Hey old buddy! How are things!
Maybe we should go in together on our own very small gold/silver mine here out west in either AZ, NV? Buy a very inexpensive one and do it cheap as possible, hire a 1-2 man crew a few days at a time that’s it, every once in awhile, and stabilize, build cross beams or rebuild, dig out, get generators and go one school with powered portable drills and jackhammers. Basically pull out in carts maybe 2/3 tons a day?
Their are plenty of mines out there Bob, I see them all the time. Poor mans version, but it does work out, if you know what your doing. Run it very very small. Nothing high tech. No massive costs to go broke on.
Mav