Placer Claim Mined Out?

[desertgolddigger]

I belong to a local club that owns a claim. This club has had this claim for many years, and acquired it after the old timers had mined it previously, and others after they commercial outfits closed up.
I walked quite a bit of the 160 acre claim, and noted that just about every wash had been worked. Most of the surface nuggets has also been detected by those with gold detectors. In other words, this place has been picked over and over and over.
But I m a stubborn type of person, and I figured, just watching how people ram their puffer and blower drywashers, that some gold was just being blown through them. maybe not much, but some small stuff that never got a chance to settle behind the riffles.
I know many of you would never go to the effort of digging for three to four hours through the tailings in these washes. Again, I'm a bit stubborn, and anyway, I just wanted to have some fun locally, instead of driving 300 miles roundtrip to something that gives a little more for less effort.
I've spent the last three weeks, digging a few times a week along about 30 yards of wash, and have recovered just about a gram of gold. That might not seem like much, but I have only dug up 5 grams, not counting this one gram in almost 20 years out here drywashing in the desert of southern California.
As you would know, things always seem to go wrong. My gas powered blower motor decided it was time for the repair shop, and haven't heard from the shop in two weeks. So I purchased a WORX WG521 corded electric leaf blower to use with my Royal Large drywasher. I'm using a portable generator to provide the power. And it actually is working better than with my old gas powered blower. I have to run the blower on the lowest speed, or I just blow everything through the riffles. Results are very good, as I am getting gold specks so small that I will have to use the Blue bowl in order to recover them.
I'm not only getting a little gold, I'm having some fun, and I am getting a good workout. I've lost 10 pounds since I started. So things are going well.
I'm still digging test holes around the old time hard rock mines in the hope I will find where the gold has drifted downhill below these mines. So far just a couple specks here and there. I figure I just have to move laterally one way or the other before I get something better Of course, I' don't really know if the old timers stripped the hillsides. Even if they have, they apparently aren't as thorough as I am. I hope that I may be lucky and find a larger piece of gold that the old timers, previous placer miners, and detectorists have missed.
Hope everyone is having as much fun as I have been having.

 

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[desertgolddigger]

I decided I needed a workout today, so I packed the truck up, and spent a few hours testing things under the drywash piles. I had previously run one of these piles, but the material under it didn't look natural, and it wasn't. It was more drywasher tailings, and I still haven't hit the bottom. I did find fine gold down there, and expect I will, until I hit a natural layer, or run into bedrock.

But things were starting to warm up, so I started back home. On Highway 62, I noticed a Mustang (car) stuck in the sand along side the road. So I now have another rescue under my belt. This time it was a young U.S. Marine from the 29 Palms Base. So, I have another happy person, and it made this holiday (Memorial Day) a special one.

 

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[desertgolddigger]

Getting hot here, so I purchased a rechargeable LED work light to allow me to work in the hour or two before sunrise.
this is the only way I will be able to work the claim during the hot months ahead.

Today I tested how it would work, and it worked great. I've slowly been clearing the huge drywash pile I've been working on for a month and a half. Today I finally got through a section down to brownish dirt, near the edge of the wash. My estimate is that this drywash pile is 4-6 layers deep. As I go deeper, I'm finding increased quantities of fine gold. I'm guessing the gold slowly settled over 10 or 20 years, or however long this area has been worked by drywashers.

And I got a big surprise when I panned the micro pea gravel (1/8 inch). I got my first true picker in nearly 15 years . I'm estimating the weight at .061 gram. And got 45 pieces of smaller gold in just seven 5 gallon buckets. This is what I mean by more fine gold the deeper I dig in these piles.

With the increased heat my body can only handle 5-10 full 5 gallon buckets, as digging this stuff is difficult. Whomever drywashed here dug pay dirt with rocks the size of baseballs, and piled it atop their drywasher grizzly. I'm sure that's another reason why they lost so much gold.

I packed up, and was gone just as the Sun peaked over the hillside. I'm still dropping the large gravel on the claim access road that's mostly sand. It's firming up nicely as my tires grind it into the soil.

Another nice day, and I'm starting to feel stronger physically. I just can't handle the heat.

 

[southfork]

Sounds like a great day I started early myself cooler here, but I have a shady spot from a big oak tree latter in the day.

