Cape Disappointment January 31, 2015

[Jjhall68]

Just a quick picture of the gold we recovered last Saturday on the Washington coast. My wife and two of our daughters made the trip down and stayed in Astoria, Oregon on Friday then headed over to Cape Disappointment Saturday morning, as the tide started to drop. We dug about 30" down to find a black sand layer 6"-8" thick a quick test pan showed color. We ran pretty steady for the next 4 hours processing about 20 gallons of material through our gold cube. If that seems slow you have to try this material by the way 60*F not a cloud in the sky, truly a day made for beach mining.



All the best,
John

 

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[mike(swWash)]

Excellent! Nothing like a fun day at the beach........and yes, that black sand is heavy and slow to process, even with a cube.

 

[425jesse]

The Brawn Super Concentrator is absolutely fantastic for that material as well. Super light and portable and folds up nice for storage. Developed in Washington on our beaches using that exact material! Gold Cube is rad also. I never ran my cube on the coast, but I did run it in a river called Whitehorse, man I have never seen so much black sand, and yet no gold! I found out later that where it runs into the next river down was where gold started to enter that river.

That GOLD looks awesome!


JB

 

[Jjhall68]

I've been to a couple of places like that. The best is way up the South Fork of the Nooksack near the old Elbow Lake trail head. It looks so good, quartz with and without sulfide, two kinds of garnets, magnetite, hematite, ilmenite, you name it. The only thing that doesn't scream gold is...gold. Not a spec in two trips/10 buckets of material run

I would like to try one of the Brawn super concentrators. I've heard great reports but never seen one run.

All the Best
John

 

[Aufish]

I'm planning a trip to the Washington coast this summer for beach gold, I need some beach friends to show me the ropes over there

as I don't know a soul in WA...

 

[Jjhall68]

Howdy Aufish,

Mike(swWash) is the expert on the subject IMHO, but I would be happy to help in anyway I can. The first thing you are going to need is a beach mining permit. I know that sounds crazy but until recently it was prohibited so, I'll take a little crazy. Start here, Mineral Prospecting & Placer Mining Regulations and Permits (Gold and Fish Pamphlet) | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife download the "gold and Fish" book that's your first permit and you have to have a copy with you on the beach. Follow the link on the right side of the page, http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/mining/beach_prospecting_application_02_21_12.pdf
This is pretty straight forward but feel free to give me a shout if you have questions. Make sure you understand to regulations, a certain amount of oat soda may help, there is information scattered around in the book that you will need. If you are going to camp at the state parks know that our summers are awesome, and lots of locals and visitors will be at the beach to enjoy it. Camping spots, hotels and you name it fill up fast! Cape Disappointment State Park is great but I have so far just used it for access to the beach and stayed in Astoria or Long beach in a hotel. Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission | Official Website will get you to the Washington state parks website and you can follow the link to the reservation page, you can reserve up to nine months in advance. They have tent and camper sites and will rent you a yurt if you like.
As a non mining side note there are some monsters that live in the area that maybe the missing link between Raccoons and Bigfoot! These masked marauders will riffle through your truck or camp in broad daylight and can open aluminum cans like a bartender. No amount of tribute will slake their hunger (or thirst) so for goodness sake don't feed them, intentionally or by leaving anything where they can get into it.
This should be enough to get you pointed in the right direction but let me know if I can help.
As always if anyone see an error or an omission please chime in.

All the Best,
John

 

[mike(swWash)]

Like Jjhall68 said, you'll need to get the permit, it's a different one than the gold and fish but it's almost as easy to obtain. Search Washington state beach mining permit , print it, fill in all the blanks, put a check mark in all the types of prospecting and all beach areas and email it back, and in 2-4 weeks you should have it in hand. It's free and good for several years. You'll need a good concentrator type system since a regular sluice will overload if not spoon fed and won't catch much of the dust. It's so mall it takes about a million specks to even register on a scale. Here's how I do it....


Let us know when you head that way and maybe one of us can help out. I have a couple beach setups that use vortex matting and work well that I can bring if I can make it down as well.

