Wanted-- Someone to process my cons--S.Arizona

[Anonymous]

We have concentrates that run 6-8 oz./ metric ton in gold, slightly less than that amount in silver. The gold is entrained in chalcopyrites and iron pyrites, the silver in Galena. The mines we have claims on are located in southern Pima county AZ of Arizona, and we would be willing to ship if necessary.

 

[Richard36]

We have concentrates that run 6-8 oz./ metric ton in gold, slightly less than that amount in silver. The gold is entrained in chalcopyrites and iron pyrites, the silver in Galena. The mines we have claims on are located in southern Pima county AZ of Arizona, and we would be willing to ship if necessary.

I do not have the ability to process Sulfides,
but I do have the address and phone number of a Mineral Broker in Canada
that will find buyers for your Ore.

If your interested in having me take the role of consultant,
and help you establish a market for your ore through this person, I'm willing to do so.

If interested, I ask that you have me assay your ore to prove values.
Once values and concentration thereof has been established,
I would like to send a pound of ore to the broker in Canada.

The broker in Canada will do a full spectrum test for all metals,
and then contact his buyers for the ore that you have.

I ask in return a reasonable "Finders Fee" for every Ton/Yard of Ore Shipped/Sold.

Sincerely; Rick."The Rock Man".

 

[aussco999]

Kettle:

You are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place when looking for some place to sell your concentrates, unless you can make daily/weekly semi-truck size load shipments. The past 30 years of environmental craze and wildly fluctuating metal prices has put most of the small ore refiners out of business. Your probably stuck with either dealing with the Big Boys or going it alone.

You said the gold was in chalcopyrite and silver in galena, but you didn’t say if it was two separate concentrates or a combination of mineral as one. If it’s two separate concentrates (and you have tonnage), then you might look at selling the copper mineral to whom ever (Magma, Groupo Mexico???), that now owns the mine/smelter at Globe/Miami/Manual, AZ. It’s been awhile since I’ve been there, but the last I heard, they would pay for both copper and gold. I also heard the Bagdad, AZ. mine/smelter is back on line, and are treating their high sulfide ore in an autoclave.

If you have a separate galena/silver concentrate, then as far as I know, you have only 3 options in North America. Starting way north, there is Teck Cominco in Trails, Canada. The like semi-truck loads on a regular basis, running 60% to 70% Pb and several 100 oz/ton of silver, with a minimum of contaminations.

In the USA there is Doe Run, Missouri which also likes regular truck size loads, but I heard they wouldn’t pay for the silver. Doe Run has their own high-grade deep mines and provide about 70% of the Pb needs of the USA.

And looking south, you have Penoles in Torreon, Mexico. As recently as 3 months ago, they would pay between 35% and 65% of the metal values of your concentrate, depending on contaminates. Unfortunately, Penoles has been know to lose a load or two every so often (So sorry, we did not receive your shipment), and if you don’t like the way they do business, their answer is “take it some place else”.

If your concentrates are a combination of all the sulfide minerals, then you might be better off looking into a batch process to up grade your concentrate and extract the precious metals yourself. There are several ways to treat sulfide ores safely and within reason, tree-hugger friendly. This is probably not the best news for you, but it’s been my experience with a similar problem.

Good luck with your project, :mrgreen:

John

 

[darshevo]

For what it is worth I heartily endorse Rick The Rock Man (aka Richard36). I am sending him a sample of ore tomorrow (possibly 2 depending on my decision on a gamble at the time) He is extremely knowledgeable in geology and is a highly respected member of this community.

Also bear in mind, while sometimes it may seem as a good idea to 'go it alone' there was a point I owned a tire and auto repair shop. Believe me when I tell you, if you owned a car lot and brought me 3 cars a week compared to a customer off the street you got a LOT better deal as the car lot (bread and butter my friend) it never hurts to have a geologist in your corner. Probably make more after a commission for his time than you even could on your own,

That;s my single copper penny (worth .02 at todays copper value :lol: )

-Lance

 

[Anonymous]

We already have two probable buyers for the cons at this point. Right now the cost is estimated at approximately $1000/ ton for refining. If you can do better, let me know.

Keith H Bowen
[email protected]
520-631-6523

 

[HAuCl4]

We have concentrates that run 6-8 oz./ metric ton in gold, slightly less than that amount in silver. The gold is entrained in chalcopyrites and iron pyrites, the silver in Galena. The mines we have claims on are located in southern Pima county AZ of Arizona, and we would be willing to ship if necessary.

How many tons of concentrates ready to process if I may ask?.

 

[Anonymous]

We don't have any just yet. It seemed imprudent to expend the money for production equipment before getting at least a ball park estimate of the full costs involved.

We are estimating one to four tons per week of cons starting about Oct 1.

Keith Bowen
[email protected]
520-631-6523

 

[HAuCl4]

Thanks. Good luck with the mining and concentrating.

 

[aussco999]

Lance:

I agree with your opinion of Rick “The Rock Man”, and enjoy reading his posts. With a closer proximity, I think our combined expertise could be put to good use on several projects. I also understand the many pitfalls of “going it alone”, but I’ve never understood the need for an extra middleman when selling ore/cons/metals from a project, unless it was government mandated.

Normally, a courtesy phone call directly to a refiner will achieve the same results without a broker dipping into your profits. From the limited info on Kettle’s (Keith) project, it sounded like he’s beyond the need for a good geologist’s services and is in more need of an extraction metallurgist.

So, how is your own project progressing?


