Prospecting - what tools to pack

[paydirt1850]

I'm done fishing for the year and back to prospecting. This is my latest video, let me know what you thing. I have received nothing but great input from the people on this site. Hopefully its helping me make better videos.

 

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[goldenIrishman]

What you take to the field should be dictated by the terrain where you're working. What I take out with me here in the desert is going to be different than someone in NorCal or Georgia. Always let the terrain tell you what you need to work an area as well as your mode of travel. Hiking into areas is going to limit what you can bring. Research your areas well and keep it simple if you're strictly prospecting. If you find a great area that's open, then you can come back with more and better gear to take advantage of your find.

 

[Hoser John]

Always bring a detector to check out any areas. No pumps, heavy shovels, equipment. Man and machine to process a cubic foot a second of material for golds' presence is HUGE. Try to shovel a foot of dirt a second and see how long you last vs just swinging a detector and drop a chip on hits. Get a dozen hits and use a hand trowel to pick up and pan it down as 100X quicker than hit ,hunt and peck by mutzing and a putzing. Same as all mining, the more gravels run the more you make in any productive area. Lotza luck-John

 

[Jeff95531]

I could never survive w/o my trusty first aid kit.

 

[Jeff95531]

Always bring a detector to check out any areas. No pumps, heavy shovels, equipment. Man and machine to process a cubic foot a second of material for golds' presence is HUGE. Try to shovel a foot of dirt a second and see how long you last vs just swinging a detector and drop a chip on hits. Get a dozen hits and use a hand trowel to pick up and pan it down as 100X quicker than hit ,hunt and peck by mutzing and a putzing. Same as all mining, the more gravels run the more you make in any productive area. Lotza luck-John

You make a strong MD argument for my kind of grounds John.

 

[Goldwasher]

Sorry I whole heartedly disagree.... a metal detector as a "PROSPECTING" tool first time on a spot is a sure fire way to not find the gold in the area. If there's water. Your gonna have a much better idea if what's happening with a gold pan a screwdriver and a small shovel than you will with a detector. If your serious about finding gold you need to know whats beyond the first few inches. and the bread and butter gold is typically un-detectable. If you find gold and bedrock. and hopefully gold that you would find with a detector then come back and focus on areas that your detector will actually find gold. There are very few detectors that will hit on a .25 gram picker that is four inches in a crack and under four inches of cobble. Very few detectors and even less people who have detectors are capable of that. However if you do your book work and spend some time with your eyes and hands a lot closer to your work you will find those chunkier pieces. or you could walk along poking and hope that an electronic device has circumvented thouasnds of years of proven technique it's up to you but, don't put yourself in a situation that you will be able to blame a piece of equipment!

 

[Hamfist]

Good video! My pack is quite different due the terrain around me and a lack of flowing water, but I can't agree more with the convenience of having a dedicated pack for prospecting.

If I only used a detector for prospecting, I'd have written off some excellent locations, where all of the gold is fine. Depending on shape, my detector is good to about .1g and up, and chunks like that are in the minority near me.

 

[Goldwasher]

So to illustrate my point I went out for the day. Four hours actually. My light pack with my sniping tools. So pan classifier. Screwdriver crevice hook ,crowbar, brush long handle spoon it's a commercial kitchen spoon strong and stainless steel.My suffer of cours. Snack, water, few more small things. I also brought my gb pro and my pick carried by hand. Two hours detecting a new area on a bit of private land I have permission to hunt. It's bordered by blm an open area no claims but a lot of historical mining activity. Placer and hardrock. First two hours detecting got the usual a lot of trash. A lot of targets. Many of them started faint and were four inches deep. The axe head was like a foot! I had to keep digging it got way to load while having a bouncy target i.d. NO GOLD. Here's most of the targets some I left piled up in one spots when I was on blm. These are from my friends place.

 

[Goldwasher]

I have quite the collection of axe heads now. Note the broken pock RE purposed as a wedge. Probably the same for the axe. THE .45 AND .22 were both oriented down as if they had been fired UP first

 

[Jeff95531]

Sorry I whole heartedly disagree....

"There are very few detectors that will hit on a .25 gram picker that is four inches in a crack and under four inches of cobble. Very few detectors and even less people who have detectors are capable of that."

I did not know this GW and thank you...but...I'm not getting any younger and I need all the help I can get cuz my ground is stingy'er than yours.
At least I'm starting to think that!

 

[Jeff95531]

I guess what John was saying...next time spend the same amount of time prospecting and see which one wins. Ready for part 2?

PS I have an ax head and a Kelly fire ax to show for it too!

 

[Goldwasher]

So then down to the creek initially detecting hence the split shot. I came across a great spot of bedrock fractures.. quartz.. a contact and shear zone. Hit it with detector nothing but, it was too rusty not to pull out the crow bar. There was a crack someone had started cleaning. Maybe they didn't get color I don't know but they left a nice looking unused crack. I could see it was a fracture and contact area with crystal trying to form and some oxidization.....crack right away I'm in a neat little crystal pocket filled with clay and little pieces of crystals as well as altered wall rock layered with clusters. I cleaned out the pocket in three pans. Saving some nice crystal specimens one of them has some cool ghosts and sponge inclusions.....oh Yea the wall rock is full of sulfides and I did get a little visible gold in a chunk. As well as some fresh chunky little pieces! Less than four pans of material and only a puddle to pan in it was muddy in no time. Getting late I headed home. The gold and mineralized vein were found by me not a detector. The gold is from the vein. I will be back with a few different tools and a bucket

 

[Goldwasher]

This one has little ghosts in the crystals

 

[Goldwasher]

This one must have cracked while forming and some kind of mineral filled the void. It's jet black and metallic looking

 

[Goldwasher]

Just a few simple tools in a light pack will do a lot.

 

[boogeyman]

I could never survive w/o my trusty first aid kit.

vicodone, duct tape, some popsicle sticks, t shirt strips and superglue. Does it for me. Forget the $4000 heilo rides! I'll crawl back.

 

[mike(swWash)]

I limit myself to 35# on my pack. including a 5th of medicinal Pendleton, 1 roll duct tape, and a bunch of prospecting stuff. I have very few priorities but still have fun.

 

[Jeff95531]

You're like me...no food listed. Who has time to eat right? 35 pounds is respectable if you are indeed an "old" guy.

 

[mike(swWash)]

O.K..... maybe add a couple Snickers bars, but that's just more weight to pack and I'm not old.... but my co workers call me a f.o.g. ....what a bunch of punks

 

[DizzyDigger]

O.K..... maybe add a couple Snickers bars, but that's just more weight to pack and I'm not old.... but my co workers call me a f.o.g. ....what a bunch of punks

If you still have "co-workers", you ain't old...

Goldwasher: Pics taken under fluorescent lights will come out yellowed
every time. Try natural or incandescent lights.