Bought paydirt on ebay 5 pounds only .12 grams, is this normal ?

GoldMine21

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Feb 3, 2017
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I bought for the first time paydirt. It was 5 pounds of Whiskey Petes Gold on ebay. I paid $27.75 for the 5 pounds and was super excited. I expected to get at least 10 dollars worth in gold but I only had .12 grams of gold. I sluiced it and panned it about 10 times. I couldn't believe how little was in there. I know paydirt is for learning experiences, but is this normal for 5 pounds of paydirt for that price ? He has such good reviews I assumed it would be good dirt. Is .12 grams a lot for 5 pounds of paydirt bought online ? Can you recommend anyone that has better paydirt ? Like I said I know its for learning experiences, but I still expected a bit more than that, or is this normal ?
 

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stephen583

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Jan 30, 2017
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610 South 900 West Riverside Apts. #108
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As for the criticisms about the (lectures) in this thread about bogus prospecting equipment sold on the internet, I suggest you go back and READ THE TITLE OF THIS THREAD AND ITS' OPENING STATMENT. That's what this thread was started for ! It wasn't started as a place for people to hawk overpriced internet products and junk that doesn't really work.

I think if people compare the price of an 8 oz. bottle of "Jet Dry" (which you recommend) to the price of a tube of fluoride toothpaste and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide (that can make gallons of the stuff), they'll agree my comments are more relevant to this thread than are yours.

Btw. The statement red clay is only a problem in the desert South West is patently ridiculous (as newbie prospectors will soon learn for themselves). I've had to deal with red clay in Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas, Mississippi, Texas, Colorado (which the name btw means the color red and refers directly to red clay), Utah, Idaho, the Dakotas, Northern California and Washington State. LOL. What else don't you guys know about geology ?

Furthermore, I never claimed "Razor Hog" was the name of a company.. I identified it as one of the mats I've used. I am sure Gold Hog makes other quality mats, but I don't endorse what I haven't personally used. So I would appreciate it if you would stop knit picking my posts and making these erroneous claims.
 

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Oregon Viking

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WD-40 is perfectly safe to put on your skin. I've been using it to treat arthritis in my hands forever. Mechanics spray it on rags to clean their tools and it hasn't ever killed anyone. If you read the instructions on the can, it even plainly states it can be ingested orally without harm (Not Recommended).

From the makers of WD-40.
Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)
P301+P310
IF SWALLOWED: Immediately call a POISON CENTER or doctor or physician.
P331
Do NOT induce vomiting.
H304May be fatal if swallowed and enters airways.
H315 Causes skin irritation.
H319 Causes serious eye irritation.
 

stephen583

Jr. Member
Jan 30, 2017
73
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610 South 900 West Riverside Apts. #108
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From the makers of WD-40.
Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)
P301+P310
IF SWALLOWED: Immediately call a POISON CENTER or doctor or physician.
P331
Do NOT induce vomiting.
H304May be fatal if swallowed and enters airways.
H315 Causes skin irritation.
H319 Causes serious eye irritation.

That is a standard legal disclaimer found on just about every petroleum based product made in the United States. THERE HAS NEVER been a single case of anyone EVER having been poisoned, blinded, or harmed by contact with WD-40. I'm sure there is a similar disclaimer label on a jar of Petroleum Jelly.

If you guys spent even one tenth of the time posting relevant information on the subject of this thread, instead of this smirky stuff like this, someone might actually be forced to take your comments seriously ! LOL.

So far, all you've managed to prove is that you know little of nothing about actual gold prospecting and you know lots about how to blow through money buying overpriced products and junk equipment.

BTW. I once used WD-40 in an iron skillet to cook scrambled eggs when I ran out of cooking oil while camping in the La Plata Mountains of Colorado. Why aren't I DEAD son ?
 

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stephen583

Jr. Member
Jan 30, 2017
73
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610 South 900 West Riverside Apts. #108
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Goldwasher claims he can out produce any "poop tube" sluice by panning. That's wonderful. I met another "speed pan" expert on Rose Creek in Arizona a few years back. Fella had tailing piles three feet high all around him, and all he ever used was a pan. His nickname was "Mongo" and it was quite a sight to see him at work.

Question is, "What has that got to do with the average panner" ? (Answer) NOTHING ! Panning for the average guy involves extreme concentration. It's tediously slow and mentally exhausting.. for years I was just an average panner. Which is why most people prefer to use any size sluice, rather than pan. I'm a pretty fair speed panner myself now (I learned a from Mongo) and I could probably out produce a "poop tube" sluice as well. Why would I do that when I can relax and simply spoon feed a poop tube sluice and save myself a lot of stress ? (Answer) I wouldn't. So Goldwasher's boast is IRRELEVANT to the average panner.

That's what I mean about you guys posting irrelevant information that is going to lead newcomers astray.
 

