Accomplishments

During 1996 quite a bit was accomplished toward securing title to sufficient acreage to establish the Country's premier facility for teaching applied mining and research. The second payment ($17,700) on the 40 acres of fee land was made on 24 June 1996. This leaves one final payment of $16,350 due in June 1997.

In addition the process of securing an additional 45 acres of peripheral land was commenced. The land, currently Public Domain acreage administered by the BLM, will be acquired under the Federal Recreation and Public Purposes Act (R&PP). The application was filed on August 6th, 1996, and processing is proceeding. We will probably be granted a lease on the ground with a minimal annual lease payment ($2.00/acre-year) and eventually be allowed to purchase the ground ($10.00/acre) once use is demonstrated. Letters supporting the 45 acre transfer were obtained from Nevada Governor Miller; Tom Leshendok, US BLM Deputy Nevada Director, Minerals Resources; Russ Fields, Administrator, Nevada Division of Minerals; and Ed Tomany, Administrator, Nevada Mine Safety and Training.

During the year a Special Use permit (SUP) allowing us to construct the facility was acquired from the County. This required a couple of meetings with the Warm Springs Citizens Advisory Board to obtain their support and meetings with the Washoe County Department of Development Review. The application was filed on June 17th and the SUP was granted on August 6th thanks mainly to the efforts of Mr. Kelvin Buchanan, consulting Geological Engineer and principle in H.B. Engineering who volunteered to prepare the application and shepherd it through the process.

A right-of-way for permanent use of the road from the highway to the property across Public Domain was also applied for during the year.

One of the conditions of the SUP is that a cultural resources study be performed and approved prior to ground disturbance for any parts of the property that had workings that were more than 50 years old. Also the R&PP, the road right-of-way and the power line (discussed later) will require a cultural resources study. A discussion with individuals qualified for this type of work indicated that the cost would probably be in the range of $10,000 to $100,000. Fortunately, the University has the expertise for this type of study in the Anthropology Department, specifically Dr. Donald Hardesty. Dr. Hardesty has agreed to supervise the study with field work conducted by mining engineering students and students in the Anthropology Department. Mr. Ralph Giles, a doctoral candidate in Anthropology, has spent a significant amount of time on the property and mining engineering students are preparing the base maps for the anthropologists. The use of students for much of the work means the process will take much more time than contracting it out. However, the use of students will be less expensive and will keep to the purpose of the facility, a place where students can learn by doing.

Fund raising consumed considerable energy during the year. An annual report for 1995 was prepared and sent to all supporters of the project. There was also personal contact by members of the Burrus Planning Team and by Mary Beth Gentry of the Mackay School of Mines (MSM) Development Office. The results, as shown in Table 5, were very good, a total of over $25,000 was raised. Thanks to everyone who contributed. In order to disseminate information about the project a slide show was prepared and presented to a number of groups including, the local section of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (N. NV SME), the Northeastern Nevada section of the SME, the Miner's Pick Committee of the Nevada Mining Association, and the John Mackay Club (UNR student section of SME).

A nice article about the project appeared in the Humboldt Sun's (Winnemucca) August 1996 special mining issue. We had the opportunity to present information on the project and a possible use for the facility to U.S. Senator Harry Reid and his staff at a meeting on November 1st. The possible use for the facility is as a site for training underground miners.

A substantial amount of time was spent investigating and developing what has become the Nevada Mine Training Institute. The idea developed because of two things: the rapidly growing need for underground miners in Nevada and the possibility of using the Burrus as a facility to do hands-on training. A coalition was formed between the Mackay School of Mines, Great Basin College (Elko) and the underground mining companies in Nevada to investigate the possibility of training underground miners. Initially, the concept included two parts: a preliminary four week program that included classroom instruction and field trips to underground mines, and a longer program of mainly hands-on training. However, a base case study indicated that the cost of starting the classroom part would be low (about $7,000) while the hands-on program would be much more expensive (about $75,000 to develop the program and about $850,000 to completely prepare the Burrus for the training). The steering committee decided to focus on the classroom program for the time being and Great Basin College offered the first class in November/December 1996. Seventeen of the eighteen original enrollees graduated and most have mining jobs now. The program will continue in 1997.

The Burrus Mining Laboratory Planning Team met twice during the year, March 3rd and September 13th. Progress and problems were discussed and directions determined. We also attempted to get other professionals in the community involved in the project. Our only success was Kelvin Buchannan who was very helpful with the SUP and the R&PP application. Anyone out there who would like to help or knows someone who would like to help please contact Ed Jucevic.

