Let Dredging Begin (nugget photos)

[Gravel Hog]

Very nice, .980. Thanks for the info.
We find nuggets here in Cal, boy do we, the biggest I have dredged ran just a bit over 6 ounces.
The small nuggets in that pictures are of usual size, all three of those weighed about a half ounce or so if I recall right.
My buddies over there in NZ are always saying it is hard to get dredges and I keep telling them to make their own just as you did. Good job on that.
Goodluck, Nuggy, hope you come into some of those nuggets for yourself.

 

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[nuggy]

Hi Gravel Hog, sorry I thought Lanny had posted that photo ! I'm gettin old an dipsy lol.

Man I would love to see a six ounce nugget close up, have done a lot of melts over that, but a natural nugget has a presence that goes beyond size and weight.

With that size nugget to be found, it must be a pain in the proverbial not to be able to dredge in California.

There are people selling imported dredging gear here now on our on line trading site Trade Me, high prices though when air freight and tax are added in. I try to make what I can - though it is a lot more hassle.

Hope you get onto some more of the good stuff soon .Nuggy

 

[Gravel Hog]

I have been looking but just don't see any way that we will ever be dredging in California again. Unless your choice is the illegal way.

 

[strickman]

long live the land pirates!

 

[kiwi jw]

G'day Nuggy, I hadnt read this thread before now. The first thing I thought of when reading your first post & you mentiond just sticking with waders to start off with was your BACK. I have been there done that far too often myself. I am a builder, 51 yrs old & have the old builders back. Not too bad but bending over a nozzle all day/days is one sure fire way to aggrivate the hell out of it & I can take days to get over it. I dont risk that bending over now & will lie out horizontal. Way more comfy & no price to pay. Oh ok I dont have snow feed streams to deal with up here in the Coromandel but you could look in to a heat exchanger hot water system to warm you up. Comfort is every thing.
I have become a detector convert when down south. As you would have seen in the Nugget Hunting in NZ thread. A lot easier on the body & no cold snow melt water to deal with & the gold is a lot bigger.

This was my last dredging outing up here a month or so ago. 18 grams all up including the specimen pieces.

Good luck & happy hunting

JW

 

[strickman]

very nice kiwi, that's a very good day ! wish I could say I done that good last time I went . ran all day for about 2 dwts.

 

[calisdad]

Re: Let Dredging Begin

G.H.

Nice gold--beautiful stuff! It's too bad you can't dredge any more. Any light on the horizon?

All the best,

Lanny

They just postponed the meeting until Feb, 2011 with a decision expected Oct, 2011.
http://www.goldgold.com/legal/DFG_12_14_2010.pdf

 

[nuggy]

Hi J W, You are getting out doing it quite a bit lately, doing well as usual. Yes the back was nasty - got some issues to deal with there, lay down dredging is definitely the way to go.
Back up the thread you will see a link to Eagles thread and a design for a heat exchanger that should work well for me. Got too many things to do and make just at the moment, but I will have a crack at that too - sometime.

Like to do some detecting too, and am going to make that my next mission - if one of the Trev's doesn't drag me out doing something else.
Just found out yesterday my dredging buddy won't make it here till March! That is way too long to wait, will have to find someone else till then.

Do you still make the crevice sucker thingys? I could do with one - or the instructions to make one.
How's progress on moving down this way going? Good hunting, Nuggy

 

[kiwi jw]

Hi Nuggy, Yep still making those crevice sucker thingys. Have sold a few lately...that time of the year with xmas & holidays just around the corner.


Clean out down to bed rock & suck out the gold from the cracks n crevices with this Weekend Prospector hand suction Gold sucker/pump.
After digging down to the bed rock & then using the main pump body with out the nosey parker gravel/gold sucker retention chamber fitted (as in the photo's), you can extract material from the stream bedrock holes & dump directly into your pan or bucket material as big as 38mm.
When down to the tiny cracks n crevices, or you spot a piece of gold jambed in a crack or sitting on the bed rock, attach the nosey parker retention chamber to the end of the pump body & simply suck the gold up. It will be drawn up inside the retention chamber & drop into it without any risk of it falling back out. If you see numerous bits of gold you can just carry on sucking them up with out having to empty each time.
You can also use it for sucking up water & then pushing down on the handle to flush out gold or stir up material in the cracks n crevices. Very handy & efficient to wash out cracks n crevices above the water line. Under water by doing this & pumping & sucking you can flush out, stir up, & suck up material before it resettles without having to stop, & with out the risk of losing anything of value as the gold being heavy will drop to the bottom of the chamber & stay there. When you have thoroughly cleaned out the cracks n crevices or think the retention chamber is full or close to full, you twist & slip it off & dump the concerntrates into your pan for processing.

Gold found in that crevice

Pretty easy to make.

