A struggling father-and-son mining team in British Columbia has been given a lifeline after Freddy Dodge and Juan Ibarra stepped in to rebuild their troubled operation and improve their chances of saving the season.
Travis Allen and his son Andrew had spent two years trying to make their Long Bar mine work, but the results had been discouraging. Despite investing around $400,000 into the site, they recovered only about five ounces of gold during their first season, leaving them far from where they needed to be financially.
The problem was not a lack of effort. Travis and Andrew were working hard on ground that contained fine Fraser River gold, known for its high purity but also for being difficult to recover. Much of the gold in the area was small flood gold, meaning their wash plant needed to be carefully tuned to catch tiny particles that could easily escape.
By the time Freddy and Juan arrived, Travis was under serious pressure. He said he owed a friend more than $50,000 and could risk losing valuable equipment if the mine did not start producing. His goal for the season was 25 ounces, but without major improvements, that target looked increasingly difficult.
Freddy and Juan first carried out a test run to see how the existing setup performed. They soon realized the rented trommel was not the best long-term answer. Because Travis did not own it, any work done to improve that machine would only benefit someone else’s equipment. Instead, they decided to focus on a screen plant Travis already owned.
Their plan was ambitious. The old plant needed a feeder pan, a new funnel system to direct material into the sluice box, a water manifold and spray bars. They also decided to reuse only part of the existing yellow sluice box because Travis did not have enough water to run the full length effectively.
The material cost came to about $5,100, but Freddy and Juan donated their labor. They also advised Travis to return the rented trommel, which had been costing around $2,500 a month. For a miner already under financial strain, that decision alone could help reduce pressure.
The rebuild was not simple. The old shaker deck had warped with age, leaving gaps that made fabrication harder. Water supply was another major concern. During a previous run, the plant had silted up after only two hours, showing that the system needed cleaner and more consistent water to recover fine gold properly.
To solve that, Travis raised the earth dam around the pond, making it about four times larger. The goal was to provide cleaner water to the plant and give the upgraded system a better chance of capturing the fine gold that had previously been slipping away.
When the new setup finally ran, the difference was immediate. The plant processed material more cleanly, the water flowed better through the sluice, and the rocks came off with less waste. For Travis, seeing his own plant operating after sitting unused for years was a major turning point.
After a four-hour test run, the results gave the Allens real reason to believe the season could still be saved. The clean-up produced 0.20 ounces of gold, worth nearly $500. That was more than triple the recovery rate of their previous rented wash plant.
Freddy and Juan explained that if Travis could run the plant for a full eight-hour day, he could be looking at nearly half an ounce daily. With improvements in capacity, a bigger pump and the ability to eventually use both sides of the sluice box, the operation could potentially move toward one ounce a day.
For a mine that had been close to failure, the result marked a major shift. Travis said it was the best news he had seen and described the working plant as light at the end of the tunnel.
The Long Bar mine is still far from guaranteed success. Travis and Andrew must continue running consistently, manage their costs and improve production if they want to reach their 25-ounce goal. But Freddy and Juan’s intervention changed the direction of the operation.
What had looked like a failing father-son mining season now has a fighting chance. More importantly, Travis owns the plant that could carry him forward, giving him a foundation to build on instead of relying on costly rented equipment.
For Freddy and Juan, the rescue was not just about repairing machinery. It was about giving a small mining family the tools, knowledge and confidence to keep going.
