Still here

DizzyDigger

Gold Member
Dec 9, 2012
5,855
11,608
Concrete, WA
Detector(s) used
Nokta FoRs Gold, a Gold Cube, 2 Keene Sluices and Lord only knows how many pans....not to mention a load of other gear my wife still doesn't know about!
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
And Herb....you've got it..:thumbsup:

Having been to your camp, I know what it takes to get the gold
out of there, and damn few could do it...even less with the small
amount of tools you use.

Hope you and the family are doing well..always thinkin about ya's!
 

Assembler

Silver Member
May 10, 2017
3,105
1,186
Detector(s) used
Whites, Fisher, Garrett, and Falcon.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
And Herb....you've got it..:thumbsup:

Having been to your camp, I know what it takes to get the gold
out of there, and damn few could do it...even less with the small
amount of tools you use.

Hope you and the family are doing well..always thinkin about ya's!
Can you give us a idea of the "Micro pockets" at this mining area or district? This could give people hope even with just hand tools to start with. Thank you everyone for the interesting posts.
 

Assembler

Silver Member
May 10, 2017
3,105
1,186
Detector(s) used
Whites, Fisher, Garrett, and Falcon.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Please don't leave on my account. We are no better than you, just taking a slightly different route.
Yes gold tramp is using tried and proven methods to reduce rock down to powder size material. The rest of us out here may not be able to do this in this day in age. Heck the jaw crusher this one is trying to work with is from the late 30's to late 40's and this one can tell you that many people may not be able to rebuild one to use. Hope this one's back can take the sledge hammer part just to get the rock small enough for the jaw crusher..........LOL.
Some people will have access to a blaster to help break up the rock not this one yet.........LOL.
 

Aufisher

Bronze Member
May 12, 2013
1,948
4,830
The Golden State
Detector(s) used
Whites Goldmaster V/SAT. VibraProbe. Bazooka 48" Prospector Sluice. Shorts. Chickens + Goats + Goldhounds. 35' Chris Craft Caribbean motorsailer. FISH OIL + BURLAP
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
GT is my favorite miner! Hope I get to meet you some day. Hang in there buddy!
 

oidium45

Full Member
Mar 6, 2017
165
128
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Man, you are really going old school! I love it!
 

OP
OP
G

gold tramp

Bronze Member
Dec 30, 2012
1,379
2,879
Primary Interest:
Other
Murphy dogged me one more week and more parts on the turtle truck, i think i got it all fixed couple more test trips in to locate ground to work on i will feel better.

Would like to find a partner to help find some yellow, anybody want to jump on board for some fun in the sun, going to be drywashin right now, take advantage of the dry times we are having.

No experience needed,
Intrested give me a pm.

Thanks all for lookin at my stuff

GT,,,,
 

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Johnnybravo300

Bronze Member
Jan 3, 2016
2,365
2,857
South of Gunnison, Gold Basin
Detector(s) used
F2
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I'm off work during the winter and was thinking of AZ or ca for a gold hunting trip. Are there places around those areas that can still be prospected during the winter or is it all snowed in. I'd just like to do some camping and see some gold.
Here in colorado it's over when the snow falls and it makes the winter very long.
 

OP
OP
G

gold tramp

Bronze Member
Dec 30, 2012
1,379
2,879
Primary Interest:
Other
Turtle truck is finaly being good not givin me any problems so far, spent the day sampling hardrock kinda windy so diggin on the vein instead of drywashin was the lesser of the evils as the wind is just blowin every direction, much dust.

I always do my sampling right on the spot, crush n pan, this way i know what im gettin right away no need to send for assay as i see the yellow in my pan.
If its got values then i just take that area.

Anyways its better to learn to do this practice rather than rely on outside source,
My method im not concerned with opt as most times my digs peter out long before i gets a ton of material dug. (Micropocket)

So i go about the sample process by diggin in on the spots i feel have the proper mineralization, just because you got quarzt doesnt mean dig in.
One has to learn the minerals that carry the gold spy these dig in, most times you will only need to sample just a small amount of material, to find values, i have found if you cant find surface values it dont pay to dig in, so walk away.


My district it mostly shallow surface digs, there are a few deep holes but they were very fine gold, its extremly hard to make it off the fine stuff, one really needs major tonnage to get any returns worthy.
I take the easy stuff i find it makes good filler in my ore pile.

so no gold in the poke yet, maybe next time.

Still no pics.
GT,,,,,,
 

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OP
OP
G

gold tramp

Bronze Member
Dec 30, 2012
1,379
2,879
Primary Interest:
Other
Gettin harder to find the yellow these days, im wonderin if youall are havin a hard time doin the same.

