How It All Began At My Gold Mine: Small Scale Underground Mining!

This is a look at how small-scale hard rock gold mining actually works—from drilling a face round and laying out a burn cut to blasting, slushing, mucking, and moving ore underground. The video starts at our claim, where I drill a complete face round using a Gardner Denver FL83 pneumatic rock drill powered by a 185 CFM compressor. I walk through the drilling pattern in detail, including the five-hole burn cut, the unloaded zero hole, hole sequencing, keeping the drill holes parallel, and the lifters that fire last to help throw the broken rock up and out of the face. Then we reach more than 10 years back into the archives for footage from when we were actively mining underground. The workings followed a vein roughly 2–4 feet wide, so the production drift only needed to be about 4 feet wide and 6 feet tall. After drilling and blasting, the broken ore was slushed down the drift to a drop point before being mucked and hauled out of the mine. The old footage also shows raises above the drift, working pillars, underground sampling, and the small diesel mucker we used in the 8-by-8-foot main drift. During this mining operation, we produced roughly 300–500 tons of ore per season, averaging around ½ to ¾ ounce of gold per ton before shipping the material off the mountain to a processing plant. It’s a rare look at the full cycle of a small underground gold mining operation—and a throwback to the years I spent working underground. Check out our Shopify, eBay, and Merch stores for ore, specimens, cabochons, hats, shirts, and more from our mines: Shopify: https://mbmmllc.myshopify.com/ eBay: https://www.ebay.com/usr/mtbakerminin... Merch: https://my-store-c2b497.creator-sprin... FOR MORE INFO PLEASE EMAIL OR CALL Email: [email protected] Phone: 360-595-4445 Website: http://www.mbmmllc.com/ Patreon: Patreon: MBMMLLC Facebook: Facebook: MBMMLLC Instagram: Instagram: mbmmllc Twitter: Twitter: MBMMLLC AFFILIATE LINKS What's an affiliate link? If you use our link to buy something, MBMM gets a small percentage of the money you spend. This DOES NOT mean you will spend more money using our link, you will spend the SAME AMOUNT of money while also supporting a small business and channel. UNDERGROUND MINING EQUIPMENT Milwaukee Sawzall: https://amzn.to/4vUpwbV Milwaukee Hammer Drill: https://amzn.to/3ORKSVi Hammer Drill Bits: https://amzn.to/3MjLf8A Milwaukee Driver: https://amzn.to/3OqKoDT Milwaukee Grinder: https://amzn.to/3Qwro9C Milwaukee Flood Light: https://amzn.to/3NmvYEc Respirator: https://amzn.to/3RUR0Ah Hard hat with light clip: https://amzn.to/3Iss7nL Head lamp for hard hat: https://amzn.to/433G5US Safety glasses: https://amzn.to/439w8Fo Gloves: https://amzn.to/45ceXoF Feather and wedge set: https://amzn.to/4c5l6aW Masonry Hammer: https://amzn.to/4fE0hEH Rock Hammer: https://amzn.to/4hxXak7 Sledge Hammer: https://amzn.to/4yFZBHy Yellow Pry Bar: https://amzn.to/4fCkkTM SMELTING SUPPLIES Respirator: https://amzn.to/3RUR0Ah Complete Smelting Kits: https://amzn.to/4vTTAV0 Cupelling furnace: https://amzn.to/42ZOWXV Chapman’s flux: https://amzn.to/3Of4JO0 Anhydrous borax: Silica sand: https://amzn.to/3Mv0TiG Soda ash 1lb: https://amzn.to/41Ctg2N Soda ash 5lbs: https://amzn.to/3BtrhDg Soda ash 50lbs: https://amzn.to/3oaI6Qf Lye: https://amzn.to/3Mx8OvD Litharge: https://amzn.to/3OhtHwi Lead: https://amzn.to/3MARq9t Bismuth: https://amzn.to/4q2u9zz Electric furnace: https://amzn.to/430C6cd #4 Crucible: https://amzn.to/3M92QQk #10 Crucible: https://amzn.to/42XIsIY Cupel: https://amzn.to/437F8L6 Tongs: https://amzn.to/3BB2dKp Heat safe gloves: https://amzn.to/41MxMeQ Gold pans: https://amzn.to/3pRIzra Gold screens: https://amzn.to/3pTjo7j Scale 0.01g: https://amzn.to/3BB2FZ7 Scale 0.001g: https://amzn.to/438NrXh Magnets: https://amzn.to/42MFLde Pan for roasting sulfides: https://amzn.to/3pNGQTN Microscope for phone: https://amzn.to/4x4RhiX FURNACE BUILDING SUPPLIES Kaowool: 2” x 12.5’: https://amzn.to/3BB9IRO Kaowool 1” x 25”: https://amzn.to/3Wd7ktO Fire bricks: https://amzn.to/4pMByCP Shop vac: https://amzn.to/434rOXV Water glass (sealant): https://amzn.to/45desuv Refractory cement: https://amzn.to/4vSIqQs Propane: https://amzn.to/3pTj60d Propane regulator and burner: https://amzn.to/3RZCibd REFINING SUPPLIES Hot Plate: https://amzn.to/3OTVjbk Beakers: https://amzn.to/3WPtMcF Buchner Funnel Kit: https://amzn.to/43wJ4W6 Watch Glass: https://amzn.to/43F24BP FILMING EQUIPMENT GoPro Hero 13 Black: https://amzn.to/4wy6cm8 Long tripod: https://amzn.to/3WpKWgW Short tripod: https://amzn.to/3IVYdZl #goldmining #undergroundmining #drillingandblasting