Best bagged paydirt to buy?

[EvilVOG]

I know there has been lots of discussions on this subject, I've read through most of them. What it comes down to is, I live at least 300-400 miles from anywhere that has enough gold to make panning for gold rewarding. I don't have much free time as it is, and i'm not looking to get rich. I just want to pan and find enough gold to have it be entertaining.

Not looking to hear a debate on why people should or should not buy bagged dirt. This is just for me (or anyone else) who has already made the decision to buy some and are looking for recommendations. Or maybe if you have bought some share your experience with the seller/dirt.

I have panned a little before, but just bought my first pan that came with a 1/4lb of concentrate dirt:from ebay seller. Kit cost me 19.50, he sells a 1/2 lb bag for $10 just for reference. Not an expert at panning, nor have i weighed what i have, but below is a pic of my 2nd of what will be 3 pans I will get out of the 1/4 lb sample.




So if you could help me make my next purchase, and if anyone has any tips on getting flour gold out of this blond sand without a miller table... thanks

Also I see a member here sells some, I may contact you, or send me a pm.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[MrWareWolf]

Resurrecting my old thread for the new discussion we have going on bagged paydirt.

Will also add a new review... bought some dirt from the Gold Rush Paydirt Co. Which is the official brand of the TV show "Gold Rush". They claim the dirt is directly from Scribner creek, Parker Schnabel's claim.

It cost 19.95 plus shipping for one lb. And one out of every 200 bags or so gets 250 worth of nuggets thrown in.

Very easy panning but did need some classifying. Not as much gold as other samples I've bought, but was also not dissapointed. I bought it more for the fact I was panning dirt from Parker ' s claim.

More reviews to come, hopefully I can also track down some details of the stuff I panned last year and never reported on here, including one I got from New York I think, that had decent gold and a silver nugget.

He's my unsung hero! He passes by pay that is too cheap to be worth running.. Could be what he sells, I know that's how I'd do it. "this has a little gold in it".. is all I'd say.. haha.

We should organize dirt exchanges! I'll send you 20# of random utah dirt, you send me 20 from your state.. I got gold where I am, so I get lined up with a pay-state as well, yay me!! Hehe..

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[MrWareWolf]

Just a thought to digest, Best Gold Paydirt ? Are you talking about guaranteed Gold or unsearched paydirt. Most sellers have a raw paydirt that they salt with an advertised amount of gold. But then there are paydirt concentrates, unsearched and/or salted. Are you buying paydirt to find pickers and nuggets or just to have a hobby and see some colour. How much do you want to spend. The list goes on. Do you want it to be easy to pan out or do you like super thick black sand for the challenge. Try them all like have. And decide for yourself. Try not to limit yourself to one seller. Its kind of like playing golf, a variety of courses to play is better than just one.

Yeah, try what you can afford.. I like lot of weight to my boxes of dirt, but I'm also a tightwad, so I get cheapo stuff & get cheapo results.. I look for a place that took the time to put together a good looking listing. If they spell stuff right, and give a crap, they're probably honest people (pipe dream). Friends have rec'd a couple people too, who I will try in next few months. This stuff is like coffee, ya do get tired of the same 'look' of dirt.. over and over.. Each place sends unique material, so it's fun!

Total spend on paydirt ~ $100, for around 30lbs. If I total 2 grams, I'll be surprised when its all said and done. No biggy. Still fun to run! 4 places total, now. I'm not the review kind of guy, but if this (latest buy) culvert dirt is impressive, maybe I'll make a youtube vid.

Someone in Utah county donate me a kids pool, so I can run in my basement! It's cold outside!

 

[VERMONTPACKRAT]

I have bought a few bags of dirt on ebay from (wolfjeff). Challenging bags with alot of black sand. I think his bags are concentrates with a little more color added. I usually get about 65% ROI. One $25 bag had a .82 nugget with another .22 in smaller stuff. I think his dirt is the real deal as a few times I have gotten some lead shot and one lead sinker so far.

VPR

 

[slikriktn1]

I have bought a few bags on ebay from dobis_in_ca,ron0346,benjaminanrockcompany and electric2525 ,all of it was very similar,classified to 1/4",unsalted and not gone through supposedly.All but the dirt from ron0346 produced about the same results .100-.250 gram with a few pickers and a couple of nice little nuggets.All averaged about $1.50-$2.00 per #.To try to keep cost down I would watch the auctions and bid accordingly to keep it around $1.50 #.So far the best I have run has been from benjaminanrockcompany.As long as you understand you won't get rich and it is really all in fun you will do ok,I really haven't found anything to write home about in 3-4# of pay-dirt so far.

