Account open 2016

Jeff95531 · Dec 22, 2016

Wow you are modest. 2.36oz

First year? $2300+ American dollars? Off the hook and well done Au! Especially for your first year! :occasion14:

You set the bar high for next season. Good luck and Merry Christmas to you sir! :2barsgold:

Au dave · Dec 22, 2016

Jeff95531 said:
Wow you are modest. 2.36oz First year? $2300+ American dollars? Off the hook and well done Au! Especially for your first year! You set the bar high for next season. Good luck and Merry Christmas to you sir!

That would be an excellent outcome ..... but alas its reading in grams ....something to aim for next year ..lol

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Jeff95531 · Dec 22, 2016

I had my first and likely last LOL today solely because of this forum. Thanks for the second buddy! STILL! A great outcome none the less! Well done! Grams is better than .10's. My first and only picker is .043 grams. :notworthy:

Au dave · Dec 22, 2016

Jeff95531 said:
I had my first and likely last LOL today solely because of this forum. Thanks for the second buddy! STILL! A great outcome none the less! Well done! Grams is better than .10's. My first and only picker is .043 grams.

I have been lucky and got a few this year so hopefully they will keeo coming and get bigger. I still have several gold zones in my part of the state I'm yet to explore and being in the wetter side (East) a lot of the crks and rivers flow year round ... just have to find shady spots for summer... next 4 days here are forecast +35 C (95 F) . February is usually our hottest month so summer is just getting started

Jeff95531 said:
I had my first and likely last LOL today solely because of this forum. Thanks for the second buddy! STILL! A great outcome none the less! Well done! Grams is better than .10's. My first and only picker is .043 grams.

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Johnnybravo300 · Dec 23, 2016

Nice man! Hard work pays off and it makes you appreciate the yeller! Whoohoo!

Au dave · Jan 7, 2017

2017 Trip 1

Well new year, new adventure.. I hope everyone had a great Xmas and New Year break and had some quality family time... after 8 days straight that the daytime temps over 34 C and night temps of around 23 - 25 C, the weather did a big turn around on the 30th dumping 35 mm of rain including 10cm (4") hail. Decided to hit 1N at the last spot (trip19) and clean out the crevice I started ... needless to say the crk had filled in all my good work. I set zook about 20' d/s and scaped off the overburden down to where I thought I got and fed 6 x 5 g buckets thru before cleanout. Saw a few specks and a couple tiny flakes so decided to keep going, crevice opened wider towards the crk centre and a few large cobbles were buried in the gravels. Ran maybe 4 more buckets before quitting early due to suffering from a flu and had enough of the leeches (removed 8 over the day) I still haven't got to the bottom completely yet. Panned cons out yesterday to find a few more specks and plenty of flour, all up .05g. hopefully lower water levels and better health will make it easier later next week...heavy pans all

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Hunt4gold · Jan 7, 2017

Really enjoy the adventures you take us on -- keep posting! So do you think you are in an area where others have prospected?
Planning on venturing out into the Colorado mountains this summer on some backpacking trips to hopefully find some spots that have not been worked (at least too much). Pretty hard to do here in Colorado without going miles into the backcountry. But for now, will continue working the creeks and gulches on the front range around Denver.

Au dave · Jan 7, 2017

Hunt4gold said:
Really enjoy the adventures you take us on -- keep posting! So do you think you are in an area where others have prospected?
Planning on venturing out into the Colorado mountains this summer on some backpacking trips to hopefully find some spots that have not been worked (at least too much). Pretty hard to do here in Colorado without going miles into the backcountry. But for now, will continue working the creeks and gulches on the front range around Denver.

H4G the area I'm in has been prospected but not recently that I can tell, I've only heard 1 vehicle on the access track but someone had been here since my last visit due to the rubbish left on the side of the track.Just upstream of this spot there is a couple of mines on the creek edge (that I'm yet to find) for about 10km u/s and d/s of here W side of the crk there are 8 mines that were worked 1850 - 1870. I think that I may be in a spot with little colour as 100M d/s I was getting good sized pickers. Being just below a waterfall I think is the problem as I don't know how deep the pool is above it, I will work this spot then investigate the pool when I hack my way thru the bush ...it's that thick that you can't see thru it.The hillside on the W bank is a 40 + deg incline and all the mines shed into this crk so hopefully I will get on to better yella in the near future.Good thing about this crk is it flows all year round even though you can jump it in some spots.

