School is back in... Time to work!!!!!

[DizzyDigger]

Season may be over, but there's gonna be one hellofa party in Pioneer Square tonight.....

 

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[goldenIrishman]

I want my mining partner back!!!

Well I'm getting frustrated here guys. There have been some MAJOR changes at the hospital where Robi works and it's cutting into our time together as well as out at the claim. While it's a great thing for Robi on a professional level (big promotion) it's also been pretty nasty from the standpoint of the number of hours she's had to be working during this transition phase. I've gotten to see her for maybe a total of an hour all week. Between the hospital going through this buyout and having the state inspectors show up at the same time, Robi has been putting out fires for 14-16 hours a day all week.

On the other hand... It's looking like I've now got a new trainee to start teaching the mysteries of prospecting and mining to. I finally got a chance to meet the Munchkins half brother and he's expressed an interest in learning the ropes. He's at a good age (12 years old) to be able to understand much of the information and he seems to have a really good head on his young shoulders. Since he doesn't have any other male influence in his life at this time and as we all know, that's something that's important for a guy his age, I'll be taking him under my wing. Since the Munchkin is a little on the young side to be staying out at the claim with me during the summer break from school, it's looking like her brother will be spending a lot of time out there instead. While we won't be going out to the claim this weekend, we will hopefully be heading out there next weekend. This is going to be his first trip out there and I'm going to be spending a lot of time showing him the basics. If he does well on the first trip, I'll start working him up some home study materials so he can be learning some of the more advanced stuff on his own time. I won't be showing him any of the chemistry parts just yet but the geology and physics of how gold moves is going to be highly stressed. I hope by the end of the summer I can get him out there and turn him loose for a day or two (with me close by of course) and he'll be able to locate, dig and process some gold all on his own. If nothing else, it should make for a good report for the "What I did on my summer vacation" thing when school starts back up. I could think of worse ways for a kid his age to spend a summer vacation. Camping and mining should be a lot better for him than sitting in front of the T.V. watching re-runs and playing video games.....

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Throw in a little plinking with a .22 and it sounds like the perfect summer for a young man!

 

[goldenIrishman]

A .22? Do you really think I would have something that small in the arms room? While the kid is pretty stout for his age, I'm afraid any of my long guns would take his shoulder off when he pulled the trigger. Ever since I was in the Army I've subscribed to the AT&T method of shooting. "Long distance.... The next best thing to being there!".

Soon as I get that buy-out taken care of I'm planning on getting a few more additions to the arms room. Though they're "old school" I need to pick up a revolver. Snake load and automatics don't like to play well together at times if ya know what I mean. I have a feeling that I'm going to be going through a lot more snake loads than ball type ammo out at the claim. I'll give Mr.Buzztail every chance to clear out but if he insists on standing his ground in an area that I'm wanting to work, he's going to loose the argument. And with kids out there I'd rather not take any chances.

I'll call ya tonight Dan.

 

[jair]

A .22? Do you really think I would have something that small in the arms room? While the kid is pretty stout for his age, I'm afraid any of my long guns would take his shoulder off when he pulled the trigger. Ever since I was in the Army I've subscribed to the AT&T method of shooting. "Long distance.... The next best thing to being there!". Soon as I get that buy-out taken care of I'm planning on getting a few more additions to the arms room. Though they're "old school" I need to pick up a revolver. Snake load and automatics don't like to play well together at times if ya know what I mean. I have a feeling that I'm going to be going through a lot more snake loads than ball type ammo out at the claim. I'll give Mr.Buzztail every chance to clear out but if he insists on standing his ground in an area that I'm wanting to work, he's going to loose the argument. And with kids out there I'd rather not take any chances. I'll call ya tonight Dan.

don't through to many things in there if your trying to Get him interested in the claim. He could very easily take to the guns Easier then the working of the claim. For a young guy the shooting would be probably more interesting rather then hard work .

 

[goldenIrishman]

I'm going to ease him into it a little at a time. I don't want to overwhelm him right off the bat. Just getting him so he can pan correctly will be enough for the first trip. I don't think it's going to be needed, but I'll have a small vial with some gold hidden so I can salt some materials to really get his interest going. Nothing like finding that first color to get ya hooked.

For shooting, I might pick up something like a Remington Nylon .22 but I'll have to set up the targets away from the main areas I'm planning on working. There's enough lead out there as it is.

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Hey Jeff, call me on Sunday instead. Gonna dig in the morning with Brandon, then go hang with my dad in the afternoon.

