Finally, After Some Seven or so Years

[desertgolddigger]

It's been a while since I last posted on the Forums here, asking for advice and help.

I decided to join the "Valley Prospectors" in San Bernardino, and made one of their meetings. Unfortunately, after that, my health problems snowballed on me, and it was just this holiday weekend that I decided I was healthy enough to go to one of their claims, and see what I could find.

The difficult part of the whole trip there was trying to locate the road they mentioned in their directions. Seems someone had removed the sign that had the roads name on it, but I eventually found that road, and then it was an adventure to figure out which was the main road, with so many branches that were the same size. I figured it couldn't hurt to just go down the middle road when I came to a three road intersection. I finally found the claims, and introduced myself to a couple who had been there some three weeks. They were so kind to invite me into their camper and let me warm up while they finished their morning rituals to get ready for the day.

Phil led me to where he said was a fairly good spot to dig. He took up working on one side of the road, and I figured I'd try my luck on the other side.

This area was one of the very last Placer sites discovered in Southern California. It was worked by the miners during the Depression era, and I guess they did not have the ability to get all the gold, just the larger pieces. So that leaves we modern day prospectors with out much more advanced machines an opportunity to find the tiny stuff they left.

I am in the process of cleaning up after my three days of dry washing. I got one very small picker, and what I call three near pickers. The rest is either large enough for my tweezers to pick up after dipped in water. Seems the water tension on the tweezers attracts the very fine gold. The rest is so fine I cannot use tweezers, and really haven't a clue as to how to get to it. I've a Blue Bowl, but it is just too rough to separate the super small gold from the fine black sand. Any suggestions?

From what I can see, there are hundreds of this super fine gold.

But back to what I should be telling you. I was totally happy with what I call my vacation. I just had loads of fun, and though I may not have collected the bigger pieces like Phil seemed to find, I am really just happy to have found anything.

I've a lot to learn about what to look for. There are the old miners tailing piles and of course, the modern miners tailing piles. I need to figure out how to identify where the old time miners mined. I found a small area, but ended up doing what the old timers did, strip mining, and then back filling as a went. I followed the rules of back filling, though I see that maybe I am in the minority. Seems many of the modern miners do not follow this rule. I just want to make sure I still have a Placer claim to go to, by following the rules.

How much gold did I get. Haven't a clue, but if it is $5 worth, I would be surprised. Caley

 

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[KevinInColorado]

Cool story and welcome back

To handle that small gold I suggest
Classify the material by size using sieves. If everything in a pan is similar size then the gold is easy to pan out.

Then use a magnet to pull any magnetic particles up from the bottom of a water filled pan...make the material jump up thru the water to the magnet.

Pan what remains, still separated by size.

 

[arizau]

What Kevin said.

Go here for some excellent video instructions on how to prep and pan your concentrates. http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/panning-gold/459664-art-gold-panning.html

Welcome back and future good luck.

PS: Get a sucker bottle and suck up the gold. I don't think I ever used tweezers to pick up gold. What I was shown was to dry a finger tip and press it onto wet gold (drain the water off of it). The gold will stick to your DRY fingertip and you can dunk into a water filled vial and the gold will drop into the bottle. Hold the vial over the pan when doing the transfer so if the gold drops off early you don't lose it. I learned this way back before sucker bottles were commercially sold.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Thanks Gus, I wonder why I forgot about my little plunger magnet in plastic housing. When you mentioned magnet, I went out to the shed and dug out the thing, and what a difference it made. I knew I was missing things, so I hadn't tossed things yet, and sure enough, another small flake showed up, along with another 10 or so of those super fine micro pieces that you need magnification to see to pick up. Now all I have to work on is the stuff in the "Blue Bowl", which I am beginning to think is a waste of time and money. With the majority of the dark sand gone, the gold stood out a lot better. Still had to search for those very tiny pieces. As for the finger pick up thing, didn't work for me, so I was back with the tweezers. The gold for some reason manages to eventually stick to the tweezers for extraction into the bottle.

Didn't quite cover the bottom of my little gold bottle, but it is close. Maybe with the other 100 or so pieces (more of the micro stuff) I have in the "Blue Bowl" that will happen. I guess that could be called a successful weekend outing. Caley

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I do have a sucker bottle, but I guess it is so old, that it just doesn't work very well. Need to find a new one with a skinnier tip. The one I have has a 1/8 inch diameter tip, which I believe is way too big.

 

[KevinInColorado]

For a skinny tip, use an eye dropper or a "suction pipette". Your local prospecting shop should have several options and good advice.

