in to the rock. I took a sample which will be sent to a lab for assay to see how much gold is in it. No gold was visible to the eye but it rarely is. The quartz looks pretty good though, some iron staining and nice crystals in part of it.

While taking the sample my camera fell out of my packpack and tumbled all the way down to the creek. It must have bounced down at least 100m. I scrambled after it expecting to find it in pieces to my surprise it was not shattered just soaking wet. I was able to dry it out several days later and it seems to be OK.

Having failed to find the old mine we climbed the opposing ridge across the valley. It was somewhat easier climbing since there wasn’t much vertical rock to deal with. It was mostly talus which poses its own challenges. We tried to recreate the photos from the report. Rob and I took lots of photos with the hope that we could later spot the adit using a computer. Sadly none of the photos turned out well because the sun was facing us straight on.

What started out as a plan to saunter up to a lost mine adit and rappel into it. It turned into an all day scouting adventure and climbing two different steep mountain ridges. It almost seems as if we were cursed, every attempt to locate the adit had failed. Fortunately nobody got hurt and we did manage to get a nice quartz sample, even my camera survived.

I’ll be back soon to find that adit. Our failure gives me even more enthusiasm to find this thing. I just refuse to be beat by the mountains.

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