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stephen583

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Jan 30, 2017
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610 South 900 West Riverside Apts. #108
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"SLIUCES ARE USED TO PRODUCE CONSENTRATES" ??? Seriously ?! You guys gotta be kidding, right ? If the mats in your sluice box ARN'T eliminating most of the sands and tiny gravel and mostly catching gold.. well you need to lose those stock mats immediately and find something that actually works ! LOL !

OH ! I forgot.. you're shoveling raw unclassified, unwashed soil onto your huge sluice. In other words, you're Gorilla miners ? Shovel a ton of dirt onto an otherwise useful piece of equipment, creating glogged mats, riffles, gravel screens and miners moss (all of which equals LOST gold and blowouts) just to collect what you are calling "Concentrate" ?

REAL concentrate isn't predominately made up of mud, clay, gravel, rocks, plant roots, with a boatload of white and black sand ! Like the muck you are scrapping out of your sluice every fifteen minutes. That's not concentrate, it's MUCK ! LOL.

What do you do with your messy "muck" at the end of the day, just continue throwing it onto your sluice the following day trying to accomplish something different ?

You are aware repeating the same act over and over again, producing the same negative outcome, and expecting a different outcome every time is the definition of INSANITY, arn't you ?

What about classifying and washing the dirt first before you put it on your sluice mats and collecting some gold, instead of what you're calling concentrate ? Takes me about an extra ten minutes a bucket to do it the right way.
 

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goldhog

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George-Costanza-Eating-Popcorn.gif
 

nh.nugget

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DSCF0379.JPG DSCF0195.JPG Kinda' sounds like someone else we know. The thread was about buying pay dirt not arguing about equipment just so you know.
 

Goldwasher

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That is why I apologized for the tangent. The fact remains That sluices do concentrate material. When ran properly they do not clog with mud clay or gravel.
Also cons in a sluice aren't coming out with mud or clay.
Honestly if your running "mud" or clay your running the wrong material.

Any serious prospector knows that in wet areas the gold is on the top layer of clay. It is easy to scrape that layer and break it up before running.
Any serious desert prospector knows my Clay-B-gone comments are spot on!

You can not use the stuff in an open system, your throwing money away with no benefit to your work at all.

If toothpaste and peroxide works great. Putting any sort of petroleum product in your pan is absurd.

I'm not a speed panner. Though I can process material faster in a pan than I can by classifying it and running it through a four inch wide poop tube.

The fact that you need a catch pan speaks volumes.

If a sluice can't accept a pans worth of bank run material and process it about every ten seconds whats the point? Sluices are to make processing material faster.
A poop tube is not going to do that.

It is crazy the horror stories about setting up a sluice. I have met hundreds of people over the years all over the the West that have had no such issues.

An Iron sluice? HA HA

So many old wives tells have been created about running a sluice that some people get convinced they have to run a tablespoon at a time or they're losing gold.

Run a keene or proline fast and flat. So it will push three inch rock and runs the area between the riffles relatively bare if you let it run with out material for 20 -30 seconds and you are doing just fine.

NH Nuggets keene is set up perfectly as his sluice shows once removed.

I was running all gold hog until flood water went higher than I expected. I'll get them out of the pond when it dries up. I hope

Glad your matts don't float DOC!!!

I had to go back to "old school" gear I was quickly reminded how good (great) it is at recovery. Also that a clean out and reset ain't no Thang at all.

Enjoy your popcorn Doc. Try not to spit out your soda on the keyboard:headbang:
 

stephen583

Jr. Member
Jan 30, 2017
73
67
610 South 900 West Riverside Apts. #108
Detector(s) used
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View attachment 1417846 View attachment 1417847 Kinda' sounds like someone else we know. The thread was about buying pay dirt not arguing about equipment just so you know.

I have a bit broader interpretation of what this thread is about. It's about buying junk LIKE "pay dirt" as well as being exploited my other miners. Like recommending the new guys buy stock aluminum sluices off the internet with lousy mats.
 

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mofugly13

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Jan 30, 2015
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"SLIUCES ARE USED TO PRODUCE CONSENTRATES" ??? Seriously ?! You guys gotta be kidding, right ? If the mats in your sluice box ARN'T eliminating most of the sands and tiny gravel and mostly catching gold.. well you need to lose those stock mats immediately and find something that actually works ! LOL !

OH ! I forgot.. you're shoveling raw unclassified, unwashed soil onto your huge sluice. In other words, you're Gorilla miners ? Shovel a ton of dirt onto an otherwise useful piece of equipment, creating glogged mats, riffles, gravel screens and miners moss (all of which equals LOST gold and blowouts) just to collect what you are calling "Concentrate" ?

REAL concentrate isn't predominately made up of mud, clay, gravel, rocks, plant roots, with a boatload of white and black sand ! Like the muck you are scrapping out of your sluice every fifteen minutes. That's not concentrate, it's MUCK ! LOL.

What do you do with your messy "muck" at the end of the day, just continue throwing it onto your sluice the following day trying to accomplish something different ?