Also learn the shake and tap method for panning the -50 (smaller than 50 mesh sieve) material. That will get all the tiny gold in one spot so it's easy to suck up all at once!

 

[desertgolddigger]

Kevin, Yeah, I watched a gentleman out at the claim do that, but I just cannot duplicate how he did it. I guess it takes a certain touch. When I tried, all the black sand also moved with the gold.

The magnet has removed 90 percent of the black sand. Now it is just a matter of patience while I use my tweezers to pick up each piece and drop it in the specimen bottle. What the heck, all I have is time, as I am retired/disabled, and nothing better to do.

At least I seem to be doing two things correctly. I seem to have set up my Gold Buddy Mini blower dry washer so that it collects even the minute specks of gold. and my panning seems to be pretty good, even after all these years off from the hobby.

When the weather warms 10 or 15 degrees above what I experienced, I think I will plan a week of camping there for some more fun. The club has four claims adjacent to one another, so I might be able to scout them, and see which one is the least disturbed. The claim I worked looked like a war zone, with all the craters the modern miners have left.

Anyway, thanks for the tips on gold recovery. Now, with all that black sand overburden out of the pan, things are a lot easier to work with. Caley

 

[desertgolddigger]

I finally got things cleaned up, thanks to the tips. I weighed the finds, and came up with 4/10 of a gram. Guess that isn't much, but a whole lot more than I expected. Anyway, "I'm Rich!!!!", with a whole $4 of gold. Now, what do I do with all that wealth. Caley

 

[H-2 CHARLIE]

Its all about the adventure of the hunt , now roll the dice again .

 

[arizau]

Kevin, Yeah, I watched a gentleman out at the claim do that, but I just cannot duplicate how he did it. I guess it takes a certain touch. When I tried, all the black sand also moved with the gold.

That is where the importance of close classification comes to bear in the separation and recovery of fine gold. It is likely that the black sand that is moving with the gold is larger than the gold thus probably equal to or heavier than the gold you are trying to separate from it. When all the material in the pan is more or less the same size it is usually easily panned. A set of classifiers that includes 30, 50 and 100 mesh will make your day much easier. Four to six inch diameter ones are available, are pretty inexpensive and are suitable for use for cleanup purposes.

Good luck.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I do have that set of classifiers that I bought with my "Blue Bowl". The next time I go out, I will use those, if the amount of material justifies it. Once I used the magnet to get rid of 90%+ of the black sand, the gold stood out easily, and I was able to pick it out over a couple of days.

One thing I discovered is that out at the claim, when I was panning to see how the hole was producing, I didn't see all the gold to give me the true story. I actually got about three times what I was seeing, though the majority was that super fine gold, that eventually made up about 1/3rd of everything I have.

Yup, I am going back out when the weather allows for camping. I am planning on somehow converting my little Snowbear flat trailer, so that I can use it for camping. I just need to figure out how to attach sides to it, since the current sides are only about 12 inches high. And I need to make things light enough so that my Honda CRV can haul it over some fairly rough road. The road isn't bad, but there are some pretty rough spots to negotiate. The next time I hope to spend a week out there learning how to read the terrain, and figure out how to actually prospect. Caley

 

[KevinInColorado]

"I actually got about three times what I was seeing". ...yup, that's a thing I face out in the field with fine gold too. It's due to lots of magnetic black sands that hide the fine gold. Using a black pan helps, reading glasses help but the big lesson is TAKE ALL YOUR HEAVY CONCENTRATES HOME for careful finish processing. A couple places I've been prospecting have virtually no visible gold that I can see when in the field but they actually produce well! That doesn't stop some of my friends from saying "there's no gold there"! More for me!!

 

[GoldpannerDave]

I finally got things cleaned up, thanks to the tips. I weighed the finds, and came up with 4/10 of a gram. Guess that isn't much, but a whole lot more than I expected. Anyway, "I'm Rich!!!!", with a whole $4 of gold. Now, what do I do with all that wealth. Caley

Display it--where is the mandatory picture?

 

[desertgolddigger]

My Gold

Took me a while, but as requested, here's a picture of my gold. The bottle on the right is from my five years of dry washing that ended some 7 years ago. The bottle on the left is from my 2 1/2 days of dry washing this past weekend. As you can see, if the quantity of the finds continues as it did this past weekend, I may exceed my previous total in less than a year.

The one difference is that the gold from the Gold Crown area is larger. The stuff from Coolgardie is smaller coarser stuff. I think the bottle on the right contains about 4 grams of gold, and the one on the left 4/10 gram. Caley

 

[goldenIrishman]

Nice to see ya back Caley! Glad you're feeling better and getting back out into the desert to dig! Now don't go spending all that gold in one place....

