In hard rock gold mining the gold recovery process starts with the collection of suspected gold bearing rocks then the crushing of these rocks and extraction of the gold from the resulting talcum-like powder, using gravity concentration or chemical methods such as cyanidation.

This process is extremely effective, resulting in the recovery of 100% of gold in the rocks, being liberated and recovered.
It however requires the use of expensive equipment such as large stone crushers and huge ball mills etc! etc!  ie: equipment  which in terms of affordability,  is way  above  the reach of the local small scale gold miner.

As a result small scale gold miners have been restricted to alluvial mining ie: mining/dredging in areas such as riverbeds and streams where gold particles , deposited by water movement, are already liberated and can be extracted using gravity concentration methods such as  sluice boxes and pans popularly known as batelles.
But now comes local mechanical engineer and re-migrant Cloyd London, an innovator who is intent on giving the  small scale gold miners access to the technology of the large scale giants   at affordable prices.

London specializes in making relatively small and inexpensive equipment which can allow small scale miners to extract gold from rocks in addition to or supplementary to routine alluvial mining.
This equipment can be purchased from overseas suppliers but at a greater cost.
But their  manufacture locally by London is a first ie: the  first   ever opportunity for local  small scale gold miners to access large scale technology at home and to benefit from all the possibilities for the recovery of more gold and profitability of their operations, of course at affordable costs.

For London who is a family man, he has his wife and raised four children  and is  in his early sixties. His innovations are as much  a hobby as a business.
He told Chronicle: “Hey, technology is my bag. I am qualified. I am in this for decades. And I don’t do what everybody else does. Every piece of equipment I produce has the guarantee of my own unique signature to it.”

He is a British-trained automotive engineer and holds membership in the Institute of Motor Industries and the Institute of Training and Development in the UK.
He told Sunday Chronicle last week that although he is an Automotive Engineer he has put aside that trade in preference for service in fabrication of mining equipment /mining mechanization and to a lesser extent agricultural mechanization.
London hails from Smythstown, New Amsterdam, an area which is no longer known by that name but which in the 1960s stretched from Marks Bridge to Philadelphia Street.
He attended New Amsterdam Congregational school, under the Principalship of John Rollins and dropped out at the age of  13 since he was not  academically inclined. He became an apprentice in Motor Vehicle repairs.

He served as an apprentice in the Guyana Police Force, as a Workshop Cleaner with the Ministry of Works, acquired  City and Guilds Part 1 and 2  from the New Amsterdam Technical Institute, New Amsterdam, Berbice,  spent six years in the Army, served as  the Technical Training Supervisor at  the Guyana National Service Training Centre at Kimbia, Berbice River; was awarded a British Government scholarship in Industrial Training and Development   and a second British  scholarship  in Garage Management and Administration, and served as Mechanical Engineer and Assistant Manager at the then Guyana Power and Light,  among other experience building occupations.

He has been in and out of the country for a number of years but returned home to be involved in fabrication of equipment for mining and agriculture in 2012.
Moving around in his workshop last week, he explained:” While in the Army I spent a great deal of my time in the interior locations. And being there I observed how the miners worked and I saw that they were working with great inadequacies like no machines to speedily process ore. I also noted that their operations were really lacking in terms of advanced or appropriate technology for gold recovery and processing.  Hence, my decision to help these small scale miners to improve their levels of production.”

He added, “I like to explore and to be creative and   I saw the challenge and the scope in the mining industry as so very wide. I decided to fall in there because I know I have the capability and the capacity to come up with solutions;  make a difference.
He displayed some of his innovations.
“My first one was a soil-sampling auger to support exploration. This auger has an extension of 24 feet so that a small miner can drill and locate pay dirt ie: the presence and depth of gold deposits which can be mined. You know when you hit pay dirt you in business brother.”
“Moving on from  the auger I  made and designed a   Mini Stone Crusher because not everyone can afford to purchase a H2 or H3 crusher which is  in  the price range of between $2 .2 to $3.2M. My mini crusher grinds the rocks to powder, it guarantees 100% recovery and I test my crushers  with the toughest rock ie: granite.

“My 7 HP (Horsepower) crusher   is capable of pulverizing  10 five gallon type pails of rocks into powder  in an hour with a fuel consumption of  one five gallon pail of gas every three days.”
The local made Mini crushers are new to Guyana.
The motors are bought from overseas but the rest of the equipment is made locally through collaboration with local machine shops.
Another good result of this local manufacturing  is that  not only can the produces be sold cheaper but a lot of foreign exchange stays at home.
The London Mini Stone Crusher works just as well if not better than large crushers and has the added advantage of being portable.

“Prices range from $250,000 for the unit which can crush and pulverize three five gallon pails of rocks per hour to $675,000 for the thirteen bucket capacity per hour. The feed size of the rocks varies from an inch and a quarter to three inches. The three inch sized rocks are acceptable feed for   the larger crusher and the inch and a quarter is for the mini three bucket crusher.”
Gold can be recovered from the talcum type powder produced, through the use of a mini sluice box or other gravity concentration method.
“This can be a one-man operation” London said.

London said that buyers of the mini stone crushers get a spare set of hammers as part of the bargain.
“They can’t get a better deal than this, that I know of,” he added.
Officials in the Mining Industry have hailed the London Mini Crusher as a good development for the small miners.
“This will be beneficial for the small miners because more gold will be liberated. Remember if you crushing you getting out everything as against a sluice box where you can only recover free gold. Also the feed will be more controlled with better possibilities for optimal   recovery by gravity concentration methods.”

In more good news for small scale miners, he is currently working on the production of some other mini mining equipment.
Moving around in his workshop he showed me a mini water centrifuge in the making.
This centrifuge, he explained will help miners to expedite the wash down process for recovery of gold from their sluice boxes. Instead of the guys having to spend three or four hours on wash down they just put the materials  in this  concentrator and the centrifugal   force of the water extracts the waste material and  the pay dirt is left at the bottom; this reduces clean up time. This centrifuge that I am working on can process a five gallon pail of material every ten minutes. Good for a final clean up.”

He is also working on a  mini trommel which will screen out larger sized particles from the ore feed into the  gold recovery  system and then next a mini jig; a known  mercury free method  for  gold recovery .
London also designs and makes equipment for use in the agricultural sector.
He disclosed: “I make portable sawmills for the log trade, peanut shellers; cashew nut splitters, corn threshers etc! etc!.
Out of a personal interest I asked: “Can you do mechanical coconut graters?”
He said: “Of course I can but I won‘t. “Why ? Hey, because everybody does that. I don’t do anything that everybody else does. I am different. I am a trail blazer.”