I recently worked as a U.S. Forest Service intern in Juneau, Alaska with the Lands and Minerals groups. Part of my duties with the Minerals group involved visiting the Kensington Gold Mine and the Hecla Greens Creek Silver Mine operating on public lands. A joint Forest Service and Alaska Department of Natural Resources inspection team traveled monthly to the mines to ensure that they remained in compliance with the permits issued to mine on Forest System lands. Because I was a young geology student hoping to someday work in the mining industry, the mines consented to show me most of their operations.
I
was amazed at the laborious process of extracting and refining the ore down to
a precious metal. Ore bodies in and around Juneau are well known for having
large amounts of ore. The concentration of gold (or other minerals)
is generally so low as to be invisible to the naked eye. At the former historic
AJ mine in downtown Juneau, early miners would remove and process on average 22
tons of ore to retrieve a single ounce of gold.
At
both the Kensington and Greens Creek mines, similar processes were used to
extract gold, silver, and other metals from the raw ore taken from the lode.
Once geologists determine the location of mineral-rich ores, teams blast and
drill unrefined rock deep underground, then truck it up to the surface. It was dumped by the mill and fed into a crusher that breaks solid rock down
into small pieces that are transported via conveyer belt into the mill.
Inside
the mill, the ore enters a large rotating cylindrical machine that spins quite
rapidly. Aside from the rock in the cylinder, there are large iron balls inside
as well. The rock is ground down into a very fine-grained sand, perhaps more
comparable to dust. From there the ore dust enters large, bubbling vats of
chemicals. For some reason, the chemical, when in the form of a bubble, has the
unique ability to bond with small metalliferous particles. Air is pumped into
the vats of chemicals, and the tiny specs of gold, silver, and other metals are
actually floated
to the surface on the bubbles, where it can then be gathered. This flotation
process consolidates the metals into a concentrated dust. The chemical dust
mixture enters a machine similar to an accordion, where most of the moisture is
pressed out, and a concentrated dust remains.
That
is the final product coming out of the mines. This dust gets shipped all over
the world to go through the smelting process elsewhere. The smelting process
involves using heat and chemical reducing agents to decompose the ore,
eliminating gases and slag, until just the metal is left behind. Finally, after
a process involving blasting, crushing, grinding, chemical extraction and heat,
the unrefined ore becomes something of incredible value.
Is
life so different?
We
come into this life unrefined, with years of struggle ahead of us just to get
to the point where we can walk and talk. As we grow older, we mature in our
capabilities, and with those abilities come the responsibilities to shoulder
the burdens that life places on our shoulders. As we struggle in the trenches
of life, this mortal probation becomes a testing ground, and a refining
process.
We
get bruised and battered by the experiences that life hurls at us. I suspect we
have all been affected by heartbreak, death, sickness and struggle. Most know
the feelings of despair and agony when life’s curve-balls deal us a blow. Like
the unrefined ore, we go through a process that breaks us down. However, a
professional metallurgist knows that only through this process can the full
value of the ore be reached.
Our
trials, should we allow them, can weed out selfishness and hate. They can
purge our soul of bitterness and anger. We can become humble and
compassionate when we go through the experiences that allow us to empathize
with those struggling around us. We can then realize that our inner strength
comes from the ability to overcome, and that we are stronger than previously thought. We
can do hard things. The proper perspective of life can be understood as we learn to submit our will to a Higher Power. Only through weeding out the unnecessary rock and tailings
can gold and silver reach its true value. Only through the removal of
undesirable traits can we reach our full potential.
It
is up to us to determine our final value. Ultimately the choice is ours to
accept or reject the lessons taught by our trials. It is not the accumulation
of our trials that determines what we become; how we allow the lessons to mold,
shape, and refine us will be the decisive factor in establishing our full
potential. Life’s trials bring out the best in many, or compound the negative
in those that refuse to humble themselves. When we decide to rebel against
anything that makes us uncomfortable, or, as the phrase goes, to “kick against
the pricks,” we are essentially refusing to take advantage of the opportunity
to overcome the negative qualities that we possess, refusing to take a hand in
our own refining. On the other hand, should we decided to accept the heat of
the refiners fire, we are transformed into something else entirely, something
of eternal value.
Part 2 and part 3 of this series can be found by clicking on the links.
Part 2 and part 3 of this series can be found by clicking on the links.
