Worth running lots of this dirt?

tyeechinook

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Sep 3, 2013
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Hello my best spot I've found so far out of about this much dirt
ca4a230eb60502bb4f5b34855d3680d9.jpg


I usually get this much gold. Mostly all fines, it's screened to -50. Bigger gold removed first of course.

12ecce936952d839cb787282daeeacdf.jpg


Bigger gold has been hard to find in this spot. Once I found a 1.2 gram nugget, but that was it for big stuff except the occasional cornflake sized flake, but I usually only find stuff bigger than 30 mesh- one piece every 5 or so trips there.

Is this worth chasing after, cause I kinda feel there's bigger stuff in general area somewhere. The spot used to be known for big gold.


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DizzyDigger

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Is that first pic your concentrates from sluicing, or is it just a pan
from the material?

If I was getting that kind of gold in every pan I'd sit there panning all day, all night
and probably all day again...at least until my wife came looking for me and made
me go home...:occasion14:
 

KevinInColorado

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If you think there's better gold, go looking, you may be right. But first carefully write down what you know about this spot...memory is a funny thing.
 

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tyeechinook

tyeechinook

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That's straight off the bank classified to -50


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BagLady

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Oh yeah. That's a nice amount of gold for such s small amount of sand.
Are you on private property? In some places your not allowed to dig the banks.
 

rodoconnor

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Old Timers had a saying " Never leave good gold". That is good gold!
 

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tyeechinook

tyeechinook

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Awesome! It is public blm land. But here in californistan we can't run anything, in fact I get hassled by people walking the trail above the river saying using a sluice is not allowed. So I try and stay hidden behind rocks. Plus this stuff was right on bedrock. A yellowish red clay layer that I dried and had to crush it down then screen it to be able to pan it. It will just roll out of a sluice


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arizau

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Awesome! It is public blm land. But here in californistan we can't run anything, in fact I get hassled by people walking the trail above the river saying using a sluice is not allowed. So I try and stay hidden behind rocks. Plus this stuff was right on bedrock. A yellowish red clay layer that I dried and had to crush it down then screen it to be able to pan it. It will just roll out of a sluice


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Cleaning bedrock.....Don't forget to clean out the cracks! Don't let the ignorant greenies intimidate you assuming that you are within the regulations.

Good luck.
 

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tyeechinook

tyeechinook

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Cleaning bedrock.....Don't forget to clean out the cracks! Don't let the ignorant greenies intimidate you assuming that you are within the regulations.

Good luck.

The best is deep in the cracks! Takes a long time to get a pan full so I usually do a pan or two and fill a bucket for panning at home. I wish I could run it in a sluice, too much clay. I can sluice the over burden though, not near as much gold in it, but sometimes it surprises me. In some overburden I've found just as good gold as on bedrock and in the cracks. In fact my only nugget was about 2 ft deep in a 4 ft deep crack.


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motohed

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Seeing what you found in that pan , I would not move an inch . Thats good , Gold no matter where you are , keep digging and getting that Gold !!!!!
 

Goldwasher

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Your classifying to -50 at the bank before you sluice? Thats good gold i would figure out how to run way more and not classify as much. If your finding bigger stuff mixed in then I would stick to a 3/8 classifier.
 

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tyeechinook

tyeechinook

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I'm classifying to 8 mesh at the river. I pan everything I dig separate. I'll classify to -50 once I get home. I bring a bucket or two home every time. Quick way to get into shape is carry two buckets full of dirt and gear 1/2 mile back to the truck through mountain goat trails. I usually sluice or pan until I get to a few inches of bedrock. Then I take the very bottom stuff home, which usually is full of reddish or yellowish and sometimes black clay. I get the -50 good and wet, let dry and crush to powder. I've found that this way when I pan it the clay particles wash away quicker and I can pan faster.


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Goodyguy

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-50 is pretty tiny gold but it will add up if you can move enough paydirt, otherwise I'd keep prospecting for something better especially if you're in an area known for good gold.

You could always go back if other areas don't pan out. There is only so much time and bigger gold is time well spent if you hit a hot spot.
Your question was "worth running lots of this dirt?" the answer is yes if your results are consistent and you run lots of it.

GG~
 

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Goodyguy

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I'm hoping I can one day say that also... With a straight face.

No disrespect intended.
I live in Indiana and most of the Gold I recover in the state is -50

However it's all relative. In an area known to produce larger gold I would be prospecting for the larger gold.
But that's just me.
mypoke.jpg

GG~
 

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tyeechinook

tyeechinook

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So I went back to my spot. Brought 2 buckets back, one from about 1-1/2 ft deep and one from about 3 ft deep. Haven't gone thru it all yet, but I did pan about 2 handfuls of dirt from the 1-1/2ft deep bucket and found this...
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145d695e255f0a9d330c52d9b7658858.jpg



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