Shout out to all your wives! My late husband joined me in my obsession for recreational gold panning, rock hounding and love of exploring the fascination of geology. I'm in my late 60's, now an injured ex-worked who still loads up my car to go backwoods camping with my goldpans. I'm so lucky to have enjoyed this life long passion. You guys really make my day with every video. Thanks for sharing 👍

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Pat, you just made my day. I'm gonna pass your comment onto the crew. I tell you what, if you're ever passing through our neck of the woods, or desert in our case, let me know. You can email me at info@mineoperator.com.

@Patvk8

6 ай бұрын

@@mineoperator thanks so much for the wonderful invitation! I've been planning to winter in the desert 🏜 but need a couple years to tie things up to travel as I want. When I'm ready to be on my way, I'll contact you for sure as I'd love to wander around in the desert you call home turf. Cerro Gordo is already on my wish list, along with several other places I've yet to visit. If you're ever headed to Vancouver Island, my door, help and stomping grounds are always open for you. All my best to you guys and your supportive families! 💫💫💫💫💫

At some point you will need to pour new bearings. I would suggest gathering Babbit now and finding someone who knows how to do it. I might still have a small ingot (1 lb or so) of Whites metal/ Babbit buried somewhere in the shop I bought to pour chokers. I will check with a machinist friend to see if he has the knowledge to pour Babbit bearings. If it was me, I would have Oilite bronze ones machined for the shaft.

It's good to see you facing the financial limitations all miners face. It's so easy to get ahead of yourselves financially. I enjoy seeing both ends of this operation on your other videos and the excitement you all have for the overall process. Thanks for posting.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

We plan on sharing more financial details along the way. Different ore bodies, haulage, infrastructure in the mine, etc. Basically, the entire communition and beneficiation process and if we can get in the black and out of the red at some point.

Build a large scale roaster! That will make your ore more fragile and easier to crush even through smaller crushers.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Interesting idea 💡 🤔. Thanks for the suggestion 👍.

@silverspikeprospecting

6 ай бұрын

@@mineoperator of course, that's how the old timers would do it.

It would probably be a good idea to have a lathe on your mill site or else cultivate a lot of good will with a local machinist. A good operator could do most of what you would conceivably need to do including some milling jobs. 16" swing x 30" bed should be good. A small mill would be great to have too. I'm sure if Harry doesn't already know how to operate them, he could learn fast.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Great idea. I'll look into some lathes and talk to a machinist asap.

Looking forward to seeing the material run next week.

Naming. Movable/swing jaw also known as “Pittman”. Plate holding lower lip of Pittman is your toggle plate. The toggle plate is a mechanical fuse in the event an uncrushable enters chamber. Bends the plate rather than cracking the Pittman

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the help 😉.

@BMG6519

6 ай бұрын

I work with more modern crushers but principles the same

Im also Marine engineer i really love this program 😊

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Harry went to CMA class 2005

Watching real life real time issues and how you deal with them makes for great viewing. Enjoy watching this video.

Wholesome cool dudes, love these guys.

Y'all frigin make me laugh keep up the awesome fun work brothers

Rocking the morning video...Thanks had to say extra Thanks to my Wife this morning...she puts up with my mining every year. your video is AWESOME !

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Thank you David! We'll keep them coming.

Good video this morning. I enjoy watching all of the problem solving that you guys have to do. It is a great skill to have!

Harry and the boys are doing well. Man, I wish I was lucky enough to run year around like you guys are.

Your wife's will be ok with you mineing as long as you bring the money home don't bring it home and they will start screaming at you 😂😂love the Chanel thanks for sharing

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

So true Robert. We have experienced that before. Trying to keep that to a minimum.

you could put a cam shaft on that mini crusher and power it from a drill and boom... automation.

You should do everything on the shackle or close to the shackle breakage chart. In my opinion. So a shackle has and 2 to 3 times safety breakage. Lifting 500 pound bag with 800 pound hoist is very sketchy. You need a 1500 pound hoist to lift bags I would think for safety . I have done a life time of sketchy lifting and pulling but when I’m on my own claim everything is two to three times stronger than what I pull or lift. I’m an equipment operator and lift massive things and always have only inches from humans,friends. Be safe guys!

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Great recommendation 👍. Thank you!

The struggle js real. But it all gets forgotten when the gold is on the table.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Excellent perspective 👏. I'll pass that onto the guys. Everyone processes the breakdowns and repairs differently. This will help.

@EWasteJILL

6 ай бұрын

I have fun watching you guys for the knowledge you share AND Your a bunch of big boys with big boy toys AND as the toys get paid off and INCOME BECOMES BIGGER THE BIGGER AND BETTER TOYS (I MEAN EQUIPMENT) will be more reliable.

Thanks for sharing definetely enjoyed watching👍

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Thanks Leroy!

