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.

 

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[mace420]

Best Pay Dirt <--- Check out my blog.
I posted the results of my last sample on my blog today. I also got around to posting my home made sluice pictures. I worked great but the pump quit after 30 minutes.

 

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[cjd1467]

Just wanted to post a link to some youtube reviews of various gold sellers by Gold Paydirt reviews, he has reviewed almost 2 dozen or so sellers..good info if you buy cons.

http://www.youtube.com/user/goldpaydirtreviews/videos?view=0&flow=grid

 

[cjd1467]

Hi All,

Just wanted to post my results of the last 2 weeks of running dirt from various sellers. A few notes beforehand:

1.All of these sellers advertised as unsalted, unsearched cons.
2.All of the cons were classified at 20#, 30#, 50# & 100# beforehand.
3. All of the cons were run twice through the Blue Bowl system.
4. All yields were in grains, no gram weigh-outs at all.

SOURCE VENDOR BAG # WEIGHT YIELD MINE SOURCE PRICE NOTES
Ebay KidPuke 1 3.2lbs. 8.4gr. Arizona Placer $23.21 nice picker-3.2gr.
lot of black sands

***3 bag lot***
SOURCE VENDOR BAG # WEIGHT YIELD MINE SOURCE PRICE NOTES
Ebay MasGoldProspecting 1 1.3lbs. 1.1gr. Arizona Placer $18.65
Ebay MasGoldProspecting 2 15.25ozs.>1gr. Arizona Placer
Ebay MasGoldProspecting 3 15.75ozs.1.2gr. Arizona Placer

***3 bag lot***
SOURCE VENDOR BAG # WEIGHT YIELD MINE SOURCE PRICE NOTES
Website Gold Hog 1 1.1lbs. 1.4gr. mixed-Alaska/Canada $59.85 lot of flaky mica
Website Gold Hog 2 1.1lbs. 1.6gr. mixed-Alaska/Canada no pickers-all flour-lots of 100#
Website Gold Hog 3 1.0lbs. 2.6gr. mixed-Alaska/Canada
2014 Mini Power Bags

 

[panin]

www.golbearingpaydirt.com uses a half unsearched and half seeded mixture and also sells a completely unsearched (unseeded) option as well, there is also hard rock ore from a mine in Arizona

 

[jpdriver1]

link wouldn't load for me ---

 

[panin]

refresh your browser and it should load

 

[jpdriver1]

panin - sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but --- you left the d outta gold --- GoldBearingPaydirt

 

[HuskerGI]

I am new and have never prospected but it boils in my blood to do it. I am in Nebraska so no big gold here. Wanting to buy concentrates for my son (7) and I (38) to learn with. I want to pan and setup a small finishing sluice to do a decent amount once we get setup. Maybe around 20 lbs of concentrate......

I am techy enough to learn setups.......and patient enough to hopefully be successful. Then just maybe we can go out into the field and reproduce the techniques to find gold on our own.

Thoughts? Info? Thanks!

Barry

 

[KevinInColorado]

Good idea. Focus on learning to pan rather than setting up a finishing sluice. You don't need one of those until you are running a dredge and producing a LOT of concentrates. My friend Don at goldstrikeadventures.com sells paydirt from real Colorado prospecting sites with gold added to guarantee you will find gold. Give him a try!

...then start planning your vacation in Colorado!

 

[Duckwalk]

I actually bought some Yuba River pay dirt from amazon and I was pretty happy with it. it was my first real try at "actual paydirt" here is the link I had, although mine was cheaper when I bought it.
Amazon.com: Yuba River Gold Panning Paydirt: Everything Else

 

[Pirate Vern]

Hi All!! Just joined up today because of this Thread... I have recently started Panning for fun and have the bug.. But the nearest know producing areas to me are 4 hours away.. Which is a bit when you work full time and have kids. So I have just bought my first bag o dirt off of Ebay Product is

2lb Bag GOLD PANNING PAYDIRT RICH CONCENTRATES (291126492427)
Member id 2knagle

Hoping to get a bit more to add to my little Vial..

I went to my local GPAA Chapter meeting where I met Richard...(The Local Sand Man) and bought Paydirt from him with great results! Drawback.. He is in town once a month for meetings.. So I am looking around for other sources...

CJD and Panin I will be following the links provided..

And Mace REALLY looking forward to the Pics

 

[Pirate Vern]

Oh Wow Just watched the "Gold Paydirt Reviews" channel on youtube If you are new to ordering Paydirt Check this guy out!!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Oh Wow Just watched the "Gold Paydirt Reviews" channel on youtube If you are new to ordering Paydirt Check this guy out!!

yes, that guy did a review of my friend Don's paydirt just recently and gave him a big thumbs up: goldstrikeadventures.com

Disclosure: Don is one of my very best friends and he might say thanks if he knows I pointed someone his way (but that's all I get lol)...so let him know kevinincolorado sent you. Actually if you do that he just might add a little extra gold to your bag ;-) ...it's good to have connections!

 

[Pirate Vern]

yes, that guy did a review of my friend Don's paydirt just recently and gave him a big thumbs up: goldstrikeadventures.com

Disclosure: Don is one of my very best friends and he might say thanks if he knows I pointed someone his way (but that's all I get lol)...so let him know kevinincolorado sent you. Actually if you do that he just might add a little extra gold to your bag ;-) ...it's good to have connections!

Will do Kevin

 

[EvilVOG]

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.

 

[The Gilded Lens]

I actually bought some Yuba River pay dirt from amazon and I was pretty happy with it. it was my first real try at "actual paydirt" here is the link I had, although mine was cheaper when I bought it.
Amazon.com: Yuba River Gold Panning Paydirt: Everything Else

Well shoot, I'll go scoop up some gravel for you. That's the first I've heard of someone selling pay dirt from the Yuba. Did you get a lot of sugar grain gold of some nice chunks?

 

[EvilVOG]

That guy has pretty good reviews and decent prices. Ordered some from him too.

Gilded, if you have dirt with gold in it, why not? Lol

Only reason I buy is the only stuff close to me I could spend all day digging/ dredging and processing and come up with less than what I would find in a 2oz sample from somewhere else.

 

[The Gilded Lens]

That guy has pretty good reviews and decent prices. Ordered some from him too.

Gilded, if you have dirt with gold in it, why not? Lol

Only reason I buy is the only stuff close to me I could spend all day digging/ dredging and processing and come up with less than what I would find in a 2oz sample from somewhere else.

LOL I don't think I'd have the willpower to go down to the river, dig up promising gravel and then ship it off.

Bummer about the digging all day for small amounts! Come visit the golden state.

 

[MrWareWolf]

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

I agree, I used a Brillo pad, dish soap and sand to season the pan. scrubbed the hell out if it.
...
There are some reports if gold bearing streams here in ct and I wanted to make sure I had equipment that works.

I have been using dish soap in the water I'm panning with and in the sluice water. think I just got a not so good batch. but to be fair I still have 3 more pounds to do before I can make a true and accurate report.

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?

 

[MrWareWolf]

Oh forgot to mention! WASH THE Holy heck out of the big rocky materials, and capture all of it in the bucket below.. Get a cheap steel brush & beat them up thoroughly! I do this in a huge metal pan now, not plastic buckets which can get gouged easy by the cheap grill brushes I use to scrub my rocks, freeing them from their dirty hanging on bits.. Have found flake this way.. That's a big help there newbs!!