The fines and the finds, the quest for gold

Dig'em

Jr. Member
Jan 24, 2015
82
183
Joshua Tree, California
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Primary Interest:
Other

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Oct 5, 2014
31,886
35,424
Massachusetts
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett: AT Pro, AT Gold & Infinium; Minelab: Explorer SE, II; Simplex; Tesoro: Tejon & Outlaw; White's: V3i
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Hello Dig'em,

Congratulations on the nice "chunk" find!

Regards,
 

goldog

Hero Member
Sep 25, 2012
923
987
Tujunga, CA
Detector(s) used
Bazooka Gold Trap, A-51, Gold Pan
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Welcome! That chunk casts a nice shadow. All I ask is ~ how - do you sluice, detect, pan ? , how'd you get the fever? Have you been doing this long?

Oh, most of all where!? Jus kidding, I look forward to another journal.
 

OP
OP
Dig'em

Dig'em

Jr. Member
Jan 24, 2015
82
183
Joshua Tree, California
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Primary Interest:
Other
Oh, most of all where!? Jus kidding, I look forward to another journal.

Not too far from you Goldog, you probably know the spot well! As for me I guess I should of included a little bit about me. The symptoms started to appear about 2 years ago and progressed rapidly. First it appeared as a casual obsession, a few Youtube videos here and there and some local panning in an area not exactly known for the gold. I managed to find a small speck and an interesting copper/gold covered pebble. I was hooked! Next thing you know I'm building a sluice and miller table. After a couple of trips to somewhere better known for their gold and successfully getting some fly poop, I purchased an A52 and a Gold Bug2. Now I find myself studying google earth maps, LR2000 reports, pricing storage units and dreaming of a claim somewhere. I just might throw my belongings in storage and set out on a gold adventure
 

Last edited:
OP
OP
Dig'em

Dig'em

Jr. Member
Jan 24, 2015
82
183
Joshua Tree, California
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Primary Interest:
Other
And then the trash... This was from my first desert trip, digging everything just to learn my machine better. I've since purchased some nugget buster headphones. Now I just need some nuggets!
 

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Jeff95531

Silver Member
Feb 10, 2013
2,625
4,094
Deep in the redwoods of the TRUE Northern CA
Detector(s) used
Teknetics Alpha 2000
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Welcome Dig'em. My last trip out, my site was under water so I went metal detecting somewhere else instead. Found about what you showed (only less). There was one lone, large, unique tree in a open area which I practically raced to. Lots of hits...ALL pulltabs from people sitting under the tree drinking beer. Oh well.

Ps Any shells (brass or shotgun) that have been closed up...open them! Miners were known to store gold in them. :thumbsup:

Good luck and looking forward to your adventures.
 

OP
OP
Dig'em

Dig'em

Jr. Member
Jan 24, 2015
82
183
Joshua Tree, California
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Primary Interest:
Other
Here's the cleanup from my last trip when I got my picker. I was running two sluices inline this time. I feel I did fairly well with the fine gold recovery.
 

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OP
OP
Dig'em

Dig'em

Jr. Member
Jan 24, 2015
82
183
Joshua Tree, California
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Primary Interest:
Other
Still no luck with the detector but I did stumble upon a small crystal field in the desert the other day. It's a nice quartz dike running through an iron rock field. I spent the next hour or two combing the ground for quartz points. I found a few but not as nice as the initial discovery piece. I also brought home some lode samples from 3 different locations. The red stained quartz on the left looks nice and was tailings from an old mine. The quartz dike samples on the right don't look as promising. Definitely going to hit this spot again and try digging for more crystals. I couldn't come home without some gold so I stopped by the river on the way home for an afternoon of sluicing. Found a nice flake and the usual small bits, all in all a good trip minus maybe thwarting my own robbery by having a visible gun case present. But that's another story...
 

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goldenIrishman

Silver Member
Feb 28, 2013
3,465
6,151
Golden Valley Arid-Zona
Detector(s) used
Fisher / Gold Bug AND the MK-VII eyeballs
Primary Interest:
Other
Welcome to the forum Dig'em. Looks like you've got a good start going there! Looking forward to seeing more on your adventures.
 

OP
OP
Dig'em

Dig'em

Jr. Member
Jan 24, 2015
82
183
Joshua Tree, California
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Primary Interest:
Other
Here's all the single points and a few clusters cleaned up, plus the couple of flakes that I found at the river on the way home. Also found some Chrysocolla in and open pit mine and what I believe to be Limonite pseudomorphs after Pyrite, the dark colored cubes.
 

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goldenIrishman

Silver Member
Feb 28, 2013
3,465
6,151
Golden Valley Arid-Zona
Detector(s) used
Fisher / Gold Bug AND the MK-VII eyeballs
Primary Interest:
Other
Morning Dig'em. If you want to clean the quartz that is all rust stained up, get yourself some "Super Iron Out" cleaner. Follow the directions for mixing if you get the powder type. Available at your local WallyWorld. I've used it to clean up hemimorphic quartz clusters that we find in the yard here and it does a good job. It can take it from rust to snow white with an overnight soaking. Rinse well and wear rubber gloves.
 

