This has been one hell of a series. We get to see just how much work that goes into hard rock gold mining. Jason's expertise matched with Mine Operator's energy, just awesome. Best series on the tube, hands down. Thank you guys.

@ARGONUAT

7 ай бұрын

Preach it!

@meltonplumbing9636

7 ай бұрын

Agree

@Paulftate

7 ай бұрын

loving every minute of it

Oh man! You’re killing me with the cliffhangers! I look forward to seeing how this blast went. See you next week!

@SteveandSusiesHomestead

7 ай бұрын

LOL me too. Dont have any nails left

Hi Jay, it’s Denis again, nice cut, drilled fairly tight but hasn’t anyone told you about reamer steel? On your 4 holes in the cut, you use a reamer steel to enlarged those 4 holes you are breaking into. It gives you a lot more area for the ground to expand to when the first shots go off. Stemming isn’t required! The powder when tamped properly will be more than enough power to break the rock. I’ve drilled thousands and thousands of rounds and never stemmed the holes. Only in long hole blasting you stem your holes. Good job drilling! You might want to put a ladder down on the sill so the leg has a secure place to sit on and it won’t slip on you. If ya got bootleg, tighten up on your drill pattern. I’d start with 18” centres between the rows. If ya can have an odd number of holes so you blast the middle hole first then the one above and below it goes next and repeat till the line is blasted. Makes for a nicer break. Anyways love your channel and can’t wait till the next one. Be safe, and nothing but buttons and barrels!

@kasnitch

7 ай бұрын

Hey Denis .. former jackleg stope and drifter here . Yeah I've told Jason a couple of times recently on how to drill off the cut and slash . Also told him same thing you did about not needing to stem the holes if you pack properly with a loading stick . As you say the only holes I've stemmed were longhole bench . They are already doing a lot of hard work and could really save some labour and time on advice from experienced miners . C'est la vie . Be well .

@markmayer2029

7 ай бұрын

Just because you never took the time to stem, doesn't mean it is best practice. Stemming allows for a better more complete burning (less gas production). This in turn means more Nitrogen is produced. What this does is puts a lot more Nitrogen into the environment, usually through the water. This is one of the reasons the EPA has started cracking down on bad blasting practices, and monitoring mine water discharge. A couple of dummy sticks formed with craft paper will speed the process from how they are doing it, I use preformed clay dummies. I'll bet I have loaded more holes and shot more powder than any of you, Nah Nah Nah.@@kasnitch

@denisrowlett9829

7 ай бұрын

Hey my brother, nice to meet a fellow miner! Ya, Mining is hard enough and I try and save them some sweat. For greenhorns they are doing a hell of a job. I sure miss Mining, I didn’t realize how much till I saw these videos. I’m seriously thinking about going back. I’m 54 and I’m retired but I’m sure I got more than a couple rounds left in me. Especially if I decide to go back on jumbo or in the shaft. Going crazy sitting at home, was even looking at a couple properties in BC. Watching them sure got my blood going! Anyways , nice to make your acquaintance and I’m hoping they make out good with no one getting hurt and put a couple dollars in their pockets. Hi ball my brothers, buttons and barrels!

@markmayer2029

7 ай бұрын

Hi Dennis, likewise. Been cold here today ( 0F.) currently. I've got 10 years on you, still run sinkers and jacklegs almost daily. Try to use the track drills when the job is big enough, but do a lot of smaller jobs too. Getting in a lot of couch time. I can't wait for summer to come back, so I can do some more d&b.@@denisrowlett9829

That drill is awesome. It's cool to see targeted mining making a comeback. Nice audio on those explosions too. Sounded intense

Nice progress Jason, Chad and Harry the mucker truckers ⛏⚒⛏

Just imagine how hard it was to drill holes with a hammer. Or before explosives just a pick.

@jackoalltrades5708

7 ай бұрын

and that was when gold was $16 an ounce

@SuperSlacker69

7 ай бұрын

Before "explosives!?" Lol trinitrotoluene.. lol or an "powder monkey" .

@markmayer2029

7 ай бұрын

Imagine how hard it was to drill holes in rock before the Iron Age!

This blows my mind to see real gold mining from the comfort of my couch it’s truly amazing to watch thanks for sharing these precious times with us guys. 🙏🤩👌😉🏆💰⛏️

@squarecoffee8750

7 ай бұрын

What a world we live in! All the accumulated knowledge of mankind at our fingertips from the comfort of our homes for FREE!

