I guess the price of gold, continues the surging economy for Timmins.

The article below says, among other things:
"A novice course on how to become a licensed prospector will begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday."

I already took my novice course, in the desert mountains of Arizona in 1975. But it was an informal one.

I was working in an electric motor repair shop in a small town at the edges of the Mohave and Sonoran deserts in Lake Havasu City. One day a darkly tanned but quietly unobtrusive fellow came in to get a pump motor fixed. Loud, assertive types tend to turn me off. But quiet, capable persons intrigue me, and I tend to draw them out. Have discovered and made some wonderful friends that way.

Turns out he was sort of a hermit. Lived alone out in Franklin Wash. I'd never heard of the place, and I doubt more than 3 people in that whole town had ever heard of it. It was just a remote spot on some dusty old topo map.

Don't remember how it happened, but we exchanged a bit more helpful info than was typical between a customer and a business shop employee. When he came back to pick up the motor some days later, we built on our earlier conversation.

He was a fierce Libertarian. Didn't want anybody poking their nose into his life or his extremely hard earned but meager funds. But he seemed to like my tolerance and appreciation of his core values.

I happened to be in the market for an old, used, inexpensive truck, to get around better in the desert and mountains nearby. My aging city car didn't work very well for that.

This fellow had an old truck, REAL old, and he was tired of finding old parts, or manufacturing them himself. So he invited me out to look at it.

Wow!. Talk about being out in the boondocks. He was about 40 miles out into the desert, closer to Yucca Flats, than to Lk Havasu City. That's some of the most extreme climate and terrain in North America. Ford or GM tested their vehicles at a facility just off the highway from Yucca Flats. [Actually it was probably Chrysler's Arizona Proving Ground.]

Finding his place was like being in a maze of deep washes and small canyons. Could easily get lost out there. In summer, it got up to over 130 degrees and people died. Very similar to Death Valley. Two mountain ranges rose up in the far distance.

His truck was faded olive green. A 3/4 ton 4 wheel drive military pickup, from Korean War vintage. The hood was open, and the faulty carburetor was in some stage of disassembly. If I could figure out how to fix the carburetor, I could have the truck for a small price.

He showed me around. He had a plastic lined pond with pipes, sprayers and pumps all around. Looked like a Rube Goldberg affair, but with visible pattern for function and reason.

He used inexpensive agriculture fertilizer to make an acid solution. He sprayed that over several thousand pounds of placer (sand) gold ore, and let the liquid recirculate, until it leached all the gold out. The gold was then in suspended liquid chemical form, which was captured with something that looked like steel wool, in a home-made electrified magnetic device.

From there, he processed the gold compound in one or two further steps, one of which involved small amounts of mercury, and wound up with pure gold.

If he made a certain amount of gold per ton, it was worth while. He had to know his prospecting very well, to identify good grade placer ore. But there was a lot of it out there in the desert washes and arroyos, if you knew what to look for.

He worked the southern deserts in winter, and went up north to places like Idaho in summer, where he worked to extract hard rock ore.

Had a very small budget, but he made a living.

And most importantly to him, he was his own man. Nobody controlled him, nobody pulled his strings, nobody could B.S. him with their political or religious or economic falderol.

I went home and did some research on my prospects for cobbling up his carburetor. Not much luck in that department. But I'd agreed to come back out to his place, and bring him a blackberry pie I baked myself. It was his favorite, and I was good at pastry making.

We had quite a long conversation about a number of topics. Some were a bit hard to swallow, but some were amazing and I learned a lot. After he learned he could trust me, he went off someplace for a moment and returned to put something in my hand. He kept it covered as he asked me to hold my hand out, palm up.

When the item was released into my hand, my arm almost fell off. Tho it was a relatively small thing, but it weighed a lot. It was gold.

He wasn't giving it to me, he was just showing me what it was like.

I could see that although his life would seem harsh and uncomfortable to most people, he enjoyed it. With persistence, creativity and resourcefulness, he benefited from the fruits of his own labor.

During my year and a half in the deserts and mountains of the southwestern US, I went on a number of adventures, some smaller, some bigger. Some resulted from collaboration with others. Some I organized myself.

