Days 1–2
Read the ground
Placer systems, exploration design and sampling.
A placer mine is only as honest as the sampling behind it. This module is about building a defensible picture of the ground before money, water and steel are committed to a cut.
Students work through placer depositional systems, exploration design, test-line layout, sample discipline, and the chain of custody from hole or pit to log. The emphasis is not on collecting more data for its own sake. It is on knowing what a sample can and cannot tell you, and how that uncertainty should change the seasonal plan.
What we cover
- Placer system models and why pay is discontinuous
- Designing an exploration program to a decision, not to a map that looks complete
- Test lines, spacing, sample volume and contamination control
- Logging, grade interpretation and the difference between a result and a reserve story
- Carrying uncertainty into mine design instead of burying it in an average
Field connection
Classroom work is tied to ground you can walk. Field groups look at how exploration data was — or was not — used to place a plant, open a cut, or justify a stripping decision on operating Klondike sites.
Output: an exploration program and a sample chain you can defend.
