A stab at gold panning.

[Burdie]

I didn't know how to pan gold so I visited the Argo gold mine and mill. They have a short tour on gold mining and panning.



Demonstrations on how the water, sand, and vibration separate the black sand from the rest.

​

Drilling and blasting method.

After practicing panning with ore samples off I go. We went back to that site I posted earlier.

The wife drops me off and smiles that she will pick me up at the designated spot. OK! I might be in trouble here. After she drives off I think about the post on not going into the wilderness by your self. Too late! Wow some of the area was hard to walk on and still stay close to the water. I was looking for a bend and slower water. No luck it has rained and the streams are to high. I found one place near the creek. It was an old abandon mine. Lots of tailings(Sp) was stacked like a huge hill. I broke some up and put in a container. I went to the stream and panned it. I found one little speck of gold and more black sand than I expected. Well I hated to quit but I was going to be late as it was. But what an experience I had fun. I sure hope Stoney does better than I did. A half a day is not enough time to do this.

Here are some pictures of the walking tour.


Some one hand me the wire cutters!!!

Well that is the end of posting my trip. Hope it had some interest to you. Thanks for looking.
Burdie

 

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[borninok]

Well, Burdie, in that you have posted the pics and your findings, I can safely assume that your wife came back and picked you up.

Gee, with all the rain that you all have been having, couldn't you have tried panning in your back yard? LOL

Great pics!
--Mel

borninok

 

[stoney56]

Looks like a fun day to me. 8) Glad to hear you 2 are really enjoying yourselves. I can't post pics on the hotel desktop but will have plenty of pics when we get back--maybe even a short video as well. Hopefully I'll find enough to make it worth getting the gold pan dirty. LOL

 

[bakergeol]

I am glad you guys are having fun. You know I have been past the Argo Gold Mine a million times and have never stopped.

If you like a great place to pan I can give you directions.

From 93 and 72 go west on 72 to Pinecliffe. From bridge go 1.6 miles- Turn left across bridge at cozy cabin sign(Rt 11?)- go .3mi and cross railroad. Parking on right. It is owned by the water company. Go across the stream. It is the best area for panning(I actually used high bankers and sluice boxes here) I feel for this area. After panning here I quickly bought a small gold sluice- and I was addicted to gold hunting. Unfortunately my second bedroom now looks like a mining supply store.
Gold n' Detectors in Golden is the nearest gold supply store.

Have fun
George

 

[godisnum1]

For the stupidly-challenged non-gold miner like myself... where is the Argo Gold Mine??

 

[Burdie]

For the stupidly-challenged non-gold miner like myself... where is the Argo Gold Mine??

Idaho Springs Colorado off I-70. It was dug for drainage of all the other mines in the area. The tour is great.
Burdie

 

[Cynangyl]

wow! thanks for taking us on the tour with ya! and you even found gold! woohooo!! ~happy dance~ That is far better than my first try! Keep at it and soon you will be finding more and be so addicted you will want to be buying more stuff like classifiers, fancy pans, spiral pans, sluices, dredges..... Such fun!

 

[Burdie]

I am glad you guys are having fun. You know I have been past the Argo Gold Mine a million times and have never stopped.

If you like a great place to pan I can give you directions.

From 93 and 72 go west on 72 to Pinecliffe. From bridge go 1.6 miles- Turn left across bridge at cozy cabin sign(Rt 11?)- go .3mi and cross railroad. Parking on right. It is owned by the water company. Go across the stream. It is the best area for panning(I actually used high bankers and sluice boxes here) I feel for this area. After panning here I quickly bought a small gold sluice- and I was addicted to gold hunting. Unfortunately my second bedroom now looks like a mining supply store.
Gold n' Detectors in Golden is the nearest gold supply store.

Have fun
George

I hope you read this Stoney and good luck. Thanks George! May be when I come back out we could hook up and go out and pan sometime. Take care everyone.
Burdie

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Great photos and story.....Your wife is a good woman....I would have left you there until you found enough to pay for the trip!

 

[Functional]

Great photos and story.....Your wife is a good woman....I would have left you there until you found enough to pay for the trip!

I think you got it right there gypsyheart. Perhaps Burdie should have a backup plan for transportation, just incase.

Burdie don't be discouraged by what you find in someone elses tailings pile. I've gone to areas where the Chinese miners "supposedly" cleaned out every flake a century ago, here in British Columbia and come back with lots of flake and a few tiny nuggets, (not to mention a few of the pinhead sized platinum nuggets).

And don't forget that the black sand still holds gold thats pretty much invisible. On the webpage below, theres a section titled: "Dealing with black sand", that you might find of interest. There are many people that decide to get into gold panning and find that they enjoy it, but eventually they get discouraged due to not having enough information. Most everyone know where to look, but few actually know what they are looking at and what to do with it once they find it.

The website mentioned above is perhaps the most valuable one I've found for the average prospector, but I mentioned others in this thread: http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,86794.0.html
I'm one of those who spent many summers over the years, stumbling around the bush and wading through streams and I've actually made money while doing it. But it wasn't until I became more internet savvy and learned just how valuable the content of black sands can be that I really felt well informed. Here in this province, it is estimated that 50% of all gold is alloyed with ferrous (iron) material, which I conclude to mean that a good portion of the black sand would be gold alloyed with iron.

Another great website for the prospector, is:
http://www.wholesale-scales.com/
They have a great selection of scales, ultrasonic cleaners, jewelers tools, chemical and electronic test kits, and a cool calibration kit so you know your scale is accurate. And for things like; test tubes, flasks, graduated beakers, vials, etc, theres:
http://www.testtubesonline.com/
and:
http://www.researchsupply.net/

Good luck out there.

F.



http://www.prospectorsparadise.com/html/acids.html

 

[Burdie]

A big thanks Functional for all the Webb sites. I can see how this can get in your blood. I also can see that it can get expensive too. The one thing I learned is that I need to learn a lot more. I could get hit by a 900 lb boulder of platinum and wouldn't know what it was.
Thank you again.
Burdie

 

[Functional]

A big thanks Functional for all the Webb sites. I can see how this can get in your blood. I also can see that it can get expensive too.

I don't worry much about the cost, since I'm a DIY (Do It Yourself), kind of guy. If I can't afford something, or just can't justify the expense, I'll try and improvise.

The one thing I learned is that I need to learn a lot more. I could get hit by a 900 lb boulder of platinum and wouldn't know what it was.
Thank you again.
Burdie

I'm not sure why but I messed up the last link on my post there to the one webpage at the bottom:
http://www.prospectorsparadise.com/html/acids.html
(The link was ok, it just ended up in the wrong place.)
There is more practical and useful info on that site than on most all of the prospecting related webpages I've seen to date on the internet. Its well worth taking an hour to read through it all, or if your like me, a few hours. I sometimes have to reread things and let it all soak in.

If you run into any of those 900 lb platinum nuggets be sure to drop me a line and I'll give you a hand with disposing of it.

F.

 

[russau]

i was there for the 2004 rocky mountain miners rally and had a great time. the Argo people were real nice people as well! we dredged the creek right in front of the mine! small mercury covered gold!