Assuming legal access to the property has already been arranged, and company executives intend for us to proceed in this way, here are the primary objectives we try and accomplish during the preliminary evaluation of a potential mining project:
1) Meet with company executives to gain an understanding of what the mining program is about, what the overall objectives are, the timing, and the budget. Review the appropriate information they have accumulated so far. Make plans for a departure-date.
2) Obtain the very best maps of the area that we can get our hands on.
3) Locate and study as much information as we can find concerning the mining history of the area, and the areas surrounding where the project will take place. Plot this information on the map. This includes finding out the type of mining methods that were being used, and what kinds of values were recovered.
4) Study background information about the geology, weather, culture, politics and economics of the area. This includes a look at the public information released by the U.S. State Department about the area. Follow up with Internet research to see what others have to say about the people, events and mining activity within the area – and anything else of interest.
Is the political situation stable?
5) Establish a preliminary idea of how and where the potential project-area is located in relation to local communities, potential sources of supplies, emergency support, political structure and access. Pull together an early idea of what we want to see when we get there.
6) I always recommend that at least one representative (preferably one of the company directors) of the company accompany us through the full preliminary visit to the area where the potential project would take place. It is in the company’s best interest to have someone from existing management along to confirm our observations, and to help evaluate our conclusions.
7) Travel to the project area and:
A) Get a feel for the local politics in general, and in relation to the potential project. Will the locals ignore, support or object to the program? Are there pre-existing problems that will need to be fixed before beginning a sampling program?
B) Find out the different ways of gaining access to the project site. Make contact with those people who would provide the transport service (if needed), and establish timing, cost and dependability. How would we make contact with them from the field?
C) Locate sources of food, fuel, supplies and personnel to assist with the mining program. This would include any special needs, like local guides and boat operators out at the project-site. Establish the cost of things and dependability of the supply. Are there periodic shortages?
D) Locate the nearest place for competent medical assistance. Do they have any kind of emergency evacuation service? If not, perhaps they can provide a referral to the nearest large medical facility that provides such a service? Come up with a viable plan to provide competent medical care in the event it is needed, and how to mobilize the service from the field.
E) Establish support in local communities within the vicinity of where we would conduct the mining operations.
F) Locate local miners and gain as much information as possible from them about what is being done, where and the results. Buy samples of the values if possible, and carefully log them to where they came from. Take a hard look at the gold, gemstones or other values being recovered. Verify the activity and results. Look at how much value the locals are recovering, in relation to the volume of their production. Relate that back to what can be accomplished in production with suction dredge equipment.
The best local mining operations to observe are the ones that are actively processing the gravels within the waterway where dredging would be done.
G) Find out if there are special concerns about dangers in the water, in the surrounding area, sanitary problems, health concerns, or security worries. How will they be dealt with? Will there be any special needs for this?
Is the waterway full of big rocks that will need to be moved?
H) Free-dive in the river to gain a good perception of what equipment will be needed to perform preliminary sampling. How deep is the water? How deep is streambed material to bedrock? Is there a lot of material too large to move by hand? Are submerged trees going to interfere with the sampling process? Are there excessive amounts of mud or sand that will overwhelm the recovery system?
It is often possible to bring up samples to pan from the bottom of the river, to get a better idea what a dredge sampling program will find
I) Decide if special recovery methods will be required to perform a preliminary sampling program. If portability will be required, this may require a floating container to fully catch the samples, so they can be carefully processed on shore.
J) Establish the potential for a commercial mining opportunity, based upon evaluation of pre-existing information, and direct observation of ongoing local mining programs, and whatever limited sampling can be accomplished using the resources that are available.
K) Document all important details as well as possible by logging names, phone numbers (or email addresses) and locations of contacts, along with how much things will cost. Obtain digital images of everything important.
L) If appropriate, conceptualize a preliminary sampling program. This includes how the sampling program would be performed, supported, and how long it would take to complete. The concept should be consistent with the company objectives and budget.
8) Write a report that includes all of the important details of our findings, and includes the photo-library with explanations for each image. The report will conclude with a recommendation.
