Ruby Creek Resources Inc RBYC

Alaskan Classroom

[RicherNow]

The show is without a doubt a great learning lab for viewers.  One could almost predict the obstacles they made for themselves being "rookies".  Really, I did not want to be screaming at the tele every 5 minutes, I had been through my own painful  "rookie" years.
I guess that one of the first episodes this season is about mining to bedrock.  Well, this is where the big gold is supposed to be, everyone knows that, right?  Haven't we all been drooling over the prospect of what might be found on the bedrock at Mkuvia, some for years now, right?    I tested this model/common knowledge as a "rookie" on my own claims...and we "went deep"  ....all the time in barren ground....
I found out that one only begins to be successful when one understands the nature of one's deposit, this ONLY  comes from "reading" what you find.  I left the "rookie" status behind when I started to get to know my deposit, intimately.  We found that the gold was not at bedrock... none.... to our benefit the gold was in the top 2 feet of gravel, not at 6 to 10 feet on bedrock.  
Ignorance and gold fever are rookie traps,... where in the alluvial system is gold found on bedrock?  There are so many micro-environments in moving water and sediment, AND only some contain concentrated gold.... There is no substitute for deposit evaluation by experienced and smart GOLD placer miners. One must look for the gold (close spaced sampling) before one mines gold.  Gold Plateau is ideal for cheap, easy sampling... sand is not boulders.
I heard a saying once, some argue over the exact words and meaning but the meaning is clear to me...
"GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT.
... meaning one must LOOK for gold in a placer ACTIVELY, and not just assume it is "here" or "there".  Close spaced sampling initially is required to "read" the deposit and locate the "paystreaks" and "Stay In The PAY!"  Every deposit is different.  Most get the cart before the horse.
I bet these Alaska guys go out and pick a convenient spot and start digging.... "we're going deep" was my saying....  They are going to run into boulders, or get too deep so the pit they dig will require expanding.and other issues  unforeseen.  I can't bear to watch... but I will.
They might run into tailings problems too,  I did(although big volumes of water can solve many tailings issues).  IF they run any significant volume of gravel, they will need stackers or trucks to deal with the tailings IMO.  Remember just pushing tailings with a CAT is ULTRA inefficient, very little material is retained behind the blade of a moving CAT... Rookie mistake.  One might think that given enough slope, water can carry tailings away from the plant area.... rookie mistake.... water may need to be settled and re-cycled to meet permit requirements. or  other water supply issues.... PLUS fish and invertebrates don't survive well in silty, turbid waters.... I think at Gold Plateau water will be recycled and tailings will have to be moved mechanically OR the plant will be be mobile enough that it can be readily moved as mining progresses with little downtime and remobilization costs.  Remember, downtime is any time that the plant is not operating and recovering gold, for whatever reason.
Placer mining is not easy.  Rookies are beginners and most  fail.  It is possible that these guys on TV learned something this last winter and may do OK this season with their  "fairy godmother" staking them into another shot..... I am not holding my breathe. 
Not investment advice DYODD

[traveller180]

Learning how to identify what you're looking at is definitely the key to fine and micro-fine recovery. Although I am an amateur prospector, I learned long ago that just because you cannot see it with your naked eye doesn't mean it isn't there. Learning how to smelt concentrates turned completely unproductive trips for my family into "how many grams came out of the melt today Dad

[Public_Heel]

I don't even qualify as a rookie, but what Ruby would do with all that dirt has always been a concern. They're like a giant earthworm that has to eat 100's of millions (potentially) of cubic meters of dirt, process it, and push it out the rear end. How would that work? I suppose their equipment would move up the deposit, like the giant dredges used to do on the Klondike, but they'd

[Yukon_Cornelius]

Jim & Trav- thanks for your personal perspectives on this.Anyone interested in watching all of LAST season's episodes- Discovery Channel is replaying them  this weekend. Check your sattelite/cable program guide- I set my DVR - I think its Fri/Sat  but may be Sat/Sun- I set it then forget it.

[traveller180]

Some interesting reading here about placer deposits: https://earthsci.org/mineral/mindep/depfile/auplace.htm