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Alaskan Placer Mining School of Mineral Engineering and Alaska Miners Association MIRL Report Number 69 Sixth Annual Conference on Alaskan Placer Mining School of Mineral Engineering and Alaska Miners Association March 28 - 29, 1984 Fine Arts Concert Hall University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska An abridged format of papers, presentations and addresses given during the 1984 conference compiled and edited by: Daniel E. Walsh, M. Susan Wray ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report is an abridged transcription of the papers and presentations given at the Sixth Annual Conference on Alaskan Placer Mining, held on March 28-29, 1984, and co-sponsored by the School of Mineral Engineering, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and the Alaska Miners Association. The editors wish to thank those speakers who submitted a manuscript, or pro- vided photos and illustrations to accompany their paper, greatly contributing to the accuracy and value of these proceedings. Published by Mineral Industry Research Laboratory School of Mineral Engineering University of Alaska, Fairbanks Fairbanks, Alaska 9 Printet %Ragor Less P.O. Box 298, Delta Juncaon,Alaska 99737 Conference Committee James Madonna School of Mineral Engineering, Mining Extension Leah Madonna Alaska Miners Association Del Ackels Resident, Circle Mining District Jeff Burton School of Mineral Engineering David Maneval School of Mineral Engineering Rose Rybachek Alaska Women in Mining John Sims Office of Mineral Development, ADCED Don Stein Alaska Miners Association Dan Walsh School of Mineral Engineering, MIRL iii Table of Contents Page Acknowledgements ........................................................................................i Conference Committee ...................................................................................iii Morning Session, March 28, 1984 Welcome Nolan J. Aughen baugh ............................................................................ 1 Dean, School of Mineral Engineering, University of Alaska Welcome Bill Allen ........................................................................................1 Mayor, Fairbanks North Star Borough Welcome Earl H. Beistline ..................................................................................2 President, Alaska Miners Association Letter from Bettye Fahrenkamp .............................................................................3 Alaska State Senator The Placer Geology of the Wiseman Area. ...................................................................3 Ed Armstrong, Vice President of Exploration and Development, Tri-Con Mining Company Alluvial Mining Methods and Jig Treatment Plant Technology. ............................................... 7 Mike Green, Vice President, Alluvial Dredges International Ltd. Techniques of Alluvial Placer Evaluation. ..................................................................I0 Rodney Blakestad, President, Sedco Exploration Ltd. Resource Potential and Underground Mining Research of Permanently Frozen, Deeply Buried Placers .......... 15 James C. Barker, Supervisory Mining Engineer, Alaska Field Operations Center, Bureau of Mines. Fairbanks and Frank J. Skudrzyk, Head, Mining and Geological Engineering, University of Alaska, Fairbanks Afternoon Session, March 28, 1984 ExcavatingFrozenMuck ..................................................................................20 Fred Wilkinson, Miner Mining and Recovery Techniques on Eagle Creek ...........................................................23 Douglas B. Colp, Consulting Mining Engineer Mining on Porcupine Creek, Circle District .................................................................26 Helen Warner, Miner Mining at Flat, Alaska.. .................................................................................. 27 John Miscovich Considerations for Applying Reichert Mark VII Spirals in Alaska. ...........................................29 Kelly Dolphin, Owner of Minerals Company, Fairbanks The Hydro-Laser and its use in Underground Placer Mining ................................................. 33 Hugh B. Fate, Jr., D.M.D. Banquet Speech - Mining in Alaska Today. .................................................................34 William R. Wood, President Emeritus, University of Alaska Table of Contents Page Morning Session, March 29, lP84 Mining and Recovery of Placer Minerals ................................................................... 36 Jack M. Donkers. Managing Director, IHC Holland Gold Recovery with Sluice Boxes. .........................................................................40 Will Godbey, Graduate Student. School of Mineral Engineering, University of Alaska Excavation of Late Pleistocene Mammoth Remains at Colorado Creek, Alaska. ................................. 46 Robert C. Betts, University of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks Sediment After Recovery .................................................................................54 Ernest Wolff, Retired Professor and Associate Director, MIRL, School of Mineral Engineering, University of Alaska, Fairbanks Geological Factors Governing the Formation of the Gold Placer Deposits of the Fairbanks Mining District, Alaska (Abstract) ...................................................57 RA. Metz, Assistant Professor of Economic Geology, School of Mineral Engineering, University of Alaska -- Fairbanks Afternoon Session, March 29, 1984 Education and the Mining Industry. ....................................................................... 57 James Madonna, Assistant Professor of Mining Extension, School of Mineral Engineering, University of Alaska, Fairbanks WaterQualityConcerns ..................................................................................60 Richard Neve, Commissioner, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Placer Mining Controls in the Yukon Territory, Canada ..................................................... 61 Jack Nickel, Regional Manager, Water Resources Water Quality Concerns ..................................................................................63 Ernesta Barnes, Regional 10 Supervisor, Environmental Protection Agency Technical Approaches to Turbidity Reduction at Placer Mining Sites .........................................65 David R. Maneval, Professor, School of Mineral Engineering, University of Alaska, Fairbanks U.S. Geological Survey Alaskan Gold Project ............................................................... 6Ci John C. Antweiler, John Cathrall. Richard Tripp. U.S. Geological Survey, Denver. Colorado Questions and Answers Period. ...........................................................................73 Jeff Burton. Chairman ConferenceSummary ....................................................................................76 Earl H. Beistline, President, Alaska Miners Association vii tiffs contend that the current state laws addressing hard rock minerals violate the State Constitution in Section Six I of the Alaska Statehood Act. The kicker to that law suit is that the plantiff seeks to enjoin all production of Welcome hard rock minerals until State Legislature brings the Nolan B. Aughenbaugh statute into compliance. Simply stated, this means that Dean. School of Mineral Engineering the hard rock mineral industry would be closed down until our legislature adopted statutes to the satisfaction On behalf of the University of Alaska and the School of the trustees for Alaska and other plantiffs in that of Mineral Engineering, I would like to welcome you to lawsuit. That has a very negative economic impact on the Sixth Annual Placer Mining conference. We ap- mining obviously, but as I said earlier it also would preciate your attendance and hope the conference will strangle our opportunity to provide the service and sup- be of value both technically and in renewing friend- port from our business community to the mining ac- ships. tivities outside the North Star Borough. Because the suit Both Chancellor CYRourke and Vice Chancellor could have such a significant negative impact on the Phillips have asked me to extend their regrets at not be- Borough's economy, it is only proper that we, the North ing here at the opening ceremonies. Unfortunately, they Star Borough, participate. I have instructed the Borough have to be out of town because of the legislative review attorney to engage the specific legal foundation to of the campus budget for next year. represent us in joining the State of Alaska to fight this At this time I would like to introduce Bill Allen, lawsuit and keep mining as a viable part of our Mayor of the Fairbanks North Star Borough. economy. You're also having problems with the environmental protection agency. Don't feel alone, I am having the same problem with the clean air act and the regulations to be imposed upon the Fairbanks North Star Borough. The way we approached this after we resolved the fact Welcome that it was something we had to live with, was to sit Bill Allen down and talk to Ernesta Barnes and compromise on Mayor, Fairbanks North Star Borough several issues. I found Mrs. Barnes to be a very fair but firm person. I don't agree with the law she was ad- The mining sector in the Interior of Alaska is impor- ministering to a certain extent, but there again, I think tant to the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Not only the she met us half way. And I guess that brings me to a mining activity but also the support and services from point that many people have been talking about lately, the business community in Fairbanks. We are talking and that is the resource coalition made up of folks from about a 100 million plus business.
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