One treasure hunt to the Big Sandy and Signal Peak area, was a follow-up to other stories by other adventurers over the decades. I've written about that fondly a long time ago. We went in on foot, where no white-man ever had before. Crossed some obstacles that seemed impossible, and others that looked as if from an alien world. We never found the lost loot, but we found something else. An adventure with discoveries nobody else ever had, and memories to go with it.

The only sad thing about that adventure, was that a freeway was built through part of that same area, some years after we blazed the trail on foot.

Partly as a result of my experiences and adventures in western Arizona, I added a little prospecting, as the 3rd reason for my visit to Timmins in about 1978/79.

My preparations were pretty good, if at a basic level. I went where the mountain range near Kirkland Lake submerged into the tundra, leading to Hudson Bay/James Bay. I estimated about the point at which erosion would leave precious metals at or near the surface.

When I got out there, I think it was north and east of Little Lake Abitibi, it was a long way from civilization. The best they had to offer was one dirt road, with an occasional log bridge through that country. Again, I almost got lost out there. When I inadvertently crossed the boarder into Quebec, and encountered some Frenchie's who knew English but adamantly refused to speak it, I turned back.

Following my nose and instincts off the dirt road, into the bush, toward the north, I eventually parked and continued on foot.

Within an hour, to my surprise, in the middle of that brushy land, empty of human sign, I came across a newly bulldozed driveway. Followed that a short distance, to a gate. On the other side of the gate, was a large, new, commercial mining operation. My instincts were good, but my timing was a tad late.

Big Event Northern Mining and Exploration Expo returns to The Mac.
Mark Prior, The Daily Press

http://www.thedailypress.ca/ArticleDisp ... ?e=3552033

The Big Event Northern Mining and Exploration Expo is getting bigger yet again for 2012 ... can you dig it?
The expo has 400 confirmed exhibits and expects and attendance of 10,000 for this year’s event.

With the theme of mining is your future with opportunity for all, the event will take place May 16 and 17 at the McIntyre Community Centre, Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. And Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The main partners of the project all met and revealed the itinerary for this year’s event.

Glenn Dredhart, expo show manager for Canadian Tradex is impressed at how the show has grown over the years.
“I’m so proud of this show and what it achieves,” he said. “The event started small scale and it just keeps growing. And as it’s growing, we’re learning and listening to what our clients have to say. Timmins is known as Canada’s gold capital.”
Don Gagnon, senior vice-president of operations for Lake Shore Gold, expressed his amazement in the growth of the mining industry, specifically in Timmins.

“If you look at Lake Shore Gold and the area, in 2009 we were 70 people and today as we speak we are 200 people between the two mines and the mill, which is roughly 500 full-time employees and the rest of them are contracted employees, mostly local,” he said.

“We spend nearly $30 million in exploration yearly and we feel like we can keep going.

“We are proud of this event because it highlights our industry and the city.”

Gagnon explained the need to reach out to possible future employees.

“We are also looking to recruit people at this event and the competition will also, we can all be in one room and discuss technology, the equipment required, make contacts and talk to the youth,” Gagnon said.

“Hopefully the schools will organize something to bring the youth so we can show them the opportunities in the industry.
“It’s not all about the need for miners, we need engineers, geologist, nurses, accountants, lawyers and we need everything in our industry. Events like this will help us get to our goals.”

The 100th Anniversary of the City of Timmins celebrations will be honouring the mining industry as the grand opening ceremony will begin Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

All three parking lots surrounding the MacIntyre Complex will be filled up with heavy mining and construction equipment with a giant indoor Tradex featuring more than 400 suppliers from around the world in the arena and curling club.
A temporary pavilion is to be established to accommodate the access of exhibits.

A new component this year will be the mining career aspect, which is to include an education and training fair. More than 39 mining and exploration companies, universities and colleges, equipment training providers and job placement companies are expected to be present to inform those in attendance of the apparent opportunities in the mining industry.
On Wednesday, manufacturers and service groups have an opportunity to meet with 25 Quebec firms in a one-on-one meeting fashion at the MacIntyre Ballroom from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., followed by the Jackleg competition registration at 11:30 a.m. and actual contest which begins at noon. A ladies Jackleg competition is scheduled to commence at 1 p.m. followed by a “King Jackleg” competition with professionals from 2-5 p.m.