I agree @Twokeeshonds I found this channel from Dan Hurd and watching the process of opening this mine from start has been so educational and interesting. The attention to detail Jason brings, explaining every process has been absolutely amazing. Cheers Jason

This is very exciting Jason I can't wait to see how much Gold you get from this round of blasting thank you for sharing this with us six stars my friends

Noooo!! That ending is the cruelest I wanted to see the result of the blast. Thank you Jason for the journey and all the effort you and the crew are awesome I hope that the blast reveals a mother-load as a nice Christmas present.Take care.

Who doesn't love explosions?! Very cool!!

One of your best clips,the description of drill bits and drill was educational Great job Jason!!!

Wow, training a new generation of hardrock miners, a nice change of pace from all the placer videos. I hope you guys make some real money. I love the step by step explanations, These videos will be used to train more miners. Looking forward to the next video.

I love how casual you are about all this. Your mining game is strong 💪 Jason. Nice one.

You do a great job of explaining the drill and blast process. Keeping small scale mining knowledge moving to the next generation. Well done.

Amazing series! I can't wait to see this all get smelted an poured!

F yah!!! Just getting off nightshift in an underground gold mine myself!! Woo wooooo

Hey Jason long time viewer and fellow miner... I have always used stemming for blasting ... In open pit mining we use small gravel just pack it in the best you can ...for what your doing I would suggest quick set concrete mixed thick

@H4rry82

7 ай бұрын

I was trained as a surface shot firer as well, we always use gravel for stemming, not sand or very fine gravel. The larger gravel binds up in the hole as it tries to eject from the blast, sand will just blow out the hole.

@loyalkuhn5778

7 ай бұрын

Clay stemming or layered clay and sand provide better blast fragmentation. "Clay Dummies" are readily available.

@markmayer2029

7 ай бұрын

Quick set concrete produces quite a bit of heat. Not something you want in a blast hole. Spray foam does not "lock up" the gases as well as clay, or crushed 1/8" sand. It also takes a relatively long time to set up. You can't load your holes, then come back the next day to fire, then wait another day for the mine to vent. Clay dummies or sand filled paper tubes are the industry standard, tried and proved.

@markmayer2029

7 ай бұрын

Proven stemming best practice is crushed rock, sized 1/17th of the borehole size. Bigger boreholes take bigger crushed stemming.@@H4rry82

I'm loving the technical details. Those bits are cool! And the way you just casually ripped that tube of explosives in half like a hot dog hahaha, I didn't expect that. Can't wait for next week!

@rockbutcher

7 ай бұрын

That emulsion is really safe stuff to use. You could hit it with a hammer and then fry it in a frying pan and it wouldn't go off. It needs that cap or a fire at about 1400F

@takinastabatit

7 ай бұрын

@@rockbutcher Neat, thank you! Never fail to learn something when I tune in to this channel 🥰

Jason, What a BLAST!!!! Cheers, Rik Spector

You call it "stimming" and in the military world it's called tamping. Depending on how you tamp it, you can change the blasting force by about 45 degrees left, right, top, or bottom, or "dead tamp" it to force all the blast force into what you want. And you were correct in saying that stimming increases the blast force by about 30%.

You guys deserve every penny you get! That looks like hard work. Brains and brawn needed here, all the best 💪👍🍀

Thank you for sharing your mine with all of us, Jason! I've learned so much about mining and blasting. Your ore should give you some incredible gold! Blessings from Alabama ❤️

Jason, you are a great teacher. I don't think I will ever mine or prospect for gold, but I sure enjoy watching you. I believe I could run that drill after you explained it so well. Thanks for taking the time. Keep having fun!

I'm glad you're going with a high ceiling. Watching you guys all bent over is killing my back :) Would it be worth it to raise the height of all of the old tunnels too? I assume it would take forever, and of course the muck would be worthless.

So sad that the series will be delayed due to weather. But i have had a BLAST watching you building out your mine. Seems like something i could never do but love watching you do it and dreaming!

Great to see a true Gold hard rock mine ! Thank's from Germany via B.C. And a exiting series .........!!!! Can't wait ....

I'm a long time detectorist who switched from looking for coins starting in the late 1960's to looking for gold nuggets in the desert about 1990. Nugget hunters have a bunch of different "pick/hoe" tools to recover nuggets. They look similar your "fin hoe." The first one I had was an Estwing Geo Pick. I had cut about 9 inches off the blade off of a narrow "drain spade" commonly called a trenching shovel, and welded it onto wider side of the Estwing Geo Pick. Eventually stolen out of the back of my truck, but it was awesome. It's considerable heavier than the fin hoe because the Estwing is all steel, but it's super tough. Maybe look at Gempler's Rogue Hoe. They have a 5½ and a 6" wide with a hickory handle. Thanks for the great posts Jason.

