Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Alaska Conference on Placer Mining
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NINTH ANNUAL ALASKA CONFERENCE ON PLACER MINING 'PLACER MINING - JOBS FOR ALASKA" MARCH 18-25. 1987 Compiled by Mary Albanese and Bruce Campbell Prom cover: Tlra Colomdo Creek mammoth skull being wmpped In 0 plaallc jacket in prepamrlon lor rhbment lo the LiAF Jlureurn. Photo rourtrJv Uniuerrity 01 Alarka Mureum. SPONSORED BY Placer Miners of Alaska Alaska Miners Association Alaska Women in Mining - Mining Advocacy Council ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Gail Ackles,,...... ................... Circle Mining District Mary Albanese.. .......................Alaska DivlsFon of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Lela Bouton ...........................Koyukuk Mining District Roger Burggraf ........................Fairbanks Mining District Jeff Burton ...........................Tanana Valley Community College Bruce Campbell ........................Special Technical Assistant Karen Clautice ........................ Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Judy Geraghty livengood- good-Toovaa Mining District Kathy Gaff........... .................Alaeka Miners Association Charles Green .........................Alaska Division of Mnerals and Forest Products Brent Aamil ...........................University of Alaska Jim Madonna ........................... University of Alaska Rose Rybachek .........................Alaska Miners Association Rosalyn Stowell ....................... Alaska Women in Mining Mary-Lou Teal., ....................... Alaska Women in Mining Dan Walsh...... .......................University of Alaska, Mineral Industry Research Laboratory Helen Warner ..........................Alaska Placer Miners Association CONTENTS CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS Page Dewatering Alaska placer effluents with PEO: Preliminary field test results, by Annie G. Smelley and B.J. Scheiner..................... 3 The role of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in placer-mining education and research, by Donald J. Cook. ......................... 15 The Alaska Mineral Resource Kit, by Peggy Cowan......................... 23 Applications of polymers in the removal of suspended solids in placer- mining effluents, by Yun-Hwei Shen, Ray-Her Fan. David R. Maneval, and Donald J. Cook ................................................. 27 Gold occurrences and characteristics in the Chandalar-Koyukuk area, by Elwin Mosier, John Cathrall, John Antweiler, Richard Tripp, Larry Lueck, and Gilbert R. Eakins ..........................---.--.45 The assessment of reprocessing hard-rock tailings, by Kelly Dolphin and Thomas J. Ferree ............................................... 55 Summary of the effects of suspended solids, viscosity, and clay on fine-gold recovery, by Laurence A. Peterson....................... 59 Riffle packing, suspended solids, and gold loss in a sluice box. by Robert C. Tsigonis .............................................. 75 Experimental underground placer mining on Wilbur Creek, by Frank J. Skudrzyk, Sukumar Bandopadhyay, and Stanley C. Rybachek ............ 89 The Pacific Legal Foundation in Alaska: An update, by James S. Burling.. 121 The demonstration of placer-mine wastewater treatment with flocculants ar Esperanza Resources Co., Inc. on Faith Creek, by Michael R. Pollen and Norman L. Phillips ......................................131 Intrusions in the Fairbanks area and their relation to mineralization, by Roger McPherson ................................................. 149 The nature of island-arc systems and geotectonic regimes in Alaska, by Edward I. Erlich.................... ............................ 155 Gel-log polymer treatment and flocculation in settling ponds, 'by Dale Ramsey ................................................. 169 Heavy-equipment maintenance management, by John Bones. .................. 173 New directions in the development of the Alaska mineral industry for the small miner, by Thomas K. Bundtzen. ........................ 175 'North starf gold investigations, by Thomas E. Smith............ ........ 183 The public-record data base, by Cheri L. Daniels and Mark S. Robinson... 189 Geological factors governing the formation of the gold placer deposits of the Fairbanks mining district, Alaska, by Paul Metz....... ...... 195 Geophysical exploration for placers and other valuable mineral deposits, by Brent Hamil and Kevin Adler ........................... 225 Countercurrent sluicing on Ketchem Creek, by Fred Wilkinson.. ........... 229 Drilling and blasting in permafrost at the tiilbur Creek Mine, by David Ziegler ................................................... 235 Cost-estimation handbook for small placer mines, by Scott A. Stebbins.. 