For the wood slide I'd suggest HDPE plastic sheets to save the wear on wood and rocks will slide easier and smoother. This plastic is flexible AND comes in different colors. It's the type used on race cars.😊 💖 from Minnesota

@wrxs1781

6 ай бұрын

Good point, we used this material for industrial chain slide tracks and called it UHMW. Also found on snowmobile sliders, it wears well.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Great recommendations. Thank you!

Appreciate y'all cuz I get to see what happens if I ever decide to go bigger past a highbanker or small dredge. Thanks!

A good lathe is worth its weight in silver over a lifetime

I’ve worked in a Babbitt shop for 9 years. In house and field work. If you guys rebuild the the mains try using a #2 tin Babbitt instead of a #7 lead. As long as you keep it greased it will last a lot longer. Also for the damming of the metal for the pour use Babbitt rite.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Awesome thankyou, copy #2 tin Babbitt

Great video, I enjoy your channel.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Thanks WRXS!

Nice video hope you get things fixed operational then go for the gold thanks

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Thanks John. Us too. Very soon.

look up this guy from MBM Mount Baker Mining, he builds rock crushers.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

I love it. That might just happen. We'll see.

👍man I really appreciate you guys showing us all the inns and outs of hard rock mining especially you all jumping out of you're comfort zones and been on camera (it's tricky to formulate cohesive sentences with no cussing or jokes that could be misconstrued IN ONE TAKE). So thank you gents👏 As for the babbit I have some sergestions of other Channels that may help with better knowledge/more knowledge. You guy's been in the USA Keith Rucker Vintage Machinery & Adam(Abom79) would point you in the right direction of who you need to talk to because babbit is a lost art.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Wow, Matt. We really appreciate the referrals and what you said. We're trying our best. We'll reach out to them. Thank you!

@mattgraham1983

6 ай бұрын

@@mineoperator you guys are doing great just keep doing it... oh I'm from New Zealand 🇳🇿 so you are world famous now👍

Wow those roads you guys travel with those trailers 😮

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

I know, those roads are brutal even after some of our repairs. We have spares ready for each rig and trailer. Fortunately, we haven't had to use them yet.

How about asking Jason to pour a new bearing for you guys !!! Keep uo the great work !!!

Hey Guys, Great video. I enjoyed it a lot! I'd love to get another 5 kg sample of that material and see what I can shake loose. Best of luck! -- Dave

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Hey Dave, you got it my friend. We'll be at the millsite this week. Give me aheads up when you can make it out.

@orophilia

6 ай бұрын

@@mineoperator Excellent. I'll let you know when I can make it. Thanks! -- Dave

Hope you are able to get the old crusher going. If not time to call Jason and order a MBMM crusher.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

We just got it up and running this week. It's running as we speak. Video coming this weekend.

Is the bearing Babits? that's a special bearing alloy folks used in the old days. They used to cast those bearings in the part it had to support.

@johannesdesloper8434

6 ай бұрын

The scraped those bearings to spec using blue die to "measure" the bearing surface

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

The two side bearings are. The center babbitt is bronze. We're removing the shims out of the bronze babbitt to see if that does the trick. If not, we may need a new bronze babbitt cast or someone mentioned using sealed pillow block bearings. However, I don't know if pillow block bearings will hold up.

@johannesdesloper8434

6 ай бұрын

ah yes, remove shims to reduce play I assume.@@mineoperator I can imagine you need loads of bearing surface area to withstand the crushing force. Probably the bronze bushing is sacrificial to the tougher steel axle. Maritime refirbishing companies must be able to manufacture you a new bronze bushing. I'd say keep it original then you know it will work. Love the youtube miners colaboration. Quite an impressive setup you guys have there. A dust sampler with a vacuum cleaner might be usefull also when handling ores that can contain Radioactive elements.

Just wondering what furic acid is, never heard of it before. Pouring babbit bearings is an almost lost art. Some help from an old machinist would be helpful. Pure Tin has the best compressive, and almost self lubricating properties out there. A bronze insert can be located in the pour, where the jaws are in the crush cycle. This adds immensely to the bearing life/repour life. There are lots of little tricks to re pouring. American Babbit Metals, Chicago, Ill. is where I used to get my babbit metals from. Don't know if they are still in business. You will also need some Babbitrite, or high temp silicone, to seal the joints. You will need to remove all the old metal, before repairing. Easiest to do with just the shaft, no jaw or flywheels.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

I don't know what furic acid is composed of. I'll do some research. I know it treats gout caused by a build up of uric acid in the body. Uric acid being produced from the body breaking down purines. We appreciate your referral to American Babbitt Metals. We'll see if they're still around. We removed the remaining shims and may get more life out if the bronze Babbitt. We find out this coming week. We're gonna need to plan ahead. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment.