A novice course on how to become a licensed prospector will begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Mayor Tom Laughren shared his thoughts on the event and joked around with his infamous Jackleg contest mishap last year.

“This is a huge show for us and I congratulate Glenn and his group because this is all about having Timmins look good and making that first impression,” he said. “I have ringer ready to go in case I’m not able to make it. “If I’m going to challenge other mayors, I think I need to read more of the rules because last year I actually got disqualified for drilling through.”

Thursday’s events will feature an exploration investment PowerPoint seminars with the Top 10 Northern Ontario exploration companies in the McIntyre Auditorium from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Craig MacFarland will have a speaking session at 1 p.m.

Regular advance registration as well as complimentary pass for miners and their families are available for the entire event is available at the website http://www.canadianminingexpo.com.

Here's a pic of the truck I checked during my informal 'novice prospector' course in Arizona, in 1975. It was probably 30 years old already at that time.



Quite a buggy, huh?

You can still see part of the white star on the door. That paint has been thru some fierce weathering. Can see a mountain range in the background. Might be the Hualapai Range, which extends down, from the east side of Kingman, past Yucca Flats, and creates one side of the big desert valley. The Mohave Range is behind the camera. Franconia Wash is sort of out near the middle of all that. Let me see if I can dial it up on a map.

Okay, here's a topo map of the general area near Yucca Flats.



The Hualapai Range is toward the upper right.

The Black Mountains are upper center.

And the Mohave Range with Crossman Peak, is lower center.

Those three mountain ranges frame a large desert, part of which is Yucca Flats. A smaller part is Franconia Wash.

I drove through there multiple times on my various adventures.

I think there were more than just one or two placer mining operations out in that big valley, including Franconia Wash.

A lot of space with nothing except rough terrain.

But one area has a Joshua Tree Forest, which was interesting.

There was a very rare open range with a few beef cattle during the winter, a windmill and a water tank for the cows. I'm not sure what they eat, cactus is prickly. But there are wild burros out there, so must be something to keep 'em alive.

Farther down the valley toward lower right, out of view, was a gravel runway for small planes. That was near the turn off to Signal. If I didn't turn there, I headed on down to Love's Camp, near the Alamo Reservoir, above the Bill Williams water course, leading up to the Big Sandy.

Usually, I was on my way southeast, down to Signal and the Big Sandy. It was a l - o - n - g drive, at slow speed. Good thing I had an old beater of a car, with a lot of spare parts in the trunk.

Nobody went out there in summer. But in winter, it was tolerable, if you were resourceful and careful.

Here's a google earth view of the desert valley framed by Hualapai Mtns to the north east, Black Mnts to north west, and Mohave Mountains to south west.



There were a lot of hard rock mines in the Mohave Range, mostly on the side toward the Colorado River, now including Lk Havasu City. I passed some of those mines on my way up to Crossman Peak. Have some pics of that. It was a daunting climb for a flat lander like me. Crossman Pk is a bit over 5,000 feet, I think.

Decades later, I went to Alaska, then Colorado and did further mountain climbs. Almost got killed going up Mt Princeton over 14,000 feet. College kids couldn't wait, went on ahead. Resulting distractions caused us to lose the trail, delaying us. Supposed to summit by noon and head back down, to avoid the daily thunderstorms around the peaks. We arrived late, and before we hardly got off the peak, got clobbered by one of the ugliest storms I've ever seen. That's another story for another day.

Decided college kids were too risky. So I did my own solo summit of a higher peak a few years later. 14,265 ft Castle Peak, south east of Aspen Colorado. Took me a while to acclimatize to the altitude. But after I did, the final climb was physically not too draining. It was a bit more technically difficult than the Princeton climb. But not nearly as exhausting.

Here's the inside of that 3/4 ton jeep, military surplus, that I almost bought for my 'novice prospecting' and other adventures.



You can see it's well weathered. No need to break it in, like a new vehicle.

There it is! Franconia Wash.



Those of you who complete the 'novice prospector' course among the 10,000 attending the mining expo in Timmins soon, might be able to look at this map, and pick out where the best placer gold would be.

Dreams of gold in the desert, don't pan out easily. But they can be a refreshing adventure, if you're curious, creative and careful.