 

[Pirate Vern]

I have bought a few bags of dirt on ebay from (wolfjeff). Challenging bags with alot of black sand. I think his bags are concentrates with a little more color added. I usually get about 65% ROI. One $25 bag had a .82 nugget with another .22 in smaller stuff. I think his dirt is the real deal as a few times I have gotten some lead shot and one lead sinker so far.

VPR

Love all the info on the Paydirt... After reading through most of posts it appears to me that most are about same.. I LOVE the fact that you got some random stuff VPR! A lead sinker... Awesome! LOL! Will have to give them a try..

I am currently buying off of EBay from Constellation mining and getting about 55% ROI. Which in my opinion is just fine. They have a blog and are a small little family operation in Quartz Creek, Alaska. I like the idea of supporting, even in the smallest way, a small operation of people doing it because they are passionate about it.

I am now working 60+ hours a week, and there is absolutely no chance of doing any actual prospecting in my future. So paydirt is the way to go for me

 

[norcalsteve]

If you want a guaranteed amount of gold check out GoldBay. They sell cons with guaranteed ( usually more than stated ) 1 gram and up. Good company.

 

[arizau]

Hey all! I love this forum. You guys are great. Here are my ramblings on this topic...



Should I smooth out the bottom of my pan?? It has marks from where it was released from the mold (guessing), should those be shaved off carefully so its smooth on the seams

You have same motivation as me, I want to be sure I can pull the gold out, before spending a lot of time in any place doing the physical labor..

I bought some gel dish soap for dishwashers.. I dip my finger in it, and rub some into/on the pan before starting.. Like you would grease a pan before baking. I rinse it off too, and then use the pan, involved process, but it seems to show me lots of specs of gold I can't even catch except with snuffer. The real gold pieces don't float for me, but some flower does (actually pyrite/mica??). I think jetdry probably works better but I've never tried it. They didn't have any JetDry at the dollar store 8p

Which, by the way: I get lots of scoops, containers of various sizes and shape, coarse classifying hand screens, etc. etc. and other supplies from the dollar store. Gives me chance to try lot of different idea's.. Often ya break one or two trying to make something, but whatever, it was $5 of crap.. Low risk..

My biggest recommendation to all newb's would be to classify and re-classify to get out the weirdo big material that finds its way into fines..

Constant battle..

In fact, I just physically look over the biggest junk, no sense panning for nug when there won't be any in 99.9% of the paydirt I buy.. cheapo that I am..

Buy MANY 5-gallon buckets, a powerful pump (made to run dirty water), some good bucket classifiers, a few rubbermaids..couple big ones if ya can!

All these are must-have items. I'm planning a miller table soon, homebrew.. From a plate of marble I have.. 8) Need to ask a friend about that..

From my personal exp with bought paydirt is that it's salted with dust, mica, pyrite, silver/platinum/lead ??, wood, grass, and have found glass and even plastic bits before. Some purchased dirts are better than others; payout is at most 1:2 where higher is cost, as was said earlier.

When possible you want to buy material that is virgin, hasn't been run at all, obviously.

I've bought dirt from South Carolina, Nevada, and Arizona so far.

All fun to run. However, barely ANY gold so far recovered. I'm still a newb though, probably blowing it out! My lighting is akin to a candle, useless for this fine of material.. Got a light, but need a bulb, DOH! House full of CFL's is NOT going to work for what I'm doing!!

I've found that culvert sediment (while very hard to find) is fun, but very challenging to run. It is the stuff that let's water drain under dirt roads in remote places, the metal tubes get gunked up with silt sand, etc. People sell it in area's where there is known to be gold around. This batch I got recently (20 lbs!!) has TONS of black sand and v. v. v. fine materials. I've got most of mine off amazon. They ship in pre-paid US postal boxes for lowest shipping costs. We don't get silt in the rivers here like this (I live in Northern Utah), it looks like hard-rock powder almost.

I'm classifying/processing through the sizes of screens before seriously running any of it. Also, until recently, I've needed a few parts to slow my flow, which I have now, so I can run soon.

