Kevin in Colorado...and elsewhere

[PatrickD]

It's true, I got out again today...this time was a full day trip to Cache Creek with Jim and Patrick (both met via tnet[emoji106]�&#57339. Had a great time, found gold, learned about a new (to me) site. Enjoyed the company of some great new prospectors!
Digging in a muddy, golden hole:
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Running the paydirt in my Bazooka Supermini...just the sluice for the low, late season waterflow[emoji106]��
View attachment 1377268
Since it is so quick and easy to cleanout, we just cleaned out each time we took turns running our individual buckets of dirt. So easy

I hope we get to dig together again soon!!

...and of course the gold I dug. Separated by size. A couple of the +30 are 3D enough to be pickers
View attachment 1377267

Hi Everyone,

I want to personally thank Kevin for the time he took yesterday. We found a really good spot on Cache Creek. I am still very new to prospecting/panning/sluicing. Thanks to Kevin I got to see some equipment in action I want to get. Also had a great time. Kevin is a lot of fun to be out prospecting with.

The best part is making two new friends (Kevin and Jim) and seeing gold in the pan. That bazooka sluice is pretty good. Quick filter on the gold without the dismantling and cleaning other sluices require.

Kevin, you are very much appreciated.

Patrick

 

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[GoldpannerDave]

At Cache Creek, I usually use my LeTrap instead of my Bazooka Sniper because of low water flow. I don't have a mini (yet).

 

[KevinInColorado]

At Cache Creek, I usually use my LeTrap instead of my Bazooka Sniper because of low water flow. I don't have a mini (yet).

If my Angus Mackirk Expedition (very similar to the Le Trap) wasn't at my son's place, I would have brought it too. Grabbing it tomorrow so I'm ready for next time! Even so the Supermini works very, very well.

GPDave, I'd love to spend a day at Cache Creek with you. It's been too long So just let me know when!

 

[PatrickD]

I liked the mini so much, I ordered one yesterday.

 

[KevinInColorado]

I liked the mini so much, I ordered one yesterday.

At that rate you'll end up with a whole collection!

 

[KevinInColorado]

I got out drywashing again today. This time I was at the site of the new craft brewery being built in the valley below my neighborhood. I got permission from the owners. They are excited to see gold from their own site. They told me I can pay for a beer with it...probably the first time in about 100 years someone in Silverthorne CO will pay for a beer with raw placer gold! I can't wait!!

 

[Hunt4gold]

I got out drywashing again today. This time I was at the site of the new craft brewery being built in the valley below my neighborhood. I got permission from the owners. They are excited to see gold from their own site. They told me I can pay for a beer with it...probably the first time in about 100 years someone in Silverthorne CO will pay for a beer with raw placer gold! I can't wait!!
View attachment 1377816

That would be awesome to walk into a bar and pay with gold! I'd buy you a second beer there just to see the look on the bartenders face!

 

[Capt Nemo]

Here's what I was steering you to for your Michigan trip. The waves added a good 50-75' of beach but didn't wash out the spot. Thickness is running from 1/2"-3".




The eroded area on the left is the path to the beach from the turnout, and the campsite is further down. (by the tree way down the beach) You can even find black sand on top of the bank underneath the white pine. The waterline used to be at the tracks about 15' away from the dropoff. That's how much this beach can change in a month, and make prospecting and mining really hard. But a good place for a newbie to cut his teeth and learn. I have to reprospect the spot where I normally camp as it's turned into nothing but blonde sand with no cobble found.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Wow, thanks for sharing the pics. An amazing spot and I do plan to get there next time I go!

Meanwhile, get that gold!!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Friday included an outing with Jim aka agolddigger. We further explored a spot I'd sampled earlier. It's promising although all very fine gold.
Jim, winning the battle to set up a friend's A52:

Selfie with my Angus Mackirk Expedition (great for super low water conditions). I ran 6 1/2 buckets of 4 mesh paydirt.

Our dig site:

 

[KevinInColorado]

Brewery site gold in green and outing with Jim in black

 

[PatrickD]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for sharing such great pictures.

If you would so allow, I have a newbie question.

I have been test panning in several areas when I am out cache hunting. They include dry gulches, Misc rivers/creeks, etc.

