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THE WEEKEND MINER

Rediscovering American Mineral Resources

THOUGHTS FROM THE "OLD MINER"

How The Site Will Work

Hi all. As you can see we have started loading data to the website. Already we have gotten some questions on how it will work. Since we want everyone to get the maximum benefit possible from the site, I will digress from the normal "mining subjects" in this column to give you some details.

First, our ultimate target for inclusion in the site, is the section of the Western United States sometimes referred to as the "Mining States". This includes Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Our plan is to start loading data for California, and then move on to others. There is an awful lot of data so this will likely take years to complete; hopefully fewer than I have left.

We plan to break each state down by its current counties, as that seems to be a fairly logical unit of geography that everyone recognizes. My initial thought was to use the US Geological Survey 7 ½° X 7 ½° or 15° X 15° map areas as units, but when my partner became a little befuddled by the title of "In-Ko-Pa Gorge OE S" I figured it was time to go with a more well known geographical designator. We will report the mine locations, where we have them, in the traditional "Degree-Minute-Second" format, so if you want to pull the USGS map associated with the area you will have the coordinates to do so. (By the way the In-Ko-Pa Gorge OE S map is of the Blue Angles Peak area of Imperial County, California. It always "buggs me" when people drop a reference and then never tell you what or where it is.)

Some of these Counties are pretty big and contain a lot of mining and related locations. I believe San Bernardino County in California is the biggest county in area in the US, but I am not sure if Alaska is counted in that statistic. Heck, it's bigger than some states. This means that even at the county level, some of these files will get pretty big. It also means we have a heck of a lot of work tied up in just researching them. If all goes as planned we will probably never stop updating, at least not in my lifetime. We view the site as a "Living Document", constantly being updated to reflect additional loads and new data we discover or is provided to us by our readers. On top of that, neither my partner or I ever understood how much time would be required to load all of this data; so bear with us. We will be loading as fast as time and resources permit.

So you can better understand how the updates are proceeding and what levels of data you can expect in each county, we will identify the current content in our data files by "Level". We plan to have four (4) text "Levels". If the website is accepted and we can afford more bandwidth, we will add pictures and maps for a "Level 5". How we will determine the "Level" is as follows:

Level 1 - Names picked from the 15° by 15° or the 7 ½° X 7 ½° levels of USGS Maps. This was my original approach to data collecting, however it didn't seem to correlate with the natural geographic divisions most people were familiar with, and proved confusing. We kept reference data in the files, so using the USGS maps should be easy.

Level 2 - Mine names and physical descriptions, taken from a number of sources. It is my estimate that this "Level" should include at least 95% of the named, physical mining locations in a county or area covered. This "Level" is a "placeholder" for the website, which can be further updated. We will not start loading data to the website until we have at least gotten at least this level of data for each county. Don't worry that this will hold us up however, we have most of the county data at this level now; loading to the website is the issue. What I have not done to date, is to load the "Unknown" mines. We may do this as an enhancement of this level if you want us to. This level should help you to know a mine is there or a placer was at that spot.

Level 3 - This is probably the point the data gets most interesting and useful. We add to Level 2, of the type of mine (primary ore), and some history or stories we have on the mine. Level 3 is considered attained when 20% of the entries of Level 2 are updated. This is because a majority of the Level 2 entries will reflect claims, prospects, exploration and development deposits or just operations which have little or no recorded history. Level 3, on any county or area is not expected to be "completed"; it will be considered a "work-in-progress" as new data is collected.

Level 4 - At this level I begin to include geological and mineral data, such as minerals present at the mine or the geological structure of the ore body. Level 4 will be considered to have been attained when 5% of the entries are so upgraded.

Level 5 - This is when we start adding pictures and maps to the individual mine data bases. This will have to wait a while however, since pictures and maps eat up storage and bandwidth. I would like to have at least 50,000 mine data files loaded before we go to graphics. By that time we will be able to determine if an added financial commitment, to expand the site, makes sense.

I guess the next most logical thing to address are the obvious questions why are we doing this and how will we pay for it. First the why. I have been involved in the mining and raw materials for years; really in all facets from standard and "alternative" mining technologies, to the "hedging" of raw materials, as a major customer. I have found the business fascinating and over the years I have collected a very large amount of data, history, opinions and thoughts. I hate to see data lost or wasted, so I thought this would be a way to catalog and preserve it, in a useful format. Also, I am concerned that America may no longer be able to control its own destiny. We have become more and more reliant on foreign countries, some of which are friends while others are "just business", for our raw materials. (Individual minerals and cases will be the topic of future columns.) We have become more vulnerable to this reliance being used as an economic weapon against us. With the help of small miners we may be able to find some of these strategic minerals at home. It may not take a lot to keep things reasonable; remember prices are determined by the "last sale" of the day in many areas, such as the stock and commodity exchanges. We have seen, recently, the impact of the loss of the small mines in the coal industry on prices and availability in the US. The same thing is happening in the mineral industry with things such as Molybdenum, Vanadium, Manganese, Chromium, Tungsten, Antimony, Rare Earths and others; all of which are found in the Western US. Other minerals, such as the Platinum Group Minerals, keys to our development of "clean technologies", appear to be present, in significant quantity, but may not have even been looked for.

How are we going to keep the site solvent? That is our #1 question right now. Probably our focus will be to seek advertising. If you like the site and use it, this should work, as numbers of visitors attract advertisers. We have thought about selling books, but are really not sure how to do it since the site will be in a constant "update mode"; we really don't plan to stop updating long enough to put that stake in the ground to publish. We will have to think about that.

Well there you have it. That's where we are coming from. Hope it makes the site more understandable ("user friendly"), fits with your interests and needs, and that you will be a frequent visitor. Please understand, we offer this data as a matter of historical interest. We may also add stories of lost mines and legends, as we find them and are allowed to publish them. We will clearly identify them as such however, so they don't get viewed as hard data.

If you plan to go into the field, remember mining, spelunking and just traveling in remote areas is dangerous. Do not take chances and don't travel or hunt alone. Some of the dangers can't be seen; such as gas in mines or radioactivity that may be associated with some of the minerals. The ground around old mines, and in mining areas in general, may not be stable. We hear all the time about people falling into old mines. We must also respect the property rights of others; so ask permission before you enter private property. Leave things as you found them, or better. If someone else left trash, feel free to pick it up and dispose of it properly. Remember impressions you leave impact all of us.

See you again soon; and remember, "Be Careful Out There".

Old John