As the interviews were taking place, it became obvious the occupation of placer miner is a very specialized and highly versatile business, unknown to most. Without listing the skills required, it is impossible to get an appreciation of the difficulty involved in good mining, let alone being stewards of the valleys they all love and live in...

    This list was compiled with the help of several individuals, but Don Banks was responsible for its completion. Don mines in the Mount Nansen and Freegold Road areas near Carmacks, was raised in the Yukon and started mining when he was sixteen. The items are in no particular order, although Item 1 is purposely mentioned first:

1. How to keep and understand a balance sheet; day-to-day administrative skills; having a good business plan.
2. Heavy-duty mechanic; knowing how and why engines run, notions of pure physics.
3. Welding.
4. Heavy equipment operator (loader, tracked and rubber-tired excavators, bulldozers, dragline, scraper, trucks)
5. Materials handling (i.e. civil engineering)
6. Knowing the properties of those materials (sorting, storing, sharing, using)
7. "It's too good to be true" - It probably is: Must be cautious, humble and understand risk management.
8. Finding ground is an artform - geology is the only science in the world that is devoted to artform - for example, from the 1700's to 1980, the Hemlo Mines were the largest hard rock mine in California - this is history and art as a form of success. A drilling program is an art where science is used to refine it to an artform. Nansen Creek, for example, was not glaciated. Geologists will tell you maybe the gold is there; placer miners put their money on the table, they have to be able to say they know the gold is there.
9. Ability to understand geology - need to find the rock types that are indicative of gold (much like manganese pipes are indicative of diamonds), and understanding the difference between surficial and bedrock geology.
10. Believing your intuition - goals are more theoretical, intuition is needed to support the theory and stimulate directed exploration.
11. Risk-taker (calculated risk)
12. Balancing act between theory and practice; gold mining is meant to turn a profit.
13. Clerical worker, secretary or correspondence writer
14. Being truthful to yourself, lucid; hard work is ahead and business is business.
15. Electrical skills
16. Hydraulics: pipelines, pumps, dams, ponds, creek diversions.
17. Road and bridge building
18. Knowing to break down large problems into small ones; basic problems require basic understanding; how to think well. Gold mining is a problem-solving exercise.
19. Diplomat; dealing with regulatory agencies and being a good business person
20. Bill collector/accounts payable.
21. Gardener (fresh food in the backcountry is a great addition to what needs to be a good diet due to the hard work associated with mining).
22. Remote living and resource conservation (water, food, heat, electricity)
23. Berry picking, hunting (wild foods are healthy and abundant in remote areas).
24. Fisher (grayling, salmon, pike)
25. Employee management: a relationship of trust and honour, give-and-take, partnership concepts.
26. Dentist, doctor, barber, first aid, veterinarian.
27. Knowing to avoid downtime - production cannot be shut down. Critical Path Management.
28. Sharing technology and experiences with neighbours; articulate story tellers.
29. Assisting other backcountry users in times of need
30. Knowing how to design exploration systems.
31. How to perform gold clean-ups in concentrations that are worthy of a sale; being half assayer and half mill engineer; using jigs and demagnetizers, gold wheels, recovery of fine gold - understanding the physics and materials involved in a concentrator plant (shakers, sluices, punch plates, mesh, matting or carpets)
32. Designing and fabricating recovery systems for the gold type found at a claimed location.
33. On-going research and development, improvement of process.
34. Being able to walk and interpret the ground - prospecting.
35. Knowing what methods can support your evidence: witching, gold detection, drilling, keeping an open mind.
36. Good cook - keeping the crew happy and staying for the season.
37. Camp organization, providing essential comforts, electricity, sanitation, etc.
38. Retorting; separating old process mercury from gold and keeping same under water to prevent evaporation. In the 1980's some miners built their own retorts from plans or used their own designs.
39. Chemist.
40. Tourist attraction.
41. Backcountry construction: log builder, carpenter, roofer, plumber, electrician.
42. Historical/archival research - old workings.
43. Gold selling and understanding markets.
44. Familiarity with laws and regulations, application and licensing processes.
45. Fuel handling and storage.
46. Lansdscape architect (reclamation)
47. Deal making - whether for ground, gold, equipment or work to be accomplished by others - a placer miner is regularly called upon to establish the best offer or deal for his/her operation.
48. Last but not least, understanding natural processes and cycles in one's district.