You are aware repeating the same act over and over again, producing the same negative outcome, and expecting a different outcome every time is the definition of INSANITY, arn't you ?

What about classifying and washing the dirt first before you put it on your sluice mats and collecting some gold, instead of what you're calling concentrate ? Takes me about an extra ten minutes a bucket to do it the right way.
Who said their cons were full of muck, roots etc.??? Just wonderinh where all that ^^^^^^ came from??
 

stephen583

Jr. Member
Jan 30, 2017
73
67
610 South 900 West Riverside Apts. #108
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BTW kids. If you decide to prospect with gorilla miners don't let them talk you into lugging around three quarter full buckets of raw dirt, or muck full of gravel (oh ! excuse me, concentrate ?) ! Walking around slippery rocks in a stream, or stepping off a one foot incline with a heavy bucket of earth in each hand is a surest way I know to break an ankle !

The way I do it. I don't carry heavy buckets of anything anywhere. I classify and wash the dirt right where I dig it. All the weight of the dirt, gravel and rocks is eliminated right at the source. The mud and clay are liquefied and poured out of the wet bucket, which only has to be picked up once and emptied of solution, while you are standing still. The dry bucket is never picked up. You throw your dirt into it, until you are ready to start classifying it over another empty bucket with a screen. The dry classified earth is then transferred to a wash bucket containing my alternative homemade "Clay-B-Gone" solution to using a garden trowel. After washing it, the wet concentrate is transferred to a small 2 quart bucket and carried down to the sluice for processing. The only 5 gallon buckets I carry anywhere, are always EMPTY. I've lugged forty 5 gallon buckets of earth a day to a sluice box, and lemme tell you kids, it ain't good for your back at any age.

Notice in this entire operation, no full five gallon buckets of earth, or muck (excuse me again, concentrate ?) are being carried anywhere. And don't let the armchair gorilla miners in Tnet tell you it's o.k. if you only carry half full buckets of dirt. Gorilla miners won't tolerate that ! They wanna see those buckets FULL. The next minute they're hollerin "Bring more dirt boy ! And hurry it up if wanna get paid !"

Of course I could do it the stupid and hard way like them, but what would be the sense in that ? Same goes for panning as opposed to sluicing. I can eat a sandwich and drink a beer while I feed a sluice with one hand. Why would I want to pan ?
 

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stephen583

Jr. Member
Jan 30, 2017
73
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610 South 900 West Riverside Apts. #108
Detector(s) used
dowser (rods) and metal detectors
Primary Interest:
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Who said their cons were full of muck, roots etc.??? Just wonderinh where all that ^^^^^^ came from??

It came out of your mouths. You admitted you are throwing raw unclassified, unwashed earth on a sluice. Muck is the natural result of doing that ! (Goldwasher said that BTW).
 

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deserdog

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May 17, 2013
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It came out of your mouth. You admitted you are throwing raw unclassified, unwashed earth on a sluice. Muck is the natural result of doing that !

Now that is really funny! I have been sluicing since 1968, when I built my own sluice box out of wood. And if you are having muck in your cons, then you are not setting up your sluice right, as simple as that.
 

mofugly13

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Jan 30, 2015
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It came out of your mouth. You admitted you are throwing raw unclassified, unwashed earth on a sluice. Muck is the natural result of doing that !

Now you've lost me.... Please quote me where I said anything like that, at all, in this thread.... or any other, ever...
The post you quoted, above and this one are my only two contributions to this thread. Soo.....
 

Goldwasher

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May 26, 2009
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Sailor Flat, Ca.
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It came out of your mouth. You admitted you are throwing raw unclassified, unwashed earth on a sluice. Muck is the natural result of doing that !


Not if you know what your doing. Sluices do not hold onto mud, muck,roots,clay or any other light material.

I run more material doing it my way. I catch more gold and do not have poor recovery. Everything you are stating is very uninformed and incorrect.

Stream sluices are not junk. They do exactly what they are supposed to and are quite affordable.
 

Goldwasher

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May 26, 2009
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Sailor Flat, Ca.
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Now you've lost me.... Please quote me where I said anything like that, at all, in this thread.... or any other, ever...
The post you quoted, above and this one are my only two contributions to this thread. Soo.....

You know what they say about how it pays to pay attention:occasion14:

Come visit me this season and I'll show you how to Gorilla sluice:tongue3:

Promise you won't be dissapointed.
 

stephen583

Jr. Member
Jan 30, 2017
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610 South 900 West Riverside Apts. #108
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No one said "red" clay either...but, whatevs!

Well if you don't classify your earth before you throw it on a sluice, "WHEN DOES THE RED CLAY COME OUT" ? Plain creek water isn't going to dissolve it. Does it just magically VANISH ? Do you have a Genie with you, or a Magician ? If the junk ain't removed, it ain't concentrate yet. It's still MUCK.
 

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