When I take the materials home and run them through the process and blue bowl, I find different things. There is some gold, yellow stuff that is easy to identify. But, there is other stuff too. Stuff the size of flour gold or tiny flakes. They range in color dull silver, bright shiny silver, orange and stubborn black sand. There is also these tiny dull gray round pellets about the size of the ball in the ball point pin tip. These materials are the heaviest of the heavy that behaves like gold in the blue bowl. The heavy black sand is easy and I am collecting that to put through a tumbler down the road when the volume makes sense.

My question is how I go about figuring out what this stuff is. I don't have enough to do any acid tests or anything like that, just curious what materials I am finding and if it is worth trying to collect it.

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Patrick

 

[KevinInColorado]

Smart question!
Short answer: I don't know, but lemme see!

Sliver color could be mercury covered gold or electrum...or not.
Dull silver could be platinum although that's fairly unknown in CO.
Dull yellow could be tin oxides. Basically worthless.
Some of the stubborn stuff in a blue bowl could be stubborn due to being "somewhat" dense and having shapes that resist the blue bowl water flow. I don't use one so...dunno. How do these things behave in a finish pan?

My general rule is anything heavy enough to be in your final heavies when panning should be kept for your first year of prospecting. As you accumulate more it'll be easier to test.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Had quite a day yesterday
...
Went to a lecture on glaciers in the CO mountains held at Colorado mountain college. Fascinating and learned more about how glacier move gold deposits- much more elegant than I thought. A glacier can create a 'gold line' just like a river does, only slower of course!

Then I headed down to Denver for my monthly errands, digging and club meeting.

Got out while down in Denver with Ryan. He's been prospecting for several years and has had some good 'old guy mentoring' already but has always gone out alone. He was eager to learn to read a river, had lots of gear questions, etc.

We sampled an interesting cobble bar in the S Platte which is walking distance from his office and found almost no gold in a dozen sample pans. Also nowhere to set up a river sluice. Nice spot with easy access so it's a shame there's basically no gold

To improve the day, we headed over to Arapahoe Bar, a new spot for Ryan so good to go check out together. We went to the dam and hole I've hit several times in recent months. We only had a while before the light faded but Ryan learned about the spot, sluice setup options, Bazookas AND the gold was good. PS I ran the Bazooka Sniper there.

Notice the -100 gold just to the right of the +30 (barely) flake.

It was a beautiful 80F degree day in the city with good company so good times!
...and today I'm writing this while watching a snowstorm!

Heavy pans y'all!

 

[Jeff95531]

If you're home then several inches by now, no?

 

[KevinInColorado]

If you're home then several inches by now, no?

Yup and it's still coming!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Well when you're ready to thaw out you know who to call. And people wonder why I love my desert.

 

[arizau]

Well when you're ready to thaw out you know who to call. And people wonder why I love my desert.

28.1 at my house this am but now over 70 and still rising......love those temperature swings.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Got out yesterday with Utahmason in American Fork Canyon. Sadly the USFS has closed to gate to the upper canyon so we weren't able to get to the good gold. A lot of good hard fun was still had in the lower Canyon and a few colors found...but not enough to bother with a pic right now. Here's the pics worth sharing:


Celebrating a good day together:

And this amazing fast flowing spring coming out of the Canyon wall right into the creek:

 

[utah mason]

Got out yesterday with Utahmason in American Fork Canyon. Sadly the USFS has closed to gate to the upper canyon so we weren't able to get to the good gold. A lot of good hard fun was still had in the lower Canyon and a few colors found...but not enough to bother with a pic right now. Here's the pics worth sharing:
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Celebrating a good day together:
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And this amazing fast flowing spring coming out of the Canyon wall right into the creek:
View attachment 1384539

Good time, I'm glad you reached out. It was really nice to meet the bgt master Kevin. He has given me a lot of great advice over the past year that's really cut down the learning curve. It was kinda disappointing that the F.S. closed the gate. I went up there Sunday to look at a couple of new spots and it was open. The storm we had Monday must have put enough snow up top to make them close it. But I guess there's always next year. We did get too busy shooting the breeze I forgot to check out the whippet. Good luck in Joshua tree next week.