This letter is prompted by Brian Hester’s response (T.N.M., June 3-9/05) to my response (T.N.M. May 13-19/05) to his piece published in the April 22-28 issue of The Northern Miner.
My “recollection” was not about “the accuracy with which drill holes predicted gold content in the gravels of the Klondike area” but rather of how analysis of the drilling results predicted the gold content of the ground to be dredged.
We did apply a factor in our analyses, but that factor could properly be referred to as an “operating-experience factor,” not as a “management factor,” the term used by Hester.
During my tenure in 1957-1960, the operating-experience factor was applied by our engineer and dredging superintendents, all of whom had been with Yukon Consolidated Gold Corp. (YCGC) in Dawson City, Y.T., for many years.
When he was general manager of the company, my mentor, Warren McFarland, a top-notch gold mining engineer, applied his expertise and wisdom to the factor.
In 1957 and 1958, seven dredges were working on four creeks. By the end of the 1959 season, five dredges were operating on three creeks. As I recalled in my initial letter, year-in and year-out, the company’s overall gold production was 5% better than our analysis of the involved drilling results had predicted. A truly outstanding accomplishment!
Paul Kavanagh
Toronto
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