Hunter V GOLD Silver Mine Ice Hole Ymir BC

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HUNTER V Silver Gold Mine Ymir BC CANADA

There is something hypnotic about mining for gold.

Of all the metals known to the human race, nothing can capture the heart like the twinkle of gold.

The methods of extracting gold from the earth changed rapidly over a relatively short period of time. New equipment and mining methods were invented by miners seeking new and more effective means of mining gold.

Different gold sources and size of production resulted in three basic stages in the evolution of gold mining.

These three stages are; Placer Mining, Hardrock Mining, and Hydraulic Mining.

Placer Mining Methods
Placer means a deposit of gravel which contains particles of gold deposits. The word placer was derived from the Spanish word meaning "sand bank."
Since 1858, the recorded placer gold production in British Columbia has amounted to nearly $100,000,000. Of this total, almost half was pulled out of the creeks and rivers of the famous Cariboo.
During the first stage of gold mining, deposits in riverbeds were worked extensively. Miners would divert streams, sending smaller streams off to each side, leaving stream beds exposed. The dry conditions of summer and early fall were ideal as low water levels exposed areas where gold was hiding.
Methods such as gold panning, sluicing, and use of the rocker, were common forms of placer mining during this first stage.

Gold Panning
The gold pan is one the oldest and simplest tools used to find gold. A shovel full of dirt and gravel would be dumped into the pan. The pan would then be lowered into the water and gently moved in circles. Large stones in the pan would be thrown out, and the dirt broken up using the miner's fingers. As the pan moved in circles, muddy water and sand would float out of the pan, with the much heavier gold remaining at the bottom of the pan.

The Sluice
The sluice-box, a long open wooden trough, was introduced and became very popular. The sluice is narrow and low at one end. Dirt and gravel is placed at the top and washed down the length of the sluice by a constant stream of water, usually from a flume. Gold would be caught either by "riffles" (ridges on the bottom of the sluice box) or by a false bottom with holes in it. Mud and the larger chunks of rock would wash out the lower end leaving the gold behind.

The Rocker
A rocker, also called a "cradle" or a "dolly", is used when water is in short supply or when the depth of the stream or creek is too shallow to use a sluice-box.

The principle of the rocker is simple: As the cradle is rocked, water washes the finer material through the bottom of the hopper and gold collects on ridges or riffles.
Rockers were used extensively for placer mining. With one man to load soil and water and a second to rock it, the rocker could process about 200 bucketful's per day.

Hardrock Mining Methods
Hardrock mining entailed the sinking of shafts which enabled large machinery to remove veins of gold from quartz rock.
Shafts and Tunnels
To extract gold that was lying deep in the earth, miners sunk shafts into the ground and ran tunnels into the sides of hills. Miners would raise rock and gravel up to the surface using a windlass and a bucket or use a rail car in a tunnel. Heavy timbers were used in tunnels and shafts to support against cave-ins.
The Cornish Wheel
Miners who had dug shafts into the ground were often faced with water seeping into the shaft and flooding. The "Cornish Wheel", a large wooden wheel with shelves, was the solution. Water would be fed to the wheel using flumes and then allowed to fall onto the top of the wheel and its shelves, making it turn. The wheel would then drive a rocker arm, which in turn would pump water out of the mine shaft.

Large Scale Mining
Hydraulic Mining
Hydraulic Mining was the quickest method of mining gold in placer deposits. Water would be carried to the mining site via canals and ditches where it would go into a hose.

The beginning of the hose was larger and higher than the other end which would have a pipe attached to it, so the weight of the water going into the hose would force it out the other end at great pressure. It was like mining using a fire engine hose, as the jet of water would cut into the hillside, washing the dirt and gravel down into a sluice box. It is important to note, however; that this method of mining, due to the scale of production and speed of extraction, had vast environmental impacts

Hunter V GOLD Silver Mine Ice Hole Ymir BC

HUNTER V Silver Gold Mine Ymir BC CANADA

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