During the year more materials and supplies were obtained from mining companies, suppliers and individuals (see Table 6). The value was less than last year as 1996 did not include the substantial amount of equipment receive from the Nevada Test Site. Nevertheless, the $4,700 acquired was very helpful and is greatly appreciated.

Work continued with Sierra Pacific Power Company to bring power to the property. Discussions with the Sierra Pacific indicated that they will definitely move the power line contributed by Western States Minerals Company and reinstall it at the Burrus. The line was surveyed and staked by Paul Pace, the MSM mine surveying instructor and Sierra Pacific Power Co. Survey Party Chief. The main obstacle to completing the installation is completion of the cultural resource study.

Figure 1. Operators meeting - 4/20/96. Operators meeting
while task training on Eimco 911B 1 cu yd LHD:
Doug Moore, Erin Lackey, Adam Knight

Significant progress has also been made by student volunteer workers at the property. The 911B Eimco 1cu. yd. LHD was put in working condition and moved to the property. The portable 95 cfm compressor owned by the Mining Engineering Department for many years was repaired and the two Gardner-Denver 83 jack leg drills were put into service. Some of the supplies at the Commonwealth mine were moved also. Public safety remained the first priority; five additional shafts and stopes were fenced on the property this year. In addition, fences were repaired and reinforced at two shafts on the 45 acres of land sought under the R&PP application. All fences are made of six-foot "T" posts spaced less than 12 ft apart with stays in between. They are strung with four strands of barbed wire with all corners guyed.

A switch back at 10% grade was laid out to eliminate the steep (25%) segment of the road to the Burrus adit area. Western Hog Ranch Mine sent a D-8 dozer by the property for two days work opening the new section of road. Students also began cleaning the existing roads with the 911B LHD.

The Campbell shop, a skid mounted 12' x 10' shed that was moved to the Burrus adit by the mine surveying class a few years ago, received a new roof, new siding, and new windows. It was also named "Pace's Palace" after Paul Pace mine surveying instructor whose classes use it during the spring field session.

Figure 2. Drilling Fence Post Holes - 4/20/96
Doug Moore and Adam Knight at Campbell stope.



Figure 3. Fencing Crew at Burrus Shaft - 10/19/96
Dave Hopperstead, Vaughn Moncrieff, Joe Risley, Adam Knight.

Task training on the operation of the Eimco 911B LHD began for some of the students. All receive an operators manual, attend operator safety training sessions and go through the pre-shift inspection and lubrication. They then receive a number of one hour supervised operating sessions. In order to be "signed off" on the equipment (complete task training and be able to operate the equipment without direct supervision) they must have had three 30 minute classroom safety training sessions, participate in three preshift inspections and lubrications, and have six hours of supervised operating time.

In the Burrus adit area the student workers did some hand mucking to clean up the area, removed two small juniper trees that were in the way, constructed diversion ditches to direct storm runoff and drilled some blast holes for opening the portal area prior to slashing the adit. Because the workings in this area are over 50 years old, we had to curtail further work pending the completion of the cultural resources study and permission to proceed from the State Historical Preservation Office.

Figure 4. Roofing Crew - 11/02/96
Finishing roof on Pace's Palace
Vaughn Moncrieff and Joe Risley.

Figure 5. Installing Siding - 12/07/96
Laszlo Kadlascik and Joe Risley installing new
siding on Pace's Palace at Burrus adit.

In order to protect the adjacent lands under application for transfer under the R&PP, the students staked five lode mining claims. They first received instruction on mining law pertinent to claim location then proceeded to field monumenting.

Three individuals received their Burrus Brass at the May 1996 Mackay School of Mines Awards Banquet. They were Justin Costa (No. 0001), Doug Moore (No. 0002) and Ed Jucevic (No. 0003). By the end of the year an additional four students had qualified for their Brass by working five shifts at the site. They will be awarded their Brass at the May, 1997, MSM Awards Banquet. All volunteers receive hard hats, safety glasses, hearing protection and gloves if they don't have their own when beginning volunteer work.

Student volunteer shifts continued in 1996. There was a significant amount of time donated to the project by both MSM student and mineral industry volunteers as summarized in Table 2. A total of 984 hours of volunteer labor was contributed by MSM students and professionals from the community. This was an increase of 47% over 1995.

There has also been a lot of continuing support for the project from members of the Mining Engineering Department of the Mackay School of Mines and particularly from the Mining Engineering Department Advisory Board. The individuals in the Department and those on the Board, recognizing the importance of the Laboratory, have always been encouraging and helpful.