A theory to clear Jack Hoffman of dropping an oversize Boulder in the hopper without the grizzlies.

As you know from reading this blog I love the show Gold Rush on Discovery. It is a great show. Today, with little to do as my back is healing and having nothing to do, I decided to blog about something that has troubled me for a few weeks now, the mystery of the oversized boulder clogging the chute. Now if you watch the show you will know about Grizzlies bars; they are parallel bars that scree out large boulders that are too big to pass through the wash plant without causing damage. The Grizzlies are on top off the feed hopper and our operated hydraulically to tilt up to one side and let the large boulders slide off.

Well during one episode, when Jack Hoffman was loading pay dirt, a large boulder somehow made it passed the Grizzlies and blocked the chute to the conveyor, not good. Well some members of the Hoffman crew suggested that Jack dropped the large rock into the hopper when the Grizzlies were raised. Jack emphatically denies this though no one believed him. Well after a bit of prying the blockage was cleared and the large rock plopped on to the conveyor to be discharged with the other tailings. I noticed something weird about that big rock, it was essentially a large slab but with one end having a large mass to one side giving it the look of a strange "L" on its side.

Now many would look at this big rock and say "yeah, Jack dropped it in when the grizzlies were up". Not me, I think he dropped the rock on to the Grizzlies but do to its weird shape it made it into the hopper, not through the grizzlies but over the edge. Here is my theory how that happened. The rock was like a slab except on one side, now normally a slab of rock that is overhanging the non-hinged side of the grizzlies would just slide down the Grizzlies or fall off the edge when the grizzles are raised, but this one had extra mass on one side that acted as a counterweight to the hanging edge. When the grizzlies were raised the larger mass side not only acted as a counterbalance it also acted as a pivot point allowing the rock to stay in place on Grizzlies edge while rotating slightly as the bars were raised. Now at sometime this not so perfect balancing failed at a time when the rock was over the hopper and "shazam" the offending rock fell into the hopper, a one in a million chance.

This is my theory on "the Boulder through the grizzlies mystery" and it is why I believe Jack Hoffman is innocent of all charges!

God Bless