The program
10-day owner/operator placer mining intensive.
Study the system that actually runs a placer mine: the ground, the cut, the water, the plant, the records, and the cash. Then practice that system on Klondike mine sites in groups of six.
Klondike Placer Institute is a professional school for aspiring owners, working miners, supervisors and technical professionals. The 10-day owner/operator intensive is the core offering: five classroom and workshop days interwoven with five field days in Dawson City, Yukon.
The program is deliberately small. Each cohort is capped at 12 students, with a 1:6 field group ratio. Founding cohorts require a minimum of eight students. The founding rate is reserved for the first 24 students.
How the ten days are organized
Each module ends with an operating decision, a field scenario, or a planning tool. The point is not to memorize a house method. It is to leave able to defend a choice when the ground, the water, or the season refuses to follow the plan.
- Days 1–2 — Read the ground: placer systems, exploration design, sampling and uncertainty.
- Days 3–4 — Design the mine: pay boundaries, sequencing, roads, ponds and plant placement.
- Days 5–6 — Water and recovery: water balance, wash plants, classification and gold loss.
- Days 7–8 — Compliance and maintenance: fleet, inspections, records and reclamation.
- Days 9–10 — Run the business: costs, cash flow, break-even grade and a final simulation.
What the certificate means
Graduates receive a Certificate of Completion. It is not a licence, ticket, or regulatory credential, and the institute does not claim otherwise. The value is the judgment, the field hours, and the planning tools you take into the next season.
Instruction is led by Nicholas Gust, Exploration Instructor. See about the institute and how field days are run.
