For small gold mines - wing it. Depending on the type of mine: Hard Rock or Placer, there are different types of buildings needed.
Both need a hole in the ground,
Hard Rock - bore into side of mountain
Placer - pit in bottom of a flat spot along a creek somewhere
None of these building had any sort of plan; other than seat of the pants - We need This and That. Maybe later an add-on of The Other.
Hard Rock - usually has very rickety track coming out of the bore with some sort of switch to get into the Mill building for Quartz, or to dump for slag/mud. Mill building has a classifier/washer/crusher the ore is dumped into. Ore coming out is sometimes done again. Any dirt/gravel/silt is run through a 'rocker/washer' type of thing which sifts the Gold, Silver, Mercury and Platinum to the bottom which can be cleaned out. Spent ore is sent to the dump. Some sort of wood fired boiler room building close to the Mill for the steam needed to run it, along with building/lean-to to keep the wood dry. Our bore was ~2000ft with a couple of side drifts.
Placer - Mill building not needed as rock/dirt/silt is washed from the pit banks using powerfull jet sprays of water which flows into a Flume. Flume has metal strips on the bottom to roll the bigger rocks down it, and the smaller stuff collected between those strips. Creek is diverted from the Flume entrance every day or so and the Flume is cleaned out between those metal strips. That ore goes into a 'rocker/washer' which could be a small building or mobile; works like the above one, except very little Mercury and Platinum. Ground plot was 1/2 mile by 2 miles. And this one had a Ranch House about a 1/2 mile from the end of the Flume - all Grandpa/Grandma's kids born there. And I think Libby is in the middle of nowhere!
Both types have multiple Outhouses ( some double holers ), Powder building(s). Machine shop and prospector cabin/house/shed, woodshed either a lean-to type or room in the cabin.
Grandpa ( 17YO at that time ) Patented two 'circa 1904 in Salmon River country east of Riggin's ID up the little Salmon and French Creek. Old Kentuck: Hard Rock and Fall Creek Placer. Note that mining back then was nothing like today - no flake gold was even looked for, only chunks. Some Silver was kept, but the rest went into the dump, or down the creek. Was not any of the EPA type stuff to keep the creeks clean and not muddy. Grandpa got too old to run it in the early 60's and the family decided that giving up on those Patented claims was not wanted. The only requirement to keep them was to do 'assessment' work, keeping the roads brush free, open and somewhat flat, simple building repairs and such. I got to go and help with said work and could take a friend. Started at 12YO, and did that until I was 17 for 2 weeks ( 1 week at each ) in late June, early July; snow pack depending. Dad and 3 brothers went along each with sons/daughters/friends; sometimes wife/SO. Even with the required work, we had a BLAST. The most family I remember that went was 18. Both of the Cabin/Bunk Houses would sleep us all.
L8r
www.facebook.com
