Watching gold rush the other day.

KevinInColorado

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I was watching gold rush the other day, and Parker was having a access road made to his claim by Tony Beeks. And they uncovered some virgin gravel. Parkeer did a test pan and got about 15 colors or so. Is this pretty good?

Depends on particle size. 15 colors all -150 mesh ain’t ****. Both because it doesn’t add up to much and because their commercial scale equipment won’t catch it anyway!
 

RTR

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15 colors per pan per , X 1 Million yards of material processed adds up.
 

arizau

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I watched the episode and many visible colors appeared to me to be somewhere above 20 mesh. That would add up in a hurry if the pan is truly representative of the total deposit. Bear in mind that the wash plant runs about 200 or so yards per hour and a pan full is probably less than a half gallon in volume eg. a tiny fraction of a yard of pay.
 

placertogo

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Impressive but you have to figure the total amount of material processed and the costs of equipment, fuel, labor, claim royalties, etc.
 

OP
OP
D

deserdog

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Years ago in Cajon Pass, I test panned an area, and got 42 colors in 3 pans. I set my sluice up there and would shovel about an hour before work every day. My black sand, after panning down to mostly black san, would have 5 to 10 colors per tablespoon.
 

russau

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What gets me is the amounts of gold they do get VRS. the amount of gold that is left on the ground that their dozer or lift cant get. You would think that after they are done getting the vast amount of gold that their equipment can get that a enterprising miner don't go in and suck up what id left in the cracks and low spots with a dry land dredge or something similar that will capture this gold. OR maybe they just don't show that in another show. I know this material isn't worth their time and investment to get BUT still ????????????????????????
 

placertogo

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Aug 25, 2010
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I have watched their sluice operations and gold sizes at weigh-ins and am convinced they are losing a fortune in finer sizes of gold.
 

OreCart

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What gets me is the amounts of gold they do get VRS. the amount of gold that is left on the ground that their dozer or lift cant get. You would think that after they are done getting the vast amount of gold that their equipment can get that a enterprising miner don't go in and suck up what id left in the cracks and low spots with a dry land dredge or something similar that will capture this gold. OR maybe they just don't show that in another show. I know this material isn't worth their time and investment to get BUT still ????????????????????????

I was at the Black Thunder Mine in Wright, WY getting a tour, and while this is coal and not gold mining, this 300 ton truck comes around the bend to back into the crusher and coal rolls off the truck in a huge heap. I said, "You guys must scape that up at the end of the shift and run it through the crusher?" And he said, "No, it is just waste." I said, "That would heat my house for the rest of my life", to which the man said he had never thought of that way before?

They did not grow up on a farm, I can assure you. I don't know how you can see that much waste and not recover it.
 

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