I do get stuff thru my 100 screen..when I use water..but classifying with water is a *****. At that point its hard to contain it, but it does collect in the bottom of the bucket. Is like cement almost, cant drive your fingers thru it, until you break through the surface.. I classify to 1/15th with a kitchen collandar, catching all the rocks..look them over..set aside..useless for the most part. Then onto the bucket classifiers: 1/20th (most fun to run!) 1/50th (hmmm soupy) & 1/100th (holy crap this is a mess!) for my screens..

The 100th clogs so fast, its painful to use, really. 1/8" of material on the bottom of the screen will hold up 4" of water, scrape your finger across, and it pulls a tiny bit more material out..shooot me please..no, not really, but it's tedious for sure. I would skip this finest screen if I had to buy them over, and get a more coarse size instead, two of the 1/30th or something else, that would be more useful.

Last, I save and re-run every bit of dirt I have so far, and re-collect it.

My run pattern: I first run the bigs, clean out, run mediums, cleanout, run fines (these clean out automatically), run ultra-cloudy ultrafines..

Alllll this through a bucket (cleanup) sluice. Into a rubbermaid for re-classification again.

I keep telling myself before I run that I should pull each size back out into a seperate bucket. Then I'm too lazy to do it.. wanna keep running material!! and Later.. I spend tons of time re-classifying..grr..

It's tedious, but it's practice! 8)

Have a full-size sluice box, but no header for it (to keep water going out the back..), need to homebrew that shiz too..

Begs some questions:
Why don't ALL classification screens have built-in water nozzle's, in the side? Just gotta agitate the material between them sometimes..not a big flow..1/4" ID tube would be ample.. A ball-bearing mounted in opposing sides of these (in the ring where they contact) would help em spin, which does wonders for the thru-rate if you don't care about a leak of water down the side..

Also, whats with the flimsy (there for strength) cross-members in my screens, I wouldn't mind them being made to last with thick material, even paddles that hang into the screen below..again, move junk around and more goes through the screen==winning.

At the end of it all, aside from trying to catch material smaller than 1/100th of an inch, it's fun as ----!! 8))

Good luck, and drop me back your wisdom, please?

Just a couple of suggestions for classifying your CONCENTRATES.

1. Classify concentrates only when the material is dry.

2. Do not dump large quantities into the classifiers. A tablespoon or two for 4 or 6" and a cup or so for the bucket sized ones is enough. Dump and repeat then pan out the collected sizes.

The first panning should disintegrate any clods and dirt will be washed from larger material. Dry the material and start the process again to recover more gold if any.

Wet classification is best used stream side to dissolve clods and wash dirt accumulations from larger material prior to the material being fed to your sluice, etc. A good way to wet classify is to agitate while submerged and periodically raise the classfier and let the water drain.
Good luck.

 

[EvilVOG]

I have some many samples right now, still waiting on my highbanker that should be here on Monday.

One review to add in the meantime.

I ran across an eBay auction for "Gold panning supplys" (that how he spelled it). The location interested me, he sells out of Muskegon, Michigan. I asked him where he got his dirt from and he pointed out a river in northern Michigan. I live in Michigan so the thought of local gold got my attention, I buy dirt mostly because I know there shouldn't be much worth digging anywhere near here.

Cost me 7.50 + 5.60 shipping, total of 13.10. what I got was a run of the mill gold pan, a pipet, a small vial, and 3 bags of dirt. One bag was the advertised 4 Oz, next was a "free 1 Oz in case you're not satisfied" and then a tiny bag with a little bit of drastically different dirt. The first two bags were mostly black sand. There might have been a fine grain or two, or that may have just been left over in my pan. Basically there was no gold. In the tiny bit of different dirt, there was one decent flake that I'm sure was planted in it.

Most disappointed I've been with bagged dirt, but I took a chance for the extra pan to let my cousins use.

 

[EvilVOG]

I forgot to ad that guy is a new seller, but appears to be the same person as another seller i saw on Ebay, looking to rebuild the terrible feedback score his other profile has. I will post the other name when I find it again.

 

[bobw53]

Just a couple of suggestions for classifying your CONCENTRATES.

1. Classify concentrates only when the material is dry..

I'm trying to learn here, so I am going to ask why?

Are you saying don't classify "damp" material because it sticks?

I've only screened down to .007",(80 mesh, but the holes are only seven thou).