OP
OP
Dig'em

Dig'em

Jr. Member
Jan 24, 2015
82
183
Joshua Tree, California
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Primary Interest:
Other
Thanks GoldenIrishman, I remembered reading somewhere about a cleaning technique. I thought it was maybe CLR or something like that. Vance, I wrote something up on a Facebook page for that particular prospecting area. I was hoping to spread the word about the individuals and maybe keep it from happening again. Here's the cut and paste:

I had an interesting encounter Sunday night at about 9:30pm. When I pulled up there was only one other car parked at the spot just before the upper parking lot. I went down by the river to set up my tent and bring my sluice and digging stuff down. I was coming back from climbing in the desert so I had extra gear that I don't usually bring so I had to make more than one trip. I left the items locked in my car, covered with a tarp.

While setting up my tent I hear a car roll past and stop. I look up and see someone spotlighting my truck. I hear them back up and park. So I run up the trail to see what's going on and to get the rest of my stuff. They were just about to get out of their vehicle when they see me. They pause.... I pay no attention to them and act like I'm going to my truck. I start getting the rest of my stuff out when I start to hear approaching footsteps. I turn around and see two masked individuals wearing camouflage from head to toe. They start asking why I don't have an adventure pass and that I should go immediately and purchase one. Before they say anything more I ask them what's with the masks and camo. "Oh we're forest service and we have been going up and down this river all day." They then start to get really nosy and are trying to see the contents of my vehicle and start asking a dozen questions, Who am I with? Am I mining? Camping? Do I have anything that I shouldn't and that they should know about? Are there other campers down there? By this time I'm starting to get pissed and put two and two together. I noticed neither of them have any sort of forestry markings, firearm, ID badges, they are driving a lifted white Suzuki Samurai and sound like they were no older than early twenties. So I say "Since when does the forest service drive Samurais and run around in masks? Is this ninja hour or something?" They then stumble around the question and say they are not actual rangers but work for and report back to the Forest Service.

I call BS on that one! The minute they see me pull a gun case from the truck, they're like what's that? None of your business I answer, but they know what's inside. They then seem not so interested in me and mumble something about going down the trail to look for other campers. Not even a minute goes by and they are back up the trail and in their vehicle headed down towards nugget alley. Funny, I figured if they were really Forest Service they would go check the upper parking lot also. But we know this is not the case, too many people up there. I think they were casing my vehicle getting ready to do a smash and grab. Their vehicle was backed in, slightly pointed down hill for a quick get away. Any ideas? Anyone been questioned by these individuals over the weekend? Any recent break ins? Sorry about the rant but I thought y'all should know and maybe keep an eye out for these two.
 

OP
OP
Dig'em

Dig'em

Jr. Member
Jan 24, 2015
82
183
Joshua Tree, California
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Primary Interest:
Other
Here's a quick video of my homemade Miller table. Cleanup is from when I got the .4g picker above
 

OP
OP
Dig'em

Dig'em

Jr. Member
Jan 24, 2015
82
183
Joshua Tree, California
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Primary Interest:
Other
Messing around with running two sluices inline. I need to raise the handles on the homemade one to do this better. I still was able to trap a fair amount of fines this way
 

GoldpannerDave

Bronze Member
Apr 17, 2014
1,076
1,279
Colorado Springs, CO
Detector(s) used
Bazooka 48" Miner and 30" Sniper, Le Trap, Wolf Trap, A52, 2" dredge, Miller tables, Blue Bowl, wheel, Falcon MD20, old White's detector
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Wow! Running water and no ice; what a joy to see.

Where's the mandatory picture of the cleanup results? :)
 

OP
OP
Dig'em

Dig'em

Jr. Member
Jan 24, 2015
82
183
Joshua Tree, California
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Primary Interest:
Other
GoldpannerDave, for the cleanup check out the Miller Table video just before this one. I guess I should of posted them in opposite order.
 

GoldpannerDave

Bronze Member
Apr 17, 2014
1,076
1,279
Colorado Springs, CO
Detector(s) used
Bazooka 48" Miner and 30" Sniper, Le Trap, Wolf Trap, A52, 2" dredge, Miller tables, Blue Bowl, wheel, Falcon MD20, old White's detector
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
GoldpannerDave, for the cleanup check out the Miller Table video just before this one. I guess I should of posted them in opposite order.

I saw that; not too shabby, especially with the 0.4 g nugget. I figured the two sluices was another expedition and wanted to see if you did as well. :)
 

OP
OP
Dig'em

Dig'em

Jr. Member
Jan 24, 2015
82
183
Joshua Tree, California
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Primary Interest:
Other
Trash? I don't think so!

Here's some scraps gathered for Project Frankenwasher. Everything besides the 1/2" mesh was a dumpster find or leftovers from my landlord's projects. I'm shooting for lite and cheap. The biggest expense will be the blower. I have most of the hopper bent, stand cut and I'm figuring out the riffles box today.
 

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