There are a few ways to make a heat exchanger that I have come across. Not that I have attempted to make one.
I have only been out a couple of times up here since being back in october. I was going to go for a dredge this weekend but the weather has put a stop to that. BUGGER.
Moving down south probably wont happen in a hurry as the real estate market is 5hit & work isnt that crash hot either.

Take care

JW

 

[strickman]

here's mine , it has two way valves - sucks and discharges into a bucket .could discharge into a sluice .it's a big one but man that sucker moves the material. better as a two person setup. but can be done by yourself .

 

[Lanny in AB]

Nice tips on the suckers boys.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[nuggy]

Thanks Strick and JW, fine looking items, heading out to look through junk in shed, might be something in the plumbing boxes Otherwise see what I can find on line. Nuggy

 

[strickman]

made mine out of 4" pvc. the plunger is made from a swimming pool float ,a noodle they are very cheap thing I paid about 2 or 3 dollars for it .It fit perfectly in the 4" pvc. mine is very large but thats what I was going for . light weight ,portable,no gas ,noise,and move some material. pump it where you want it .the discharge hose is about 15 or so feet long.

 

[nuggy]

Hi Strickman, yep yours is a great looking machine, didn't realize how big it was! Worth making up a small box for something that big.
I will probably go for the little one for now, will post whatever I end up with here. Nuggy

 

[strickman]

I thought about a box ,but was worried about the surge when discharging material. right now I am going to use a 5 gal bucket similar to a gold-n-sand setup.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Great ideas guys. As well, you've got me thinking Strickman--4 inch sucker must generate a lot of draw and pull--very interesting.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[nuggy]

I thought about a box ,but was worried about the surge when discharging material. right now I am going to use a 5 gal bucket similar to a gold-n-sand setup.

Thought about this - perhaps a box with a header on it - with discharge pointed up to head of box so material going in has to flow back on itself, lessening surge effect. This way box would also be positioned so you could see what was happening in it from pumping position, and regulate flow accordingly. You would have an idea what the volume is - to guesstimate box size. Nuggy

 

[strickman]

might work. or even a baffle.

 

[kiwi jw]

Discharge in to a highbanker type set up & any surge shouldnt be too much of a problem.

Even less so if you have the box set up in stream as like a sluice with water already flowing through it.

Happy hunting

JW

 

[nuggy]

Another method I have used to good effect, is the DRIFT DIVE; kinda like dredging without all the heavy gear . Many of you will have tried this method before.
Drifting with the current and looking into nooks and crannys for some easy gold. Sometimes it really is that easy, it's just sitting there on the bedrock, glowing up at you. Usually though a little easy work is required, move a few rocks, scrape out some cracks and pick at pebbles jammed into holes to get under them, scrape or suck out the wash. I usually carry an old, small, lidded paint container to put this into, (poverty pot in old timer lingo) then pan the contents when it gets heavy.
All I need is a wet suit, pan, mask, snorkel, and a few creviceing tools. A waterproof bag like kayakers use, in a pack would be handy, if you have to walk upstream a ways before drifting back. You can put dry footwear and clothing in it, saves hiking in wet your suit, and you get a dry change when you finish.
Or you can get dropped off at a bridge or other access point, then have a car waiting at your exit point. This will save time, and get you into the river (and hopefully the gold) much quicker.

The rivers I choose are reasonably shallow, and I don't go "shooting rapids" or anything resembling canyoning, finding the gold is the thrill for me - not risking injury by getting bashed into rocks, or wedged under them at high speed. Another thing I stay away from is log jams, piles of branches etc, too easy to get caught up in that stuff. I cover most of the river walking between deeper patches, looking for spots to hunt.

So I get to a spot that looks interesting - exposed bedrock down deep, and ledges of bedrock above deep holes. I dive down and wave away grit from any low spots - get my face-mask down close to the action to see better. Let the current carry me along scanning for color.
Areas where bedrock can be exposed easily by shifting a few boulders are good too. Some of these are so shallow I don't even need to use the snorkel, others deep as I ever want to dive, and hard to get down to without a weight-belt. After that it's mostly creviceing, look in Lanny's thread http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,453.msg2637896.html#msg2637896 for really good instructions on how to work crevices.
Dang it I still can't get that link to work.

Waving - mentioned above, is a handy technique for underwater creviceing, it's fanning small amounts of grit away from the bedrock by hand, just wave at it close up and you'll get it moving - to expose a couple of good pickers if you are lucky. A nice big pair of tweezers are handy on this job as well as most of the stuff Lanny and J W list. The sniffer bottle and crevice sucker would be really useful.

With or without a buddy, it's a great day out on the river. Hope you get a chance to do a little of this, and find some "nuggies".
Lanny, and most others in them cold northern parts will just have to wait a few more months I guess . Nuggy