I've found wet, as in literally in water works quite well. Where I can wash and wash and wash.

I've got some smaller screen coming today 120 or 140, its says .0037"..

Just trying to learn.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Wet classifying works great. Especially good for anything with even a tiny bit of clay in it. Dry classifying is faster for large volumes of material but that's the only good thing I have to say about it. Easy for small gold to stick to big rocks during dry classifying

 

[arizau]

I'm trying to learn here, so I am going to ask why?

Are you saying don't classify "damp" material because it sticks?

I've only screened down to .007",(80 mesh, but the holes are only seven thou).

I've found wet, as in literally in water works quite well. Where I can wash and wash and wash.

I've got some smaller screen coming today 120 or 140, its says .0037"..

Just trying to learn.

For all that read this: Notice that I originally prefaced my suggestions based on classifying CONCENTRATES and, in retrospect, maybe I should have added "obtained by sluicing or another type of wet method such as panning, etc.. It also relates mostly to screening material sized 30 mesh and smaller as all material above that size is already pretty easy to pan.

Almost all wet method concentrates are basically free of bound or binding material eg. mud or clay balls (which are part of the usual reason for wet classification) particularly in mesh sizes below about 30 mesh. If there are clods in smaller mesh sizes they will usually disintegrate while they are being processed allowing what gold that may be within to be liberated.

Of course you can wet screen but wet screening of concentrates (for others reading, remember that is the subject) is slower and harder than dry screening. Material sinks slower in water than through air. Maybe that and what I will explain below is part of the reason you said you "wash and wash and wash". Also wet screening of small mesh sized black sand promotes screen blinding ( clogging the screen) partially because the material cakes (locked up material) form on the screen when it is fed. A slower side to side motion of material over the screen is promoted due to water resistance which makes it much harder to get all of the particles in motion at one time. Also remember it is enclosed so there is little to no side to side water motion inside the sieve below the surface wave action). Up and down motion will help though. This is much not the case with dry material and is a usual "best practice" in laboratory procedures. Also the usual procedure is to stack onto increasingly smaller sieves which is what I do also. Think - Time Saver. I also recommend small portions of feed at a time to help insure spreading of the material on the screen. Maybe I should have said in the previously referenced post "It is best and easiest to dry screen" then explained why as I have just now done.

Now for general consumption: As I have said before (actually part of the above referenced post), wet screening of RAW FEED MATERIAL(using no smaller than 8 mesh) is, in my book, a "best practice" as it washes the stones, dissolves clods and liberates the gold for capture in the pan, etc. but if your sluice can handle larger material then let it eat. Put reasonably large stones in a pan too and wash them if you think gold may be in the mud or dirt on it. Or set them aside and wash them later. A bazooka will wash, sort, efficiently clean and concentrate if you are in a spot that you can run one.

I hope this helps you and heavy pans what ever your chosen method.

PS I think and hope the 120 will help you with the material you described in a previous post.

 

[lawsonland]

Hi,
Keep the reviews coming. My son and I want to do some panning for fun. We are near philadelphia and have to bring the dirt to us. I don't want to purchase gold and mix it in. I would like it to be a surprise so I would like to go with "unsearched" not the "seeded" stuff but also don't want to be scammed. Honest "dirt that they would pan" stuff
I've looked at several sites mentioned and will wait for a few more reviews before jumping in.

Thanks all and please provide your honest thoughts on which to get.

Really wish we were out west
Jon

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I am glad to see appositive threadon buying paydirt and concentrates too often it's made fun of or look down on myself I would love to go to the stream and try to find gold but as a disabled vet waiting on a knee replacement it's physically impossible for me to do that I try to get my kids to drive 4 hours north to New Hampshire to bring me paydirt but they never seem to be able to also I think it is the thrill of the unknown that keeps me from just buying raw gold and mixing my own paydirt I realizedyeah a 50 percent r o I is usually pretty good and I wanted do with that.about 3 years ago I went up to New Hampshire 4 times and finally found for little specks of gold each trip runs a couple hundred dollars for gas and Campground.I would like to be able to do it myself but in my current physical state even pain in the back yard is painful on my knees.