Finally. A gold mining channel that actually does some “move that tonage” mining instead of just getting samples and then nothing else

1:41 Had a good chuckle! So, yah, wanna be a miner and get a good workout that you won't find in no gym. Oh, and the glass is still 1/2 full! You guys are doing exactly what the previous miners did, but having more conveniences, plastic ore bags instead of burlap, etc.

Looking good indeed fam. Keep me posted on having fun and living the dream. Gold Squad Out 🤠

A thought: Consider a mechanism that would allow you to rock the cone back and into the air to reduce the need to lift it completely and fill the bag at the same time? Back saver? :) Thanks for taking us along for the journey!

Good morning from Southeast South Dakota. Happy Thanksgiving

👍Like the last blast video, I can't get enough. I put on my best headphones and listen to it at least 6 times. Ugh... love it.

I can watch hard work being done all day.😀😀

@breckfreeride

7 ай бұрын

Supervisor material eh!

Dynamite 🧨to see how this is done . Shocking⚡that you leave us wth a cliff hanger. Bet the next episode will be a blast. 💥 Thanks MBMM

So if you're stemming the holes you can buy plastic or kraft paper bags that you prefill with materials. You can buy stemming gels and other grouts that harden in the hole but in your case tubes filled with material and packed down in there is going to help. You can find papers citing about a 41% improvement in the blast energy being directed into the rock (that's obviously like perfect conditions using specialized shock reactive materials). Applied Sciences August 2022 had a good paper on this "Blast Hole Pressure Measurement and a Full-Scale Blasting Experiment in Hard Rock Quarry Mine Using Shock-Reactive Stemming Materials" comparing different materials. They were mainly testing the use of non-Newtonian products (i.e. products that are liquid/gels but harden when pressure is applied).

Love all of what you have put out lately! Thank you Jason, Chad and Harry for putting your blood, sweat and tears into making this a productive mine.

This is some of the best modern documentation of drilling and blasting in active hardrock UG I've ever seen. Hell yeah. Your crew and Justin in CA's are the only two filming this stuff that I am personally aware of. That tiny little airleg is hilarious, need to get me one of those! If your mine has any clay seams you could try pulling from those (or fault gouge) for stemming mix. I've heard you can use a pre-formulated STF (brand new tech?), but that's all Greek to me.

I love the way you leave us hanging! So you know we will tune in for the next video!

Jason , this show is a Blast ! keep them coming , your video's are so full on !!! Cheers.

I love these episodes. Have you thought about putting a go pro or something that wouldn't kill you if it broke, and show some of the blast? Either way great video

Really? A cliffhanger?...and I still got half a bowl of popcorn and 1 Beer left -! Great content Jason n crew...love this series!

The bag I bought so far looks Awesome. Using a crazycrusher to crush it. One of the best upper body cardios I've had in a long time. Probably will buy 4 more bags to get me through the winter.

This drilling machine is old fashion. That means good old time quality. You don't find easy in this times.

Have you thought about collecting the drill hole water and material to see how much if any gold is in it?

@breckfreeride

7 ай бұрын

I think they mentioned sticking a sluice in the drain

Jason, you're doing great. Keep up the awesome content Thanks for sharing 🙏❤️🌲

Jason awesone mining work! Hey if your washing your rock down, why not lay some carpet down and let the muck wash over it. And roll it up and pan it out later. Maybe take several pieces of carpet up to use.

Someone suggested "Dupont Blasters Handbook" as a reference from a century ago. I found one and it is slowly on its way to you. Use for reference or autograph and resell, whatever will help keep your great mining videos coming!

Why not build a frame for the cone. So that you can hand the bag under the cone and shovel stone into cone without having to hold it. Faster , more energy efficient .

Jason, if your not using it, look up the Miller’s Knot to tie your muck bags. Loop twice around the bag, put the throw under the loop and pull tight. Won’t let go, loosen - like putting your finger on the lace while tying your hockey skate. Does great when hands are cold.

Great to see the mine up & working, now make that gold! Wanted to know do you use a drum sweeper to suck up the floor that probably has a ton of real high grade free mill gold bits that falls out to the bottom. Try it on a 10x10 patch and see how much is in the spoils laying there in the grit on the floor surface!😊

JASON, I would literally pay to get to come mine with you for a day or two. There are no gold mines here. I want to learn every aspect of this from the drill to the shaker table. I have learned a ton from you and others on YT but there is no replacement for actual hands on when learning a skill. So if you ever do anything like that let me know!