Keith:

I still think you’re between a rock and a hard place. I had made the assumption (my bad), that you already had concentrates for sale and were looking for a better market. Instead, this was just a mental exercise to see if it’s worth the time and money to invest in this project. Until you actually have a system in place producing continuous concentrations (instead of say,,, assay numbers on paper), then no one can give you an honest answer for cost to process your product. Rock,,, You,,, Hard Place!!!

IMO, if your 2 possible buyers are going to charge you only $1000./ton to process your future cons, then I suggest you have them put it in writing, and proceed full steam ahead. At 6 to 8 oz/MT of gold, plus silver, copper and lead, minus your capital investment, mining, milling and transportation costs, you should still turn a nice profit at today’s metal prices.

Unfortunately, the 1 to 4 tons/week (approximately a 55 gal. drum/ton), will probably not interest the Big Boys. For them, it takes the same amount of paperwork to process one ton as it does for 10,000+ tons. You don’t need to be an accountant to understand that one. What would interest them is an improved concentration ratio. A lot of serious people would be happy to talk to you if your cons ratios were enriched another 10:1. That’s probably were an extraction mineralogist or metallurgist would benefit you in long run.

I don’t know where you’ll find said person(s) as most of my work these days has been in Mexico, and I’ve been out of touch for a while with almost anyone here or in Canada that could help you. Think about that idea before investing, as this info could also determine the type and size of recovery plant needed.

When you get time, let us know how your project goes, and good luck. :mrgreen:

John

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for your detailed reply John.

What we have right now has a very great potential, but almost nothing actually proven up. The historical reports (detailed) give me a lot of confidence that we have some good small ore bodies and possibly something big. However, I have been involved with gold mining for long enough to know that the way to make money is to minimize risk and eliminate wishful thinking. Thus, the careful approach.

With less than a $10,000 investment we should be able to process enough material to repay both the capital costs and tho operating costs as we continue our exploration. Hopefully, the vein will continue to improve just a bit and we will then have sufficient funds for a detailed geophysical survey ($5-10,000) soon.

We are currently exploring several options in terms of up-grading the cons, but the lead makes it more problematic. Without the heavy metals we could probably just oxidize the sulfur and then re-grind, gravity sep, and then leach the tails if applicable. With the lead, sending it to a processor eliminates the waste disposal issue. If we simply sell the cons for starters it gives us lots of time to refine our options and maximize our profit down the road.

It is also very fun to watch my other half (who is very smart but had never been involved in mining in any way) get involved in this and REALLY make things happen. She is learning VERY fast. That makes it very rewarding.

Do you have a list of refiners in the Southwestern US?

Sincerely,

Keith H Bowen
[email protected]
520-631-6523

 

[aussco999]

Keith:

I agree with your, “minimize risk and eliminate wishful thinking” approach, but because of the infancy state of your project, it’s real tough to offer any solid recommendations on which direction you should pursue with your limited resources. With everything regarding mining/milling being so expensive these days, your available investment is real close to, or below the starvation level.

Also, your ore mineral matrix is of no help either. For example, what is a sellable mineral for one refiner, becomes a “charge-back” contamination for another refiner. The Cu/Pb combination is not good for anyone. If you could devise a method to keep those two minerals partially separated from the get-go, it would be less headaches for you.

When you say ore body, is it a surface outcropping or a vein structure going to depth? Because your project is in Arizona (The Copper State), it’s hard to imagine that every square foot of the state has not already been well documented for copper ore. Maybe that’s part of your historical reports?

And, don’t’ forget the mining regulatory agencies you’ll have to deal with. I worked on a hard rock galena project in northern AZ several years ago during the reign of State Mining Inspector Doug Martin. The state and MSHA inspectors showed up on a regular basis to keep an eye on us. At the time, everyone on site were required to be MSHA certified to work on any mining project. I attended the last Annual Refresher Certification class offered for both surface and underground mining. Thereafter, they said you had to take a separate class for either surface or hard-rock mining.

Maybe you should get creative when looking for another way to skin the proverbial cat. I was reading on another forum about a geologist living up north on the left coast, that was building or has built (???) a small production recovery plant. He was looking for a place to park it out of the snow for the winter. Last I heard, it didn’t snow much in southern AZ. He wants to run ore or cons through his equipment to improve recovery. It might be worth talking a deal with him regarding your project, if he has the equipment ready to go. He posts on http://www.49ermike.com, under the topic of; "Looking for feedback on an ore-reprocessing business" and a web site; http://www.noospheregeologic.com/index.html

Again, with several years of low metal prices and heavy-handed EPA regulations, most of the small ore refiners are out of business. I can’t even tell you if the ASARCO refinery in El Paso, Texas is still on line. I’m more in tuned with what’s available in Mexico these days. There are several recycling refiners around, but they always have that blank look on their face when you talk to them about concentrations from ore. And, if they find a contaminate in your ore, they’ll shun you like a case of leprosy.

And finally, I’m glad to hear that your BETTER-HALF has a growing interest in your mining project. On a few occasions, I’ve had totally inexperienced people visit our mine/mill site, ask a crazy question and suddenly the idea light bulb turns on for a better way of doing things. Never stop listening and learning.

Post on your project when you can and good luck, :mrgreen:

John

 

[Anonymous]

Hello John,

Thanks for the input. It is a low angle (10-20 degrees from horizontal) in mineralized host rock ( I like that part). Even the footwall seems to run .1 Oz/T +. We may be able to gravity separate the galena from the pyrite by re running the cons at a different table setting. We will see. Yeah, the MSHA thingy will be a pain when they find us I'm sure. Until then it's just 'casual use'. We have a couple hundred feet of pre existing tunnel plus some old reports to work from. A quarter ounce average for ore was the reported grade, but we have some better showing right now over 12-24". I'll check on your tip about the guy with the mill, thanks.

Keith Bowen