 

[okbasspro]

I am glad to see appositive threadon buying paydirt and concentrates too often it's made fun of or look down on myself I would love to go to the stream and try to find gold but as a disabled vet waiting on a knee replacement it's physically impossible for me to do that I try to get my kids to drive 4 hours north to New Hampshire to bring me paydirt but they never seem to be able to also I think it is the thrill of the unknown that keeps me from just buying raw gold and mixing my own paydirt I realizedyeah a 50 percent r o I is usually pretty good and I wanted do with that.about 3 years ago I went up to New Hampshire 4 times and finally found for little specks of gold each trip runs a couple hundred dollars for gas and Campground.I would like to be able to do it myself but in my current physical state even pain in the back yard is painful on my knees.

Ben I am going to visit my claim in Arizona and as a thank you for your service I will send you a flat rate box of dirt absolutely no cost to you. Just pm me your address. It will be dirt from a area I am currently working but no promises on tons of gold I will screen to 1/4". Again thanx for your service.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Per my PM, I will do the same...special delivery to you in MA

 

[okbasspro]

Per my PM, I will do the same...special delivery to you in MA

There we go he will have plenty to pan now

 

[EvilVOG]

been a long time coming i have new reviews, and my new equipment is here!

Starting with the new gear, I got a #58 mini highbanker from RDH prospecting. Was really hoping it would be good for cleaning black sand along with sluicing, but other than that it's pretty great. Probably wan't a good idea to hoard all these samples as many of them are too small to be worth running on the highbanker. I have had enough with a couple to run on it and haven't been able to find any gold in my taillings so it seems to work really good.

Here is a short vid of it running: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=V_SQOaHp8KI&feature=youtu.be

New reviews... First one was from another TV show, Bearing Sea Gold, bought off eBay seller bearingseagold - supposedly Daryl Galipeau a diver that was on the show, from the Wild Ranger and The Eroica. This was reportedly collected on the Eroica, on the show. Definitely came as if his claims are true, direct from his home address. Cost me $34.96 for 4 oz. I panned this by hand since it was concentrates. So much gold in this dirt, and my first picker/ tinker. probably the best return i've had buying dirt. Plus there was one really nice garnet. There were also tiny gray round balls in there, that reacted to magnets. Although a few weeks later sitting in water there's no rust or anything. Not sure what they are.



next up was dirt from eBay seller ncgoldgetter, which seems to be the same people i bought some of my best dirt from last year. Last year the name was tammysncgold or something like that, but the logo and presentation is nearly identical. $14.50 + $3.76 shipping for 8oz. Ran it on the highbanker as my first test of it since this should have been proven dirt. Results were pretty disappointing. I initially was thinking the sluice was missing it, but i could not find any gold in my taillings, that i re-panned in small batches by hand a couple times.

 

[EvilVOG]

Next up, I won an eBay auction "2 for 1" from goldnuggetauction. two 2 oz. bags from California. $9.95 + 4.95 shipping. pretty good gold for a small sample, only panned one of the 2 bags so far.



next was three one pound bags from eBay seller smaprospecting. $7.50 + $5.00 shipping from Arizona. great raw dirt, not concentrates, so it was perfect for running it on the highbanker.


After that there was dirt from eBay seller ripsnort2012. From Colorado, $18.50 + 5.95 shipping for a one pound bag. Smelled a little like potting soil, but i'm pretty positive it was not. Lots of what looks like gems stood out to me while classifying, a couple resembling what i remember a raw diamond looking like, but i'm no expert. Decent gold.



last for not was another eBay auction, MILLED PAYDIRT, Gold / Silver Ore Milled and Classified to -30 Mesh {15 Pounds} from gift-wood. $21.95 + 12.95 shipping. They sell two types of matieral, raw rock ore, and this, which is the same rock material ground into powder. dusty, nasty powder. The silt was insane. I ran 5 lbs through the highbanker and caught a little gold, and a little silver. Tried to run the next 10 lbs non-stop through the highbanker, but the silt produced by this material just turns to a clay like sludge that i think plugged my carpets up so that i was losing gold. It also ruined the water i was using and the taillings were near impossible to remove. Maybe you could run this if you had a continuous supply of fresh water, but i think it was a waste of time.

 

[Malestrom]

Mace, please don't be offended but that is a PATHETIC amount of gold for bought paydirt. Kuger's paydirt has MUCH more. Check out my video of a two pound bag from Cody from the archives. THAT is what you SHOULD be getting. That is why you must stay with one of us! Sorry about the rant but I'm trying to look out for ya. TTC

Terry, where do i find your video?
Thanks
Michael