It just seems to be gettin smaller or none at all, i have a couple prospects left then its just placer digs, im not going to get into under ground mining, i got no money to waste.
I dont really want all that work either im startin to feel my age, by next week i should be prospectin with my bleeper n drywasher gotta get the 3oz, with not even a seed nugget in the poke its lookin grim right now.

Today im lookin at my drywasher it needs new riffle cloth and the bellows is mostly silicone, i think it will go another hundred miles of crankin before i have to do it, i got the new stuff for repair but it looks to be a job so we wait.

Would been nice if the folks at the spot i was workin last year would of got with me instead of ignoring my paper work, i know if i read a mans paper work im kinda obligated to at the least drop a note let them know my intentions, not take my discovery post, move it over use for there own.
Kinda sad guess its the power of gold, could of ended up being a really good friendship, oh well sign of the times.
Some thing for youall to think about.

Only reason im sayin something about this is my dadgum desk window looks out over the area of the dig and the lights from there vehickles comming out, drives me nuts
Wonderin if they are actually doing well, i did well at first, will have to read the story of the dig in my book.

Seems i cant find a dig that will last more than a week, not much sense in claimin a spot that doesnt contain enough gold to pay for food n fuel, whats enough values to make it claim worthy, for me it would have to be ounces on a strong lead.

Most times it stops as soon as it gets going good.

Always use your miners lens much knowledge is in those little rocks, use your eyes learn to id the differant minerals that make up your ores,
Its fairly easy to do with practice, when im tabling i will at times grabb a washed sample and look at it under the micro scope, try to identfy as many of the minerals i can, its just good practice, for learning about rocks.

More ramblings later,


GT,,,
 

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SaltwaterServr

Sr. Member
Mar 20, 2015
471
642
Texas
Primary Interest:
Other
Clay some things in millin are gaurded secrets, it takes much training in the field and lab, this dont come free.

So it isnt givin for free.

I have a pachuka tank set up, thats about as far as i can go for free like i said its gaurded secrets of millin, you dont see any others going into detail.

Now if you want to bring some good ore that we can work on together, you pay for the chemicals, we can do this in just a few days start to finish, bring your camp setup.
A big bottle of crown, i supply the camp the mill, and the gas for smelting.

This is really the only way i can show you maybe somebody else can go into detail.

Just tryin to estamate chemicals needed is a chore , one needs to know how much concentrate they will end up with after pre treat, maybe you dont need leachant at all if values are larger size no need to leach, amalgamate, many differant variables.



Lets just say thiis, this stuff gets deep.
GT,,,,

For folks wanting general guidelines, here's what I would give you as an overview.

Take a jaw crusher, reduce your ROM (run of mine) ore to between 1/2" to 1/4". Run that through either an impact mill or roller mill. Or buy a Keene 46DR and get two for the price of one.

Next step, impact mill to take it to P80 sub-75 micron. What doesn't pass as larger than 75 micron run it through the impact again.

Third, gravity separation. You've got a few choices in mineral jigs or shaker tables. Hydrocyclones and such are out of the realm of the artisanal miner. You've separated your macroscopic gold, now onto micro. You'll also need to assay your tailings to determine if your gravimetric circuit is working. It may be as simple as running your tails across a scavenger table or running them again over the same table by themselves.

If you've got a lot of sulfides you can roast or bio-ox. Pretty much the simplest ways for small scale folks.

Cyanide at 5-15 grams per liter with 2:1 water to solids, unless you want to do intensive cyanidization. If you run intensive, 15-25 g/l which will also grab a lot of gold out of light unoxidized ores. Best to run it at 30C or better. Don't mess with this though if you're a first timer. pH control is imperative as is the activation of the cyanide, disposal, and tailings processing.

3-4 days retention time for standard cyanide, 24-48 hours or less for intensive. If you're pushing tonnage, then that changes. For small scale guys, those two retention timelines will grab you 90% plus of the freemill. If you're unsure of your recovery, send the ore off for roll bottle testing at a certified lab. You can use a hot tub blower to inject air into the system to maintain the proper O2 levels as cyanide leaching eats it pretty good.

Finally, off to either Merrill-Crowe or Activated Carbon. If you're working with concentrates averaging over 1 ounce per ton of concentrates, which you probably are, Merrill-Crowe is by far the most economical. Filter your zinc residue, then smelt your gold. So easy even a cave man can do it. So easy to mess up that even an advanced miner can screw it up.