WHAT???? you are making us wait? Geez! Great video, can't wait for part 13

I've seen many drills but never seen one running. Fascinating.

Missouri lead mining, sadly without any primary smelters. We allow the ore to be shipped overseas, refined and distributed there. Can’t wait to see how much the US will have to pay to clean that up. Likely to cost more than proper “clean” smelting in the US. And, it is never clean. But we can make it much more so at home.

@drewski5730

7 ай бұрын

I live next to one of the only lead smelters in North America, it’s been here for about a hundred years, and I can promise you they’ll never build another in North America. This one is grandfathered. You need a large river for lead smelting, and the environmental impact is crazy.

Great video, love this stuff. Watching the drilling makes want to get back at it. Most people don’t realize just how loud those drills are. Now can you imagine how hard it was back in the day single or double jacking was. I tried it once, I didn’t last thirty minutes and that was twenty years ago. I was taught by a old time miner blaster to use twisted up newspaper as stemming, twist it up and insert into the hole then pack it.

In other videos that i have seen about Blasting they used some kind of expanding Foam (like it is used in construction) to pack the holes. They had longer nozzle tubes (to get deeper into the holes) as the bottles i have used in construction. But apart from that it looked exactly like the normal expanding foam.

@drewski5730

7 ай бұрын

That’s a cool idea.

@denisrowlett9829

7 ай бұрын

That is emulsion blasting, that is done where there is a lot of water or the holes are connecting.

@svenhoff2653

7 ай бұрын

@@denisrowlett9829 I googled "rock blasting hole packing expanding foam" and found a few things. One study was not about rock blasting but breaching charges and the effect of packing the charge with expanding foam. Seems it contains the charge enough to increase the effectivness. So i would expect that it will have also a positive effect for hole blasting like it was done in the mine. I could be wrong but i think it is worth a shot. If it does not help he does not risc anything. But if you have more knowledge about blasting you maybe can answere a question. I read that explosives like Anfo would be better for rock blasting because of the slower burn and the resulting longer blast impulse. I read it is better for moving rock.

That beast is the mining equivalent of an M2 Browning .50 cal!!!

BOOM Baby!! Another great episode ends on a Cliffhanger !! - - Good Work!!

Clay is the best stemming for a face round, typically used for shorter rounds 2-4 foot rounds, gravel stemming is best used on down-holes. Stemming shouldn’t be necessary for a face round. The burn you used with the 4 dead holes in the configuration is a very effective burn in hard ground. Should snap out of there no problem. Stemming is definitely a good extra assurance. Great job! Love this series.

Really enjoying watching these updates on your mine. Amazing consistency between videos as well 😊

For stemming loading you can try using a piece of 2" pvc about a foot or 2 long to scoop up an amount of material and use the stamping rod to shove it into the hole

Amazing. Man, you guys are work horses. That looks back breaking! Can’t wait to see how much gold you got out of there

Extremely educational and interesting!

Jason- Thank you for making this series. I am really learning a lot from it. My friend has 5 mines here in WA. He is working over the tailings from previous owners, and they are quite rich. The mines are flooded at this time, with one having a wenz (sp) going down about 18 feet, all flooded. If you can use them, I have 2 Timkin cross bits with the water hole in them I got back in the 70's. Yours for the asking. Also several bigger crucibles if you would like.

In my experience of rock blasting, the explosive were always back tamped with a paper cylinder filled with sand. Paper cylinders were made with a piece of metal/plastic pipe. The tamping held the initial blast within the hole, improving the breaking blast.

@denisrowlett9829

7 ай бұрын

Stemming holes is only done on long hole blasting. No self respecting jackleg man stems his holes. They’d get laughed right outta the drift if anyone tried to stem holes on a round! Ya, I’m betting you were loading down holes on production blasting, just a guess.

@Porty1119

7 ай бұрын

@@denisrowlett9829Yeah lol, I've never heard of someone stemming while driving drift. The closest I've done to stemming was shoving bent sticks of Xactex in after the stick powder, just to use the stuff up.

@denisrowlett9829

7 ай бұрын

Awesome my brother! That actex breaks a nice back! Drilled thousands of jumbo rounds too. Can tell we are cut from the same cloth!@@Porty1119

Just another couple of ideas for you from your mining engineer! We stem our holes with drill hole cones...cheap, easy to use, and simple! We also cut an inch or two on each end of the explosives to "marry" the paste and get a consistent blast. You may get plenty of that with how you packed the holes, but just an idea! Loved the video!

