Anatomy of a Mine from Prospect to Production
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This file was created by scanning the printed publication. Errors identified by the software have been corrected; however, some errors may remain. United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Intermountain Research Station OFA General Technical Report INT-GTR-35 Revised February 1995 MINE FROM PROSPECT PRODUCTION Foreword This 1995 edition was funded by the Forest Service's Mineralsand Geology Management Staff, "Anatomy of a Mine" was first prepared in looseleaf Washington, DC. The combined efforts of lnter- form to aid Forest Service land managers and mountain Region and lntermountainResearch Sta- other administrators with mineral area responsi- tion employees, and consultation with other Forest bilities. The material summarized legislation af- Service Regions, in reviewing and updating the fecting mining, defined mining terms, and dis- material brings to the reader the most current cussed basics of mineral exploration, develop- minerals management information. We thank them ment, and operation in the West. The goal then as all for their continued efforts to foster better under- now was to foster better understanding and com- standing of basic legislation, terminology, and pro- munication about minerals and forest and range cesses used in the mining industry. land surface values. The 1975 guide was written primarily by private mining consultants James H. Bright and Anthony L. Payne under direction of the Minerals and Energy DENVER P. BURNS Staff (now Minerals Area Management), Inter- Acting Director mountain Region, Forest Service. It quickly be- lntermountain Research Station came popular with land managers in many State and Federal agencies. Planners, environmental- ists, and mining industry personnel sought copies. Educators from elementary through college levels DALE N. BOSWORTH have requested copies for classroom use. Regional Forester In 1977, a revised publication was issued in the lntermountain Region present format by the lntermountain Research Station, with funding and compilation provided by the Surface Environment and Mining Program. It Abstract was updated for another edition in 1983. Nearly Reviews mining laws and regulations and their 20,000 copies of the various editions have been application to mining in Western States. Describes distributed, and demand continues. A major use of prospecting, exploration, mine development and the publication is in training land managers. operation, and reclamation factors. The use of trade or firm names in this publication is for reader information only, and does not imply endorsement by the U.S.Department of Agriculture of any product or service. lntermountain Research Station 324 25th Street Ogden, UT 84401 OFA MINE PROSPECT PRODUCTION CONTENTS Page Page FOREWORD ............................... ii Electromagnetic ........................ 36 INTRODUCTION ........................... 1 Electrical ............................... 36 MINING LAW .............................. 3 Radiometric ............................ 37 Federal Laws ............................. 3 Remote Sensing ........................ 37 Claim Location ......................... 4 Restudy of Old Mining Districts ........... 38 Lode vs . Placer Claims .................. 5 Trenches, Pits, Overburden Drilling ........ 39 Extralateral Rights ...................... 5 Exploration Drilling ....................... 40 Tunnel Sites ........................... 5 Hand Drilling ........................... 41 Mill Sites ............................... 6 Percussion Drilling ..................... 41 Claim Procedures ...................... 6 Rotary Drilling ......................... 41 Pursuit of Discovery ...................... 7 Diamond Drilling ....................... 42 Protection Prior to Discovery .............. 8 Underground Exploration ................. 43 Discovery ................................ 9 Bulk Sampling ........................... 45 Locatable Minerals ....................... 9 Pilot Testing ............................. 46 Leasable Minerals ........................ 10 Feasibility Studies ........................ 46 Salable Minerals .......................... 10 DEVELOPMENT ............................ 47 Private Property .......................... 11 Drilling Large Deposits ................... 48 State Laws ............................... 11 Drilling Small Deposits ................... 48 Assessment Requirements ................ 12 Development Shafts and Adits ............ 49 Adverse Proceedings ..................... 14 Blocking Out Ore Underground ........... 49 Rights of Claimants ....................... 15 Proven (Measured) Ore ................. 49 Multiple Surface Use Act of 1955 .......... 16 Probable (Indicated) Ore ................ 50 Occupancy ............................... 16 Possible (Inferred) Ore ................. 50 Trespass Limitations ...................... 17 Access ................................... 50 Federal and State Safety Requirements .... 18 Power ................................... 51 Environmental Regulations ................ 18 Communications ......................... 51 Forest Service Regulations ................ 18 Site Preparation .......................... 52 PROSPECTING ............................ 21 Mine ................................... 52 The Conventional Prospector ............. 22 Mill .................................... 53 Amateur Prospectors ..................... 23 Townsite ............................... 53 Regional Mineral Exploration .............. 23 Postponement of Production .............. 53 Exploration Concepts ..................... 24 PRODUCTION ............................. 55 Preliminary Evaluation of Exploration Results 25 Underground Mining Methods ............. 55 EXPLORATION ............................ 26 Open Stoping .......................... 55 Planning ................................. 27 Shrinkage Stoping ...................... 55 Personnel .............................. 27 Cut and Fill Stoping .................... 56 Access ................................. 27 Square-Set Stoping ..................... 57 Occupancy ............................. 27 Block Caving ........................... 57 Communications ....................... 28 Surface Mining Methods .................. 59 Property Adjustments ................... 28 Placer Mining .......................... 59 Contact With Federal Agencies .......... 28 Glory Holing ........................... 60 Geological Exploration Met hods ........... 28 Open Pit Mining ........................ 61 Criteria for Ore Recognition ............. 29 Leaching Methods ...................... 62 Geochemical Exploration Methods ........ 32 Ore Dressing ............................. 63 Reconnaissance Geochemistry .......... 32 Crushing and Concentration ............ 63 Rocks .................................. 32 Extractive Metallurgy ................... 64 Soils ................................... 33 Wastes ................................... 65 Vegetation ............................. 35 Mine Wastes ........................... 65 Geophysical Exploration Met hods ......... 35 Mill Wastes ............................. 66 Gravity ................................. 35 Miscellaneous Junk ..................... 67 Seismic ................................ 35 Roads ................................... 67 Magnetic ............................... 35 RECLAMATION ............................ 68 Western North America produces more met- The era of the legendary mining engineer, al and mineral products today than any other who could go anywhere in the world and brisk- region of similar size in the world. Beginning ly size up the ore potential of any kind of miner- with the forty-niner's discovery of gold, there al property, passed during World War I. The has been one surge of mining activity after an- method of the mining engineer was to examine other. Silver in the Civil War era, copper at the and sample the partially developed ore depos- turn of the century, potash, tungsten, phos- its found by early gold and silver prospectors, phate, uranium, beryllium, to name but a few, to determine if other metals might be present, have gained importance in turn as demand for low grade ores might be profitably mined by metal and mineral products increased and new mechanized methods and treated by one of the advances in technology were made. efficient new metallurgical processes, or the When contemplating the present mineral property incorporated into a complex of mines, production of the western United States, it is all shipping to a large, efficient, centralized difficult to imagine how undeveloped much of smelter. the region must have appeared to the early ex- The modern explorationist goes back into plorers. The natives had in their possession areas investigated by the early prospectors only a few trinkets of gold, silver, and copper, and mining engineers, using new concepts of and seemed to have little interest in, or know- ore localization and techniques of search for ledge of, minerals. The discovery of placer mineral deposits that would have been of no gold at Sutter's Mill at Coloma, California, in interest to his predecessors. In the early years January of 1848 was the first of many events of mining, there was no market for most of the that revealed the importance of the rich miner- metals mined today. Transportation was inade al resources of the West. The series of major quate, mechanized equipment and technology new mineral discoveries since the California for development and treatment of the ores gold rush seems paced