 

[desertgolddigger]

The heat has been sizzling the past few days. It won't cool any until Sunday, my claim road repair day.

Yes, I'm still trying to improve access to the claim. I'm finally starting on the end which is real sandy. That means scooping out the soft sand, and replacing it with several inches of coarse gravel. Probably be several weeks before I have a long enough stretch paved to park on, without fear of getting stuck.

I'm wondering just how you do placer mining in high heat, if any of you living in the desert do work during the hot months. My solution was the battery powered LED light so I can start about 75 minutes before sunrise, hat way I have about three hours before the Sun rises over the hill. Bot I won't work if it never gets below 85F at night.

I've been doing OK the past couple weeks. I get about 8-9 full 5 gallon buckets run before I have to quit. Those buckets are producing on average, about 50 pieces of gold, though the weight is usually only between 6/100 and 1/10 grams.

I've tried digging down in the wash, but results are much less than from the old drywash piles. My body probably won't last long enough to work the many piles on the claim. My goal, if I get some good results occasionally is one ounce by the end of the year, weather permitting. And the other goal is that access road, so other members with only 2-wheel drive can access this claim.

So right now, I'm just making quilt tops, and eventually finished quilts for the less advantaged seniors in our town.

 

[southfork]

Do you ever work the bedrock? A stiff bristle brush and moving a few rocks work the cracks and a battery powered vac always produced gold for me. I quit already 86 and, on the way, up .

 

[desertgolddigger]

southfork, Yes, I've finally gone through most of this drywasher tailing pile, and reached bedrock.

I'm in the process of finishing an area about 15 feet wide before I actually get down, and sweep as much material off the bedrock as I can before I use my Keene Vac bucket with the blower attached. I got the vac 15 or so years ago, and haves only used it a few times. It's top heavy, and wants to keep turning over. I'm going to try putting a heavy rock in the bottom to see if that'll keep it upright.

As this bedrock is above the wash bedrock, I want to work this whole area with a brush, and vac, and then run the material through the drywasher to see of there is any gold on this higher bedrock. This will tell me if there's any point in doing this in the future.

While I'm removing the drywasher overburden, I'm also breaking off any fractured bedrock, leaving only solid bedrock. I worked the wash about 200 feet above where I'm working now, and found very little gold for my efforts. It was probably worked years ago by another person drywashing.

Months ago I tried another wash that apparently had, at one time, contained placer gold. It was below two hard rock mining places. But I found it was totally dead. No black sand or anything. It was like a sterile piece of landscape, where nothing seemed to grow. I'm guessing someone a very long time ago worked this wash down to bedrock, leaving absolutely nothing, not even something a plant could attach to.

 

[southfork]

I've been running my blue bowl 1-inch from the top any faster I start losing gold its slow at that level, but the returns are good. I feed 1 scoop 33mm at a time I'm not really losing any gold the bucket and tote catch the float I save all the sludge for latter processing. By running all the tailings back through a stack of screens I can rerun at a lower slower level and catch micro gold. My 3- foot sluice with just rubber mat setup with a recirculating pump and a spray bar with valve to regulate flow. Set up in a tote works as good maybe better a lot faster anyway.

 

[desertgolddigger]

southfork, I've got a Blue Bowl, but never really had any luck with it. I've put a better water flow control valve on it. I've also screened down my concentrates by size (26, 50, 75,100).

The problem I have regardless of the valve I use is that I will set the water flow, and watch for 5-10 minutes, and then leave it for several hours, only to come back, and find the flow has increased nearly to the top. I then have to run things again, and usually the same thing happens.

That's why I got the Miller's Table (Royal Manufacturing), which seems to work very well. But I still have to run the material several times, as I seem to find progressively finer gold with each run.

I presently don't have enough concentrates with the finer gold to justify setting up, and running either.

QUESTION: how do you deal with the finer dirt in the concentrates that you would put through your sluice? Do do you wash them in a tub of water until most of the dirt gets removed? This fine dirt is a problem here in the dry desert. Not sure how it is where you mine for gold.

 

[arizau]

southfork, I've got a Blue Bowl, but never really had any luck with it. I've put a better water flow control valve on it. I've also screened down my concentrates by size (26, 50, 75,100).

