Holloway Bar Placer Mine - Picture of the Week

This weekend's full moon was spectacular as it peeked through the clouds on its journey across the night skies. A full moon has traditionally been seen as a sign of many strange things over the years - werewolves, temporary insanity, and just all around erratic behaviour - but these are often disregarded as old wive's tales. However, some scientists such as geologist Jim Berkland have suggested that the full moon can be statistically linked to seismic events such as Saturday's huge earthquake in Chile. Based on this weekend's full moon which coincides with a Perigean spring tide (where the moon is closest to the earth and aligned with the sun creating extra high tides), he predicted a "quake window" at the end of this month that could produce a 7.0+ earthquake in one of the Pacific rim countries. His predictions are sometimes seen with scepticism by mainstream scientists, but it's hard to argue with his success rate of 75% over the years. All I know is that I try to be a little more careful and prepared when I look up and see a full moon!

Most mineral exploration work in the 70's and 80's took place during the warm summer months after the snow had melted and the northern lakes were ice-free. However, planning and preparation began much earlier. Mining companies started the process right after the previous summer's season by planning and budgeting for the next field season. By the time March rolled around, the plans were set into action. It was often cheaper to haul loads in the spring as the aircraft can carry larger loads on skiis than on the floats used in the summer. BC Yukon's single-engine Otters would spent days hauling fuel and propane, along with lumber and plywood to construct the summer bush camps into remote mountain lakes, leaving the loads on the ice. Then a swamper with a snowmobile and custom-built sled would be flown into the lake to haul the fuel and lumber from the ice to the shore and store it high and dry to be ready when the crews arrived in the summer. On some days, the sun even had enough warmth for the swampers to get started on their summer tans.

Placer Mining in BC has been greatly impacted by technology in the past few years. In the early days, prospectors travelled the rivers and valleys in search of good gold-bearing ground. Once a likely spot was found, they'd drive some posts into the ground to stake their claim. In the modern age, prospectors work closely with technology and computers. Google Earth brings satellite imagery to the average person and the rivers and valleys can now be travelled "virtually" in search of a promising location. Some areas are highly visible as images have been stored in high resolution (but unfortunately these clearer images don't cover Holloway Bar yet!). However, last summer, Google expanded their "street view" imagery and sent one of their custom-built camera cars up some of the northern back roads. As luck would have it, they picked a nice day to drive past Holloway Bar on Highway 37 and snapped a great picture of Scott and Del feeding gravel into the shaker plant as they drove through the McDame Creek valley on their journey north.

After spending the last few months completely frozen over, Lakelse Lake is almost ready to turn back into its summertime liquid form. Usually in late March or early April, depending on the winter, the lake ice turns from its normal light colour to a much darker shade as the snow melts off the surface. The spring rains and sunshine melts and softens the ice enough to break it into huge pieces, which slowly move a few feet back and forth in the breeze. Cracks start to appear in places giving us a sign that things are getting ready to change. On Saturday afternoon these signs were clear as several large cracks and areas of open water appeared - some large enough to see the reflection of a couple of the east side houses in the open water. Standing on the shore, I could also hear the constant honking of the trumpeter swans as they moved between open areas revelling in the return of a little bit of open water. Now we just wait for the first big wind to finish breaking up the ice. When will that be? You'll have to watch the Lakelse Lake Webcams to find out!

Most assume that the Holloway Bar placer mining season only starts when the snow melts and the ground thaws out in late May or early June. But in reality, it starts much earlier - right after the end of the previous summer's mining program. Most placer miners figure out where to dig based on both hunches and the test holes dug during their frequent prospecting advedntures. Once the miner has a clear vision of the next summer's projects, the paperwork starts - annual mining plans are developed and submitted and applications for water licences filed during the late winter and early spring. Once the paperwork is on its way for approval, a springtime trip to the mine is usually in order to shovel the heavy springtime snow from the rooftops and see what damage another tough northern winter has brought that needs to be repaired. This season, the spring snow was heavy but not as deep as prior years, and there wasn't much sign of troublesome visitors like the marten that made such a mess a couple of years ago - so once the last meter or so of snow has gone, the 2010 placer mining season will be underway!