Does anyone else just bring gravel at home to find gold?

[firebird]

After two months of prospecting I've come to the conclusion that if I want more gold, I'm better off just digging the dirt up to dump into my pickup to process later on. Once I've prospected and sampled an area and found a specific area with gold I just dig that area up. Does anyone else here do this? Panning/sluicing in location just seems to be a waste of precious outdoor time/cost of gas that could be used hauling more paydirt instead. Then once I'm at home I can just process it in my garage and not have to worry about the cold winter water anymore.

 

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[RTR]

Bringing home classified material (to work on it in my leisure), works for me .This months take on my DIY (20x44" Miller table)
And its far more enjoying than watching a 500 channel TV,with Nothing on it

 

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[delnorter]

I only bring small samples from good looking ground I come across while working, hunting or fishing to try and locate new potential. I have brought home a few partial buckets of screened material, from proven ground, for friends or folks staying at my cabin to learn how to pan. As much fun teaching then watching people learn how pan and find their first natural gold.

Mike

 

[delnorter]

Nice gold RTR. The one vial, third from the top, looks like you might have mercury covered gold in with a more natural colored one. If so I’d separate them as the mercury will migrate to the natural nugget.

Mike

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Yes, I bring dirt home. I work until I have to leave. So I am taking home concentrates in a bucket and any material I dug but did not have time to run. Usually that is a bucket of screened material that I see no reason to dump out.

 

[RTR]

Nice gold RTR. The one vial, third from the top, looks like you might have mercury covered gold in with a more natural colored one. If so I’d separate them as the mercury will migrate to the natural nugget.

Mike

I believe the 'white' pieces are platinum and Falcon says their gold.
Also they come from a mine that produces platinum.I have other pieces that are coated in mercury but these are way too shiny than the mercury pieces.

 

[gold tramp]

I do this with hardrock ore, bring the rock to the mill.
My drywashin cons are also brought home as the bees are still on the attack even in the winter, something about open water, anyways it's more comfortable pannin at home.

I've seen guys haul out buckets to sluice at home with success.
Gt........

 

[CA Gold Hunter]

Bringing home classified material (to work on it in my leisure), works for me .This months take on my DIY (20x44" Miller table) View attachment 1666369
And its far more enjoying than watching a 500 channel TV,with Nothing on it

Dang that's awesome, mind sharing your homemade miller table. I want to make one.

 

[RTR]

Dang that's awesome, mind sharing your homemade miller table. I want to make one.

Basically I wanted one bigger than you could buy (to do more volume quicker). So I made this one 20"x44". Total cost just about $100.00 Actually its quite easy to make thanks to Utube
Used this paint & pump. Money pit (for catching Minus 150 -200 mesh). Works great ,width & depth of a table saw blade.
Only complaint is I didn't make this Years ago !
Magnified shot of money pit w/ - 100 mesh trapped in it w/ water flowing over it.

 

[johnedoe]

Basically I wanted one bigger than you could buy (to do more volume quicker). So I made this one 20"x44". Total cost just about $100.00 Actually its quite easy to make thanks to Utube View attachment 1668008
Used this paint & pump. View attachment 1668010 Money pit (for catching Minus 150 -200 mesh). Works great ,width & depth of a table saw blade. View attachment 1668011
Only complaint is I didn't make this Years ago !
Magnified shot of money pit w/ - 100 mesh trapped in it w/ water flowing over it. View attachment 1668012

Nice job .......

 

[DizzyDigger]

Haven't run my miller table in a couple years, but seeing the pics of RTR's
table made me go dig it out.

Built much the same as RTR's (old thread about it here somewhere), it's
16" x 48" inside, and built on a solid oak, former table leaf.

Brought home buckets of classified material many, many times. I think
the last time was a trip to Calif., and brought home over a dozen buckets
of material I had dug..and all from the wrong end of the 10' rectangular
hole we had dug. got zilch...

 

[RTR]

Fixing my paver sidewalk a few days ago I noticed this sand had a lot of quartz in it.So I decided to run some of it on the table(classified to minus 80). A day later when the 'money pit' was dry I brushed the material with a 2" nylon paint brush (about 2 tablespoons of it)into a pan,and panned it.
And bingo ,about a dozen specs appeared

 

[RTR]

What I've found with the table is minus 10 material is too big.The pieces of junk material just clog up the water flow which in turn bumps the gold away.I'm running a 4" drop over the 44" length,and its worked Great for minus 20 down to minus 100 material.What you need is just a thin sheet of water-flow,With no air bubbles, no waves, and a few drops of jet-dry(per 2 gals. of water). Minus 20 through minus 80 gold Will drop in its tracks (as soon as it hits the table) and stay there ! While all the rest of the stuff heads downstream w/in a second. Pix. of Minus 40 with water flowing over it
Also,I have the pump set at its Max. water flow rate of 120 GPH.

 

[No gold in NY]

I don't JUST bring home gravel. I enjoy panning and sluicing at the stream with my wife who really gets into it. I am a lucky man to have her as a partner.
When I am in the gold I classify pay dirt to 1/4 inch to bring home. Usually end up with a dozen 5 gal. pails in the basement for Winter panning. When panning at the stream I don't pan down too close. Only enough the grab the bigger pieces. The rest goes into a peanut butter jar. At home I classify that to just smaller than 12 mesh, remove the black sands and put aside for the miller table. Keeps me kinda busy for the Winter.

 

[A#1]

From a 3 gallon bucket I brought home in the fall, used it for testing a new sluice I made. So far I'm happy with my results.

 

[ARC]

Sure... And firewood / kindling too.

Neighbors hate me.