Past mining Adventures
Click on the link buttons to read about a few of our past adventures, we'll be updating soon, so keep checking back!
We have Federal mining claims on Tincan Creek in the Chugach National Forest. There are many regulations both State and Federal governing mining on public lands in the State of Alaska. Annually we file and operate under US Forest service plan of operations and comply with all State and Federal regulations. If you are planning a trip to Alaska and wish to do some gold prospecting it is advisable to check with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. There are many recreational mining areas open to the public. It is important to know the status of land ownership, and what regulations are in place for the area your going to prospect. Some areas are closed to mining, or have special restrictions on the dates you can mine, and dredge nozzle sizes to protect fish populations.
If you are planning to dredge, the State of Alaska does require a suction dredging permit. These are available for free from the Department of Natural Resources. The Alaska mining and diving website: http://www.akmining.com/mining.htm lists a ton of information on mining in our great state, and can also outfit you with any needed mining equipment.
Most of the mining we do is suction dredging using an 8 inch dredge. We dive using cold water diving gear and vacuum the gravels in the stream using a sluice box to separate the heavier stream bed materials. The stream bed material is washed over a series of riffles inside the sluice that lay over a carpet. This allows the heavier materials such as gold to settle and become trapped in the carpet while returning the lighter material to the stream. The carpets are removed from the sluice box and washed into a bucket. This heavy material is known as "Concentrate" or black sand due to all the iron.
We then take the concentrate home and separate the gold from the black sand using a "gold wheel." This system simply uses water and gravity to separate the fine gold particles. By adjusting the angle of the spinning wheel and amount of water flow it is easy to wash off the lighter black sands. The gold is then carried by a series of spiraled groves to a center catch bucket. The gold is then ready for jewelry!
I hope these adventures help explain how some of the gold mining takes place in Alaska. We use much of what we mine in our jewelry settings. Because we find primarily smaller nuggets on our claims and the rarity of larger nuggets we purchase gold from miners throughout our state to meet the demands of our jewelry sales.
If you are planning to dredge, the State of Alaska does require a suction dredging permit. These are available for free from the Department of Natural Resources. The Alaska mining and diving website: http://www.akmining.com/mining.htm lists a ton of information on mining in our great state, and can also outfit you with any needed mining equipment.
Most of the mining we do is suction dredging using an 8 inch dredge. We dive using cold water diving gear and vacuum the gravels in the stream using a sluice box to separate the heavier stream bed materials. The stream bed material is washed over a series of riffles inside the sluice that lay over a carpet. This allows the heavier materials such as gold to settle and become trapped in the carpet while returning the lighter material to the stream. The carpets are removed from the sluice box and washed into a bucket. This heavy material is known as "Concentrate" or black sand due to all the iron.
We then take the concentrate home and separate the gold from the black sand using a "gold wheel." This system simply uses water and gravity to separate the fine gold particles. By adjusting the angle of the spinning wheel and amount of water flow it is easy to wash off the lighter black sands. The gold is then carried by a series of spiraled groves to a center catch bucket. The gold is then ready for jewelry!
I hope these adventures help explain how some of the gold mining takes place in Alaska. We use much of what we mine in our jewelry settings. Because we find primarily smaller nuggets on our claims and the rarity of larger nuggets we purchase gold from miners throughout our state to meet the demands of our jewelry sales.