259 Distribution, analysis, and recovery of placer gold from the Porcupine mining area, southeastern Alaska, by Robert Hoekzema, Steven A. Fechner, and Thomas K. Bundtzen ................................. 267 POSTER TOPICS AND SUNMAFUES Page Mining and the University of Alaska Museum: Contributions to Alaska's fossil heritage. by Gary M . Selinger and Roland A . Gangloff ........ 293 Supergene gold in gold placers. by Steve D . Teller ...................... 295 Postmetamorphic quartz-stibnite-gold lodes. by Jeff A . Huber ............ 297 Potential of digitized aerial-photograph analysis for placer-gold exploration, by Scott L . Huang and Lien E . Huang ................... 299 Placer mining and recovery systems. by Robert Goodwin. Ellen Poai. Fred Cornelius. Delbert Moss. and Ernest Johnson ................... 301 Evaluation of fine-gold-recovery equfpment by Mark Loeffler. Craig Casner. and Chad Parrington .............................. 303 Heap leaching in Alaska. by Clayton A . Wells and Roger C . Cope .......... 307 The Delprat lead-zinc mine. Broken Hill. Australia. by Leah Madonna ..... 311 Alluvial sapphire mining in Australia. by Allan W . Coty ................. 313 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS ................................................... 315 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This volume was made possible by the combined volunteer efforts of a number of individuals. First, we thank the many speakers who provided writ- ten manuscripts, figures or photos for this publication. We also thank the Conference Committee, particularly the session chaiman for providing the conference with a hfgh-quality agenda. Dan Walsh, Helen Warner, Charles Green, Rose Rybachek, Karen Clautice, Mary Albanese, and Bruce Campbell were particularly helpful in obtaining written materials fox this volume. Special thanks to Sherry Jackman who transcribed several of the presen- tations. Finally, we thank the beleaguered DGGS publications staff (particularly Cheri Daniels, Greg Laird, Roberta Mann, and Joyce Outten), who provided typing and other assistance in making this report possible. This publfcation is dedicated to the spirit and dogged determination of the Alaskan miner. CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS Placer-mining operation near Livengood, Alaska. This section includes a written summary of most of the papers presented at the Ninth Annual Placer conference, held on March 25-27, 1987, in Fair- banks. Alaska. Also included are summaries from selected addresses and preconference and postconference sessions submitted by various authors. DEWATERING ALASKA PLACER EFFLUENTS WITH P E 0: PRELIMINARY FIELD TEST RESULTS Annie G. Smelley Research Chemist and B.J. Scheiner Supervisory Metallurgist Tuscaloosa Research Center Bureau of Mines U.S. Department of Interior Tuscaloosa, Alabama 34501 ABSTRACT Field teating of the U.S. Bureau of Mines polyethylene oxide (PEO) dewatering technique on effluents from three placer mines in Alaska has shown significant variation. Feed to the unit ranged from 250 to 23,000 NTU; water recovered from the dewatering exhibited turbidities of 20 to 240 NTU. PEO requirements increased as the solids content of the feed slurries increased. Also, flocculations of the placer-mine effluent solids required a long con- tact time which was accomplished by in-line mixing of the PEO with the waste slurry. INTRODUCTION In placer mining, gold-bearing gravels are washed by placing the gravels into a trommel or on vibrating screens where the gravel is sized from 0.5 to 1 in. The undersized material is washed into a sluice box while the small rocks, sand, and fines flow off the end of the sluice box into a sump where most of the rocks and sand settle out. The water containing the fines and some sand flows out the sump and into the existing pond system at the mine site. The rocks and coarser particles are normally removed from the sump by a loader or dozer. In the pond system, the rest of the settleable material drops out, leaving fine-grained silts and clays or nonsettleable fraction. With time, more of the fine material will ultimately settle; the end result is a solution containing ulrrafine or colloidal particles that will remain suspended indefinitely. In the past few years the effluents from placer mining have received considerable attention from a variety of regulatory agencies, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Alaska Department of Environmen- tal Conservations (DEC), and the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM). EPA has proposed regulations pertaining to water quality, DEC has issued regulations setting a standard for water quality, and DEC has issued regulations setting a standard for water discharge of 5 NTU's above the background of the receiving stream. BLM is enforcing the reclame- tion standard on federal lands. Thus, the miner is faced with many operating and economic factors. To meet water standards, a large pond will be