There are dozens and dozens of texts for this and tens of thousands of research articles explaining how to run an effectively gold recovery circuit; and yet you can take that body of knowledge and need to distill it down to what is going to work and what is going to put you on food stamps. Each ore has to be tailored to see how it runs, which is exactly how you mentioned it, better to see it done in person.

Like they say, the Devil's in the details and it's what Mad Machinist, myself, and StreamlineAudio are working on. Bringing our examples of what works in our ores to the mining public so the curtain can be pulled back a degree and get some folks some of that sexy shiny yellow stuff.

Keep digging it GT!
 

oidium45

Full Member
Mar 6, 2017
165
128
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
For folks wanting general guidelines, here's what I would give you as an overview.

Take a jaw crusher, reduce your ROM (run of mine) ore to between 1/2" to 1/4". Run that through either an impact mill or roller mill. Or buy a Keene 46DR and get two for the price of one.

Next step, impact mill to take it to P80 sub-75 micron. What doesn't pass as larger than 75 micron run it through the impact again.

Third, gravity separation. You've got a few choices in mineral jigs or shaker tables. Hydrocyclones and such are out of the realm of the artisanal miner. You've separated your macroscopic gold, now onto micro. You'll also need to assay your tailings to determine if your gravimetric circuit is working. It may be as simple as running your tails across a scavenger table or running them again over the same table by themselves.

If you've got a lot of sulfides you can roast or bio-ox. Pretty much the simplest ways for small scale folks.

Cyanide at 5-15 grams per liter with 2:1 water to solids, unless you want to do intensive cyanidization. If you run intensive, 15-25 g/l which will also grab a lot of gold out of light unoxidized ores. Best to run it at 30C or better. Don't mess with this though if you're a first timer. pH control is imperative as is the activation of the cyanide, disposal, and tailings processing.

3-4 days retention time for standard cyanide, 24-48 hours or less for intensive. If you're pushing tonnage, then that changes. For small scale guys, those two retention timelines will grab you 90% plus of the freemill. If you're unsure of your recovery, send the ore off for roll bottle testing at a certified lab. You can use a hot tub blower to inject air into the system to maintain the proper O2 levels as cyanide leaching eats it pretty good.

Finally, off to either Merrill-Crowe or Activated Carbon. If you're working with concentrates averaging over 1 ounce per ton of concentrates, which you probably are, Merrill-Crowe is by far the most economical. Filter your zinc residue, then smelt your gold. So easy even a cave man can do it. So easy to mess up that even an advanced miner can screw it up.

There are dozens and dozens of texts for this and tens of thousands of research articles explaining how to run an effectively gold recovery circuit; and yet you can take that body of knowledge and need to distill it down to what is going to work and what is going to put you on food stamps. Each ore has to be tailored to see how it runs, which is exactly how you mentioned it, better to see it done in person.

Like they say, the Devil's in the details and it's what Mad Machinist, myself, and StreamlineAudio are working on. Bringing our examples of what works in our ores to the mining public so the curtain can be pulled back a degree and get some folks some of that sexy shiny yellow stuff.

Keep digging it GT!
Very detailed brotha! Thanks for the info.

Sent from my SM-G935V using TreasureNet.com mobile app
 

barrelroll

Jr. Member
Dec 14, 2016
67
82
Colorado
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Gold tramp I love your threads. I think you mentioned you are in California somewhere around Lucern/ Johnson valley, is that the general country you are hunting? That country out there is awesome, we race out there and I've always wanted to explore.
 

Treasure_Hunter

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,484
54,956
Florida
Detector(s) used
Minelab_Equinox_ 800 Minelab_CTX-3030 Minelab_Excal_1000 Minelab_Sovereign_GT Minelab_Safari Minelab_ETrac Whites_Beach_Hunter_ID Fisher_1235_X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Gold Tramp, this is the "Hard Rock Mining" forum where members share info, Saltwater servr's post is not off topic and fits in this thread, if thread had been in the "prospector journal" forum it would be different but it is in the hard rock mining forum and is not a private thread, if you wish thread moved to the Prospector's Journal forum let me know.

Please post by our rules. no insults and keep in mind we are a family friendly forum....thank you.
 

Goldwasher

Gold Member
May 26, 2009
6,077
13,225
Sailor Flat, Ca.
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
SDC2300, Gold Bug 2 Burlap, fish oil, .35 gallons of water per minute.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
He even said " maybe someone else can go into more detail" then gets mad at more detail???

G.T. lighten up man
 

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