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

Crap Jeff
I finally stumble on this thread. Glad to see you got your claim. Had I known about early feb run there I might've passed on my trip to Yarnell. Though it was good. Maybe I should file by you. That way you could work on both. Lol. I know my son and I enjoyed my last trip out. It was just too short amount of time. Though I did find some decent color. Just like you. In the smallest test bucket. Lol.
I was thinking about next weekend heading out towards you. This time it's a couple days trip. Pm me if you'd like to go and meet up there. I know I enjoyed that area. Beautiful country.
Justbent just redid my sluice and turned it into a super sluice. Need to give it it's virgin run again.
Though I'm sitting on dirt at the moment. If not next weekend maybe two more after that. Hopefully moving by months end. So still trying to get trips lined up. Plus trying hard not to bring dirt back. Though I haven't been successful at that. You still ought to come up to Yarnell for a dig. We could work what I call the kids scholarship fund hole. Here's some pics from 59 gallons so far. Not everything because I actually have test pans in different sniffer bottle.
For giggles I put cons in a jar and shook it up several times. The water got thick so I poured it into my pan (twice I did this). The pic where the golds towards the bottom was the gold suspended in the muddy water. The other of course is what sank. Did this as an experiment. Wanted to see the gold sink. The other of coarse confirmed that not just the fines but even bigger pieces won't sink if you've got thick water going in the sluice. So I learned/proved that I need to keep water to a lighter color and fluid like. Not like my coffee that floats a horseshoe. Lol. In all my trip with another TNeter was a success. He never has seen that much yet in one test pan. He was a good digger too. So that was a plus.

Question. Do you happen to run dirt onto a smaller classifier? I do that with mine to keep out the gravels and then dump into a pile. That could be done as a slide off the sluice. Perforated slide over the tub. Gravels sit ontop while the water runs into tub. Now we've got to deal with the fine sludge.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Hey Garret,
First off let me warn ya that I'm on Robis' laptop and I hate this keyboard!

We are currently planning on heading out to the claim next weekend. Robi had to deal with the transition to the new company as well as the state inspectors showing up this week so she's pretty well wiped out. With a little luck it will not be as rough on her next week.

I'm also going to be out there for a little over a week around March 17th. One of my partners is going to be out from Houston for that week and we're planning on moving a lot of materials. He is bringing 2 recirc high bankers and a new feed system to test out. I'm going to be working the bed of the wash and I think he will be doing the same.

PM me a ph# and we can figure out plans for next weekend. I was going to see if AzViper can also make it out. Not sure if he's back to work yet after having the shoulder rebuilt.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Good talking with ya again last night Garret! Robi was about whupped when she got home and had to be back in this morning at 7 to make sure staffing levels were up so the state inspectors didn't have a cow.

We're still planning on heading out next weekend if we can. I'd like to see you and your boys as well as Keith out there for a couple days of fun. Once I get some more improvements done on the claim I'm thinking of hosting a TN weekend out there so more of us can meet up. It's going to be a while before that happens though. Maybe after the monsoons have ended so there's a close water supply instead of us having to go over to Kentucky Camp for water. Even though I've got gate access, it's still a hassle having to go fill up the barrels and hauling them back. Right now the pond is really low and we'd have to tromp through about 20 ft of knee deep mud to get to the actual water.

I should be able to get quite a few improvements done next month as I've got another week long trip planned. I'll be there from March 15th to the 23rd with Chris from Houston. That trip is already set in stone so let me know if you're going to be able to join us for any or all parts of the trip. I'll be bringing the full camp. Kitchen, shower etc.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Shirt logo

I came up with a logo for our mining shirts. Featuring a shot of some Arizona lightning I took from our front porch and the "Midnight Miners" skull. I figured since it's going to be a lot of night work during the summer that it was fitting.



I'm thinking on a midnight blue T shirt for me and a midnight blue tank top for Robi. I might change the horns to gold as well but haven't decided yea or nay on that part. Suggestions?

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

I like it.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Badass that.

 

[goldenIrishman]

The more I look at it the more it reminds me of my old days riding my chopped and hopped Triumph. I'm going to have to build me another bike one of these days..... But I think it should be something more practical. A nice Enduro style that I can use for prospecting makes more sense at this time. LOL.. I know I'll never get Robi on it though.

 

[Clay Diggins]

Nice design.

I'll vote for it if I get one!

 

[Lanny in AB]

Sweet design!

Nicely styled.

All the best,

Lanny

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting-gold/69-bedrock-gold-mysteries.html

 

[goldenIrishman]

Man... After all the help you've been in getting us through this process of course you can get a couple of them Clay! One each for you and your much better half! Just let me know if she'd like a "T" or a "Tank" and sizes for both of you. It's going to be a while before I get them done up. Need to shop around to get a good deal on printing them. I don't want some cheap off brand of shirts either. I want something that will stand up to hard work and survive.

I might go ahead and get some done up on either safety orange or yellow as well. I don't think it will look nearly as good, but during hunting season in that area it might be a wise idea to make sure we can be seen as human and not something to be shot at.

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

Jeff
Liked the shirts-tank top idea. How about long sleeve. Might minimize bug bites (Mosquitos) during night dig or panning. Lol
I still got to plumb my new addition. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be successful. If all goes well I'll get it done on first try. I just need to figure out if I do 8 holes all around for the spray or go 3 sides.
Just need to figure if 1/8" is big enough. Plus if my pump is adequate. For the moment. I know I've got to go up. Just hoping to stay away from gas motors. Mainly because of noise.

 

[goldenIrishman]

PM me the details on your new setup and I can take a look at the numbers. Mostly need width of the box, type of matting and pump size.

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

I'll show ya what I've got. I'll even bring down the part jay did. Maybe during down time I'll play with it.