The problem I have regardless of the valve I use is that I will set the water flow, and watch for 5-10 minutes, and then leave it for several hours, only to come back, and find the flow has increased nearly to the top. I then have to run things again, and usually the same thing happens.

That's why I got the Miller's Table (Royal Manufacturing), which seems to work very well. But I still have to run the material several times, as I seem to find progressively finer gold with each run.

I presently don't have enough concentrates with the finer gold to justify setting up, and running either.

QUESTION: how do you deal with the finer dirt in the concentrates that you would put through your sluice? Do do you wash them in a tub of water until most of the dirt gets removed? This fine dirt is a problem here in the dry desert. Not sure how it is where you mine for gold.

Maybe try a needle valve for waterflow adjustment.

 

[southfork]

Maybe try a needle valve for waterflow adjustment.

What happens is there's less friction? / Interference as the material is washed and the water speeds up. I have a recirculating pump and the same thing happens no difference / volume through the valve. Add a spoonful it slows back down bad design I guess you need to sit there and stare at lol.

southfork, I've got a Blue Bowl, but never really had any luck with it. I've put a better water flow control valve on it. I've also screened down my concentrates by size (26, 50, 75,100).

The problem I have regardless of the valve I use is that I will set the water flow, and watch for 5-10 minutes, and then leave it for several hours, only to come back, and find the flow has increased nearly to the top. I then have to run things again, and usually the same thing happens.

That's why I got the Miller's Table (Royal Manufacturing), which seems to work very well. But I still have to run the material several times, as I seem to find progressively finer gold with each run.

I presently don't have enough concentrates with the finer gold to justify setting up, and running either.

QUESTION: how do you deal with the finer dirt in the concentrates that you would put through your sluice? Do do you wash them in a tub of water until most of the dirt gets removed? This fine dirt is a problem here in the dry desert. Not sure how it is where you mine for gold.

I just put wet material in and let it wash I wish it was all fine dirt the black sands cause me problems. You need to feed the bowl slow real slow one teaspoon at a time it makes for a long day. A nice shady spot and a book to read helps.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I'm not sure that can be done with the Blue Bowl. I don't have it out right now, but I think it uses a 3/4 inch garden hose type connection. It seems the needle valves are pretty small diameters like 1/4 or 3/8 inch. Right now I have a 3/4 inch gate valve attached that has a lot of room for adjusting the flow. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work like the guy in the video says it would.

 

[mikep691]

I added a second piece of hose to my blue bowl, My ball valve is at the bowl to control flow entering and the extension allows my pump to be in a farther corner of the tote. Washed BSC are kept in the 5 gallon bucket and a series of small holes allows cleaner water into the tote. I usually save all the concentrates from a season of mining and set up and run them in the winter time when it's too cold for actual mining. I like to keep my water flow just fast enough to clear the top of the cone, 1/2" to 3/4" below the top of the bowl. One small BB of mercury helps to collect the super fine gold and then retort the AK at the end of the run. Because of the long process, I set up my bowl in the living room and put on old episodes of Gold Rush, that way I'm close to entertainment and beer .

 

[desertgolddigger]

mikep691, Thanks so much for how you do things. I, fortunately, don't have to worry about Winter. People in this neck of the...no woods...desert, say, "what's winter?'" Your idea of saving concentrates for a season of mining, then running all at once is a good idea.

I guess I will have to modify my water system on the Blue Bowl, so I can install a reliable valve. Please tell me a good one I can rely on to maintain constant water flow without variations like I mentioned earlier. If it is on Amazon, please list the link so I can order it, and any hoses and couplers needed to make it work. I do most of my purchasing on Amazon , simply because the nearest store is Walmart 45 miles round trip, and it usually doesn't carry anything I'm looking for. Next stores are 120 miles round trip. So purchasing online is cheaper, especially now that gas is $6 per gallon.

 

[1637]

you are really putting in the time and work,wish you were getting more,the best thing ive done was to get rid of those dam 5gal buckets.i did 3 gal for a little. but now i only feed my drywasher with a shovel. i can move way more dirt and it easier on my old body.at some point trying to get that very very small gold boils down time visa gold.ive been out to the black jack claim it along way in there and far from home,spend most of my time near randsburg. well gold luck

 

[desertgolddigger]

1637, The tiny stuff is about all I can find not only in the old drywasher tailing piles, but also in the washes. The largest piece of gold for me this year weighs in at .061 grams, which I call a picker, but some people not.