 

[desertgolddigger]

Thought I might as well continue my gold mining saga in the same thread. I'm finally feeling spiffy enough to join our club out in Coolgardie to look for a little yellow colour. I've been preparing for several weeks, trying to get everything I will need for about a five day stint out in the desert. Last time I had to drive to and from a Motel 6 out to the claim, which what not only hard on the car, but also on the wallet. This time I am resurrecting, (I hope), my old tent and sleeping gear. I also tried to obtain some creature comforts, but the company I ordered the shower/potty tent failed to react to my Amazon order until I cancelled it. They then said it was on its way, a likely story, but I insisted they forget the order. The big tent, if useable will suffice for the time I will spend. I'm also looking into getting a teardrop camper that I can customize to my needs. But I will still need that darn creature comfort tent

Anyway, I will report on things when I get back. I sure hope I can find something larger than 1/32 inch size. Maybe a picker or two would be nice. Anyway, wish me good luck. And by the way, warn all the snakes I am coming, as the last time I had a meeting with a Rattlesnake, there was a lot of pain and anguish, and then the poor Rattlesnake died of poisoning. I have a mean bite. Caley

 

[Alex Burke]

Right on and good luck, I never saw this thread before and like the story about how the couple on your previous trip were so nice and welcoming. I have experienced this a couple of times personally and I believe 99% of prospectors really are just great people that will always lend a hand, advice or a hot meal.

This gets lost sometimes I think on the web but I've never met prospectors that weren't kind helpful people too. I don't think it's a coincidence, prospectors seem to appreciate the outdoors and the life it affords them and are happy to share what they know or have successful or not

 

[desertgolddigger]

Alex, How correct you are. But it really isn't just limited to the prospectors. I've found that in all my interests, those who participate seem to be very nice people. I think it is the active people, those who get out and do things, that learn that the best part of the fun is the people. The hobby, though important, is really secondary.

I got my car and trailer packed up. Now I have to hope what I packed is still there in the early morning when I leave. Yes, I live in an area where some people think that if it isn't nailed down, it is theirs. Tomorrow is travel and camp setup. I may get to do a little digging if I have the energy to do it. Caley Ann

 

[Alex Burke]

Alex, How correct you are. But it really isn't just limited to the prospectors. I've found that in all my interests, those who participate seem to be very nice people. I think it is the active people, those who get out and do things, that learn that the best part of the fun is the people. The hobby, though important, is really secondary.

I got my car and trailer packed up. Now I have to hope what I packed is still there in the early morning when I leave. Yes, I live in an area where some people think that if it isn't nailed down, it is theirs. Tomorrow is travel and camp setup. I may get to do a little digging if I have the energy to do it. Caley Ann

Yeah you have a good point. There are good people everywhere and that wasn't what I meant hopefully it didn't come across like that

I just feel I relate more to people on prospecting, mining, even survival and hunting forums. I don't really have much to offer to most forums, I'm just there for the bushcraft skills so I can survive a broken down truck in freezing temps and maybe make some friends lol.

I just think outdoorsman and those that live outside metropolises like the one I live in have a better grasp of reality, generally live a higher quality of life and are better in tune with how we survived for thousands of years. Plus it seems like a much more interesting life I hope to find out

 

[desertgolddigger]

Alex, I knew you were saying good.

I am not really an outdoorsy type. I spent 24 years in the military, half of which was out on deployment, camping out. But I learned to adapt to it to a certain degree, and I can handle roughing it. But I'm not like you, someone who can handle a lot of adversity, especially at my advanced age. I just like to get out, away from the four walls a few times a year, and gold mining is fun, even when I don't ever seem to find very much. One of these days I will get lucky and find a big nugget. CaleyAnn

 

[Alex Burke]

Alex, I knew you were saying good.

I am not really an outdoorsy type. I spent 24 years in the military, half of which was out on deployment, camping out. But I learned to adapt to it to a certain degree, and I can handle roughing it. But I'm not like you, someone who can handle a lot of adversity, especially at my advanced age. I just like to get out, away from the four walls a few times a year, and gold mining is fun, even when I don't ever seem to find very much. One of these days I will get lucky and find a big nugget. CaleyAnn

Thank you Sir for your service and don't worry about the age you are doing it and that's what counts. Your misconstruing my ability to handle adversity unless you consider night manager at a grocery store in the ghetto adversity in which case I'd agree I only have basic survival or gold mining skills I was just saying I admire the people that live more off of and with the land and want to join them asap haha. Go get that gold I will vicariously enjoy the experience through you for now brother I haven't got out in nature in quite a while