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Jbarsk8 · Jan 8, 2017

Awesome adventures Au Dave, thanks for sharing

Au dave · Jan 16, 2017

Trip 2

Gidday all ... did another run out to 1N on Sunday (waterfall spot) and cleaned out more of the 1st crevice towards the crk centre. The bedrock is about 2' down and running at a 30 deg angle to the crk flow in a d/s direction, at this point an old burnt tree head is sitting in the crk and requires shifting to access more material. I ran 6 more 3/4 full buckets thru zook to find a few specks. Started on the next crevice against the r/h bank below the bedrock shelf - this crevice is about 3' deep x 4' wide and is full of coarse gravel and cobbles up to 14" . Plenty of work to do here shifting rocks and sticks that have cemented here as when in flood there is an eddy that forms here. 4 more buckets thru for some colour but I am noticing that this crk has better pieces on the centre/left side of the main flow, this spot is making me work for its rewards but Im going to find them and it's teaching me valuable lessons. There has to be gold here, the mines are further u/s, and when I move the tree I will have access to material that the bedrock is pointing to on the same side of the mines.
Heavy pans all

Not a great amount but IT WILL get better ...lol

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Au dave · Jan 21, 2017

More equipment

Hi all .. after using my modified yabbie (bait) pump for crevice finishing, I decided to have a go at making a couple of valves to turn it into a continuous hand pump. Originally I had an adapter that consisted of an outer sleeve with a reducer on the end for a 3/4" pipe.

The 3/4 pipe extended up just under pump plunger and acted as a dam/collector for the heavies.
Now with the new angled "T" and opposing valves I will be able to clean the crevices faster and it should be less strain on the back from bending and twisting.

heavy pans all

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Hunt4gold · Jan 21, 2017

Will be interested to see it in action. Video maybe?

Au dave · Jan 28, 2017

Trip 3

Well it took the road crews 2 days to clear 2 fallen trees off the main rd and repair the armco rail, so yesterday I took off out to the crk (1N) and hit the waterfall again. Spent about an hour shifting the burnt tree head out of the way and a couple of 2' sq rocks so I could access more material. Set the zook up and ran 5 x 5g buckets thru zook then whilst carrying the sixth bucket to the sluice I slipped on a rock and split the bucket base [emoji35] [emoji35] Took a lunch break and cleaned out zook to find some flypoop and 1 little picker.
Plan "B" use the 1gal bucket ... as I only need to get the scraps left in the crevice. Gave my new pump fitting a go and it kind of worked until the outlet hose blocked up ( I need more weight on the valve backs and smooth bore outlet hose) and ran 12 x1gal thru and did another cleanout - more flypoop and 2 more little pickers. For the last 1.5 hrs of the day I just ran some material from under where I had the zook set and quick panned that off to bring home. All in all not too bad of a day as I got to field test my valves and also prove that my version of the zook doesn't need a diverter baffle (I tried it and it caused scouring at the end of the trap). More work to do on equipment and source some better buckets then time to move upstream and cut in another track. http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/588d659d51189/20170129_140256.jpg? Heavy pans all...

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Jeff95531 · Jan 29, 2017

That biggest picker looks like a coiled snake ready to strike. Cool!

Au dave · Jan 29, 2017

Jeff95531 said:
That biggest picker looks like a coiled snake ready to strike. Cool!

Lol.. I didn't actually notice that...

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Au dave · Jan 29, 2017

Finally got it on the scales... it showed .13g in the tray but .16g in the vial ?? Lots of character in the "coiled snake" piece.

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Au dave · Feb 14, 2017

Trip 4

Hi all .. travelled out to 1N again on Sat and cut a track in 50 m further u/s, wasn't as hard as I expected as I followed an animal trail. About 60 m down the bush thinned out revealing a 1/2 acre field of grass and moss covered rocks interspersed with small trees - an old bench of the creek - went another 50 m and found the crk. Where I came out didn't look too promising so walked u/s a bit and came upon a sharp bend with a pool at its "foot" and a small feeder crk terminating at this pool. Eureka !! I've found the feeder with the mines. Got the zook set and started testing the inside gravel bed - zilch, a bedrock outcrop 5 m above pool - couple specks , bedrock bar at head of pool - a few colours and the feeder crk - I dug 4 spots for about a dozen colours. Had a bit of lunch (1430) and decided to run some material from the 3rd spot, only ran 3 buckets but got good results for this crk. Over all I only dug about 6 - 7 buckets of material.

Next few visits I intend to work the main crk bars and pool before I tackle the feeder and I might have a look for the mines, after that I will sample the old bench to see if it's worth working. Plenty of work in this spot so hopefully it's nicely productive I'll get some pics of this area next trip ..
Heavy pans all

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Hunt4gold · Feb 14, 2017

Au-dave, Best of luck with new site... Post some photos of the creek and spots where you are prospecting- we all learn a lot from seeing spots that produce gold, and those that don't. Good Luck!