I actually am using 3 1/2 gallon buckets I fill about 2/3rds full. I line up 10 of them, and then run them. I now do this only twice because of the hot days. I only use the 5 gallon buckets as they are the heavy duty type that don't fall apart easily like Home Depot buckets do now.

As for shoveling things into the drywasher hopper, I tried that, and had to stop due to my arthritic fingers paining me. I just can't use a large shovel laden with material. I use a small shovel, about the size of a hand to scoop material, and usually have to use both hands to get the blade through the material. My body is strong, but my hands are weak due to the darn Sir Artheritis. I wish he would go away. :-)

The last three times out I averaged 60 little pieces each day, and .09 grams. I know most people would probably not consider that amount with the effort involved, worth it, but you take what you can get.

I hope you do well finding the yellow stuff. I'm hoping for another picker, along with my small stuff.

 

[Reed Lukens]

1637, The tiny stuff is about all I can find not only in the old drywasher tailing piles, but also in the washes. The largest piece of gold for me this year weighs in at .061 grams, which I call a picker, but some people not.

I actually am using 3 1/2 gallon buckets I fill about 2/3rds full. I line up 10 of them, and then run them. I now do this only twice because of the hot days. I only use the 5 gallon buckets as they are the heavy duty type that don't fall apart easily like Home Depot buckets do now.

As for shoveling things into the drywasher hopper, I tried that, and had to stop due to my arthritic fingers paining me. I just can't use a large shovel laden with material. I use a small shovel, about the size of a hand to scoop material, and usually have to use both hands to get the blade through the material. My body is strong, but my hands are weak due to the darn Sir Artheritis. I wish he would go away. :-)

The last three times out I averaged 60 little pieces each day, and .09 grams. I know most people would probably not consider that amount with the effort involved, worth it, but you take what you can get.

I hope you do well finding the yellow stuff. I'm hoping for another picker, along with my small stuff.

You may have a simple water flow problem that has nothing to do with the valve.
Check these videos out -

 

[desertgolddigger]

Reed, Thanks for the videos. I was curious after watching, but it seems the system is not being made anymore. I'm guessing the Blue Bowl is basically the same as the Vortex Bowl. I just wish the water valve placed on the Blue Bowl was better.

These videos have at least shown me what can be done, such as removing the magnetics, and moving the material around in the Bowl to allow for better separation.

my Royal Miller's Table seems perfect for my needs though. It amazingly catches gold I can't even see until I card it into a line

 

[mikep691]

It might not be the valve as the problem. Try setting up your bowl, getting it level then running it with no material in it. If it holds steady pressure and flow, then you're good. Add one spoonful of preclassified material at a time. Watch for a change in the flow. Whenever you add a solid to a liquid you will have a volume change. You want barely enough flow to work the black sands up the cone. Feed rate is important too. Too much black sands at a time will push the water level up so it's best just one wet spoonful at a time. Allow the bowl to clear before adding the next spoonful.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I know my Bowl was level. The problem is that over time the water level increased to nearly overflowing the outer edge, after I had set it to just having the water flow over the center cone. I had watched to ensure the level remained the same for 5-10 minutes, then left it for a few hours. So, my initial setup wasn't the problem. It's either the valve, or I have a power surge from my battery (which sounds unlikely), or my pump is glitzy (more likely).

I've given up on the Bowl for now. It's probably just going to sit in the shed and gather dust. Just another waste of money for me.

My Miller's table works wonderfully. So far it has gotten gold so fine, I can't see it until I card it into a line or pile.

 

[Reed Lukens]

The last video in that playlist is one that my friend John made for us, you can easily build your own machine with all of the info in that list. Why were you messing with a blue bowl in the first place when you have a table already?
Jfyi, adjusting the water level in the bowl is normal as the cons fill the bottom. But another thing that also makes a difference on fine gold retention is the hardness of the water itself. If you're going to run a recirculating system, then soft water works best. When I run on a recirc system, I have a little portable RV water softener that I run all of the water thru when I'm setting it up. Same thing for our Miller tables.
I use it on my swimming pool as well. There are different sizes, but this is what I have.