December 1, 2011 - The Streaming Camera page has been updated to reflect the change from a "mining cam" to a "Bird cam". Enjoy!
August 14, 2011 - Part 3 of The Holloway Bar Gold Miners is now online! After a disappointing first cleanup, the miners regroup and keep digging for gold in the gravels of McDame Creek. Will they find some gold?
August 1, 2011 - Part 2 of The Holloway Bar Gold Miners has just been released! In a continuation of part 1, Scott and Christina move to the gold mine to start another placer gold mining season...
June 24, 2011 - New Video - The Holloway Bar Gold Miners - just released! In episode 1, Scott and Christina make the first trip of the season to Holloway Bar after a long, hard winter...
June 9, 2011 - The Mine Camerashave been "revamped" along with a network update- check the webcam pages out today! Now with NEW enhanced Streaming Camera page...
Friday Flashback - Did you ever wonder what lies under a moving glacier? We go "behind the scenes" of a diamond drilling project through the Foremore Glacier in Northern BC...
April 21, 2011 - Don't miss our new video - McDame Creek Placer Miner! Scott walks us through a day's mining to show us how it all works. Come along with us to see if the day produced any treasures...
Friday Flashback - rediscover Scott's photo & audio journey back into Holloway Bar history Into the Trenches...
March 17, 2011 - Tag along with Scott on a little Holloway Bar night mining adventure in "Let's Go Mining Tonight" - our latest video...
Friday Flashback - takes us to look at how "The Wizard" - Holloway Bar's gold extracting machine - works.
February 24, 2011 - We've just finished another "sped up" video- this one of a September morning drive along the Skeena River. Be sure to check out "Skeena Sojourn"...
December 29, 2010 - Our latest video - Tranquil Timelapses - has just been completed and uploaded to our videos section. We hope you enjoy this collection of time-lapse webcam images and streams...
Holloway Bar Placer Mine - Placer Gold Mining on McDame Creek in Northern British Columbia
Where are we?
Holloway Bar is located on McDame Creek in Northern BC's beautiful Cassiar Mountains. McDame Creek is where one of BC's largest solid gold nuggets (73 ounces!) was found in 1877 - just downstream from our Holloway Bar project.
What is a Placer Mine?
There are two main ways to find gold. One is to tunnel into rock for gold ore, which is then removed from the rock using a variety of methods. We use the "traditional" method of placer mining, using water - lots of water - to wash the gravel and other material away from the gold, which is caught on its journey through the gold plant.
Waste water and material is captured in a series of tailings ponds where the water filters back into the ground. Unlike some mining ventures, this is a very environmentally friendly operation.
If you have Google Earth installed, you can download this .KMZ file (Google Earth Placement File) to take you directly to the Holloway Bar Placer Mine.
June 14/10: First Mine Visit of 2010I just returned home from the first trip to the mine. Projects include servicing the equipment, a network expansion, webcams, and a load of firewood...
For the next few months, regular pictures will be posted monthly instead of weekly. Weekly pictures will return in Spring 2012!
As the morning sun rises and spreads its light in front of the Lakelse Lake webcam, a new day is beginning, just as we're beginning another new year. Gold miners from all parts are all busy this time of the year - not mining (at least not in this part of the world) - but making plans for the new mining season that will unfold in a few short months. New miners are more than likely feeling overwhelmed with all of excitement and preparation about their exciting journey down a new path, but experienced miners also share in the excitement a new season brings. Mining is often like a big treasure hunt - one never really knows what the year will bring until it's arrived. Even those with rich gold deposits on their proven ground face a huge unknown - the gold isn't just laying on the surface, but requires a huge effort to extract it from the ground. One bad year with many equipment breakdowns can discourage even those optimists who see rainbows in every rain cloud - but miners must forge on and fix any broken pieces if they have any hope of getting the plan back on track during the short summer season. After all, this is a treasure hunt...