@markmayer2029

6 ай бұрын

Copper plates are treated with a diluted solution of Nitric acid. This cleans the Copper, leaving a surface which will allow the Mercury to stick. This is in accordance with the series on metal reactivity chart.@@mineoperator

Suggestion: there's this guy up in Washington, named Jason, who has a company that makes jaw-crushers....

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

😆 🤣...I know right. Thanks for the tip 😉.

jason may have bearing for you

YOU SHOULD BURY THE ROCK CRUSHER, SO YOU CAN FEED IT FROM GROUND LEVEL. THEN THE CONVEYOR BELT WILL PULL IT BACK UP TO GROUND LEVEL.

Unsure of what that site was. No tailings, but surface deposits?

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

That is the dump immediately located in front of the main haulage shaft. They used this area to stockpile or load trucks. There doesn't seem to be more than 10-15 tons but we still need to sample deeper in this dump. After we get the crusher and some other fixes done, we'll head back out to the mine dump and find out.

Oh no babbitt bearings down. Its pour time i think. Working on one now but its way bigger. A machine shop in town says they can make them for me.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Can they make bronze babbit bearings?

@Ethan-xm4fv

6 ай бұрын

@@mineoperator i think they can. Ill ask

@Ethan-xm4fv

6 ай бұрын

He says that you would have to have specs for clearance. Wow he passed on it. But he did say if you got the bearing soecs he would help to see if he could find someone to help.

If you need to repour that babbitt, I have some. Just let me know...

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

We really appreciate that. Thank you!

Spoke to my friend an automotive machinist and he said your best repair is to replace the Babbeted bearings with pillow block bearings. Practically no one knows how to pour Babbet any more. Apparently doing it properly is quite complex. He suggested sealed ball bearing pillow block bearings. HTH.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

This does help F.K. Burnham. Whether or not the gap is closed by removing the shims, we need to plan ahead. We'll start looking into sealed pillow block bearings. Thank you!

@f.k.burnham8491

6 ай бұрын

No problem, my friend. Glad to help. Frank@@mineoperator

if that expedition would have been in my area, you would have gotten at least one flat tire.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Those mine roads can be brutal. We've done some work on this road but I tell ya, it needs a whole lot of love.

@richardservatius5405

6 ай бұрын

@@mineoperatori have to pick up rocks sometimes 4 times per week. deer and elk knock them off the hill side and road cut. argillite shale breaks in sharp points which destroy tires. it doesn't help that my claim has almost no gold.

All those TV shows are piece of garbage to compare with you guys . I started 3 y watching Dan ,then Jason and your videos end of last year . Love all of it !

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

That means a lot to hear you say that. Thank you!

I must of missed it but are you guys processing the area around an old processing plant or ore dump. If so I agree a lot of these places left a good amount of ore on the ground with gold in it..

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

This dump is directly outside the main haulage shaft. It appears this is where they stored, stockpiled, and/or loaded trucks to haul to one of the local mills. There's several tons that either spilled or were abandoned. We're down a 12-16" and need to test if the values continue.

Magnets hovering over the conveyer belt somehow ?

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Absolutely, great idea.

why not rent a jaw crusher from a nearby mine until you get your crusher fixed?

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

We haven't thought about that before. We find out this next week if our jaw crusher fixes will do the trick.

WAIT!!! WHAT??? NO HEAP LEACHING??? Yeh... I know... That stuff's really pricey and really only works well on super fine crush anyhow.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

I'd love to! Before I started this channel, I performed some bench scale heap leach studies with Eco-goldex O-series. I eventually used an open IBC totes with a very coarse bedding on this inside of the tank. About 4" of 2" rock. I don't remember exactly. Then I placed 2 tons of -3/4" ore in the tank. Using 1/4 gph drip emitters, I heap leached for 24 hours and recovered 8 grams of gold, a little copper, and very little silver. I used a column of AC to adsorb the metals, and then incinerated the AC to ash. Smelted the ash and performed Aqua Regia on the gold. Dropped out tiny red crystals of Rh, using C.W.Ammens 17 step process. 3% Rh, 97% Au was the xrf assay after the final smelt. If we can set up the right reagent and leach pad, that would be the most cost effective way to go.

If you get a bronze blank and the precise dimensions and pay the shipping, I can bore it for you for free, since I can't donate any money.

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

I may take you up on that offer when this one goes for good

1st

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Nice!

Guess you guys need sum new equipment 😂😂😂😂

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Yes we do.

@jamisontaylor878

6 ай бұрын

@mineoperator you know I was referring to thanking everyone's wives! That's how I get new tools lol just incase you didn't catch that comment or take it the wrong way my friend

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

@jamisontaylor878 Now, that's a great idea Jamison.

👍

Think Dump Truck

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

I really like that idea 💡.

check with Jason at mbmm

@mineoperator

6 ай бұрын

Thanks Paul. Great idea 💡.