Thoroughly enjoying this Jason. Thank you for taking us down there with you ...

This is real hard rock mining. alot of miners take the easy way out just panning of placer mining, hoping to hit pockets in river beds, or excavating river deposits, its easy when you nave bulldozers and excavators. this is real hard rock mining, humping 100lb bags of ore , tons of it at a time manually........ huge respect for you Jason and your team. and buy that man a good shovel for christmas ~ ! ! ! good on you and your team. we are learning alot of real hard rock mining from you and we really appreciate it.

That's showing the folks in Australia what "Hard Rock" is all about. I bet they are all thinking "I'm glad we don't have to go through rock like that".

Awesome video, Jason! Thank you so much for the detailed explanations of the how and why behind what you are doing. Can't wait for the next installment!

cliff Banger CliffHanger . I was smiling this whole video

I miss my good old job Underground development miner. Loved it

Thanks for another great video!

Pins and needles! Ah! I can’t wait for the next installment.

Just got finished watching Dan at the Reed field in NC, and already anticipating his video of panning the Reed area!

The cliff hanger at the end!

Great video Jason, i really liked the close ups of the drill in action.

Thanks. Nice listening to you endeavouring along.

Hi Jason, After all the years I spent behind a jack-leg - it's nice to watch someone else and not get dirty!! I think the results you'll get for using stemming will be worth the extra effort. Another comment suggested using quick set concrete mixed thick - it works great! If you try it - get a masons 'pastry bag' to load the holes. fast & easy! Can't wait until next week!! Great cliff-hanger....the grinch will get you for that! Thumbs up! Stay safe. Jim

@denisrowlett9829

7 ай бұрын

Really, you stemmed your holes on your rounds in a jackleg heading? Well I been mining 30 years and I’ve never heard of such foolishness till this video. Hmmm, jackleg man eh?

For overhead holes, a bentonite clay based stemming is most often used. The stemming is a dull blueish gray, and will tend to be very heavy [some are pale yellow because they are weighted with iron powder (which tends to rust a little) which gives the stemming more inertial mass, helping it resist ejection upon detonation.

One by one.. er a.. Bag by bag ☝️ 😂 The Dream is piling up! Thanks Jason Peace Prospector Tripp

Talk about a Cliffhanger. Nice job guy's.

Looks like you are having a blast. I am going to talk to the video editor, however, about timing and suspense. When I saw the blasting cap things were getting real. Envy doesn't even come close to the knowledge you share with us on your adventures. Love the by the book lessons, takes allot of time to learn. You have a great crew, see you at the shaker table.

Hey Jason, you sure that your not giving away too many trade secrets! Awesome video and many thanks for publishing these exclusive insights. This is what KZread is ALL about. Thanks man I really do appreciate being allowed in.

Nice cliff-hanger ending.

I'll be impatiently waiting for part 2!

😁👋👍👍👏👏💕🙏🏻 Thank you Jason. Looking forward to part 2

Hope ya'll make a fortune! Thanks for this very interesting series of videos. I enjoyed it, hell I enjoy all your and Dan Hurds videos. Ya'll stay safe.

My grandfather retired from the Sunshine mine. The day the mine had the fire, he went to work that day late. Several people lost their lives 😢. The Sunshine mine is a silver mine and a rich mine

A legit cliffhanger. Great episode of a fantastic series.

I didn't see until this vid that you had steel rail in the top of the stope! Great Job! Now just love the bags, move it loose in ore carts! Get a huge dump truck for going up and down the road! Great Job! I'm loving the huge progress that you're making! Well done! Keep on going!

This series is fantastic Thanks for sharing this journey in your mine, I really enjoy watching

Hey, thanks for explaining the blasting, I found it really interesting :) gold is cool

Amazing work. This has been such an outstanding series from the first video. I'm looking forward to seeing y'all stand up straight in your shiny new drift.

great vid, not everyone likes to see how the sausage is made, but I love this behind the scenes informative vids. Stay warm, keep your socks dry, and keep doing what your doing!

How about drilling the first few holes in a spiral? I think that would be the most efficient.

Ya need a mini sluice run under those holes while you drill them, lol. Do you think any gold rich material is coming back out of the hole while being drilled? Totally loving this series! Be well.

Greetings from the BIG SKY. Nice looking gold vein.