 

[Jjhall68]

Mike, that's really nicely done thanks for posting that. I second the invitation to let us know when you're going to try it. It would be a blast if a few of us could meet up there at the same time.

John

 

[johnedoe]

Thank's for the info here ... I went to the WA. site got my permit forms filled out and will fax those in today.
I have been curious about those south WA beaches and looks like I just may make it up that way.
Does anybody know anything about the OR side of the river? Other tan we can't use pumps........... What a bs rule...

 

[mike(swWash)]

It's hard to believe but, they changed the rules for beach mining permits and made it simpler permit wise. You can download and print the Gold and Fish pamphlet and it is your permit. No more need for the other one.

Gold and Fish: Rules for Mineral Prospecting and Placer Mining (2015) - WDFW Publications | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife

 

[mike(swWash)]

As for the Oregon side of the river, I've been curious about the black looking sand seen on google earth, at the end of jetty road in ft. Stevens st. park. I'm not sure of the rules since it a state park and not really an ocean beach.

 

[johnedoe]

Oregon did away with the permits a couple years ago.
The big deal with Oregon is the prohibited use of "ANY" powered equipment..... No pumps, gas or electric.

As to the end of the jetty road beach mining rules I think it is all the same. I will check on that Monday sometime and let ya know.

Here is what I have so far.... Oregon Secretary of State Archives Division

and here is the beach mining portion form the publication. rules under "Other Collecting Activities"

 

[johnedoe]

It's hard to believe but, they changed the rules for beach mining permits and made it simpler permit wise. You can download and print the Gold and Fish pamphlet and it is your permit. No more need for the other one.

Gold and Fish: Rules for Mineral Prospecting and Placer Mining (2015) - WDFW Publications | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife

Do you need the whole thing including pages 18-44 that lists the waterways and permitted times, or just the first 17 pages?

 

[Jjhall68]

Do you need the whole thing including pages 18-44 that lists the waterways and permitted times, or just the first 17 pages?

I would have the whole thing printed, but one of the regulators told me that an electronic copy works as well, you just have to be able to produce it.
Some advice I was given years ago was to have a clean copy to hand over if asked, meaning nothing marked up, maps, rules, times, anything that can be misinterpreted as you trying to skirt the regulations. So I vacuum bag one just for them, and the only guy that ever asked if I had it told me my to bother opening it, he just wanted to see that I had one.

All the best
John

 

[johnedoe]

OK..... Thank's for that info.
Hope to be able to get up that way this year.
Oh .. is 4 wheel drive needed to get to the good spots?

 

[johnedoe]

Mike(swWash)....... and any who re interested.

Oregon Secretary of State Archives Division

View attachment 1223746

Basically just have a copy of this with you when beach mining in Oregon.
Haven't found out anything yet on the Columbia river side around the corner from the ocean beach, but will let you know when they get back to me.

 

[Jjhall68]

Thanks John,

I had an agate location sent to me some time back and if I can do both at the same time, it seems like a thing I should do.
Now for a peddle powered pump and a new victim, I mean helper/partner...maybe a teeter totter pump for the kids...a portable windmill pump for the green energy folks...many ways to skin a cat.
This has real potential, as something to plot about when the weather drives you inside. John's golden windmill pumps, has a nice ring to it. I wonder if you can write off an R&D trip to Nome?

All the Best,

John

 

[johnedoe]

..... Since it would be a research trip it is pretty much all deductible.....

Agate beach just out of newport is a good spot for agates, and just north of that is beverly beach which has reports of pretty good gold.
There is also a hidden little beach not far from there that I just learned of that has been a good producer for years so I am told.
If you plan on coming down this way let me know and maybe we can look it over. I only live about an hour from newport.

 

[Jjhall68]

Thanks for the invite John
I will let you know what I can work out, maybe the third week of November.
Maybe that would give me a chance to do some research. Have you ever run a rocker box there?

..... Since it would be a research trip it is pretty much all deductible.....

Agate beach just out of newport is a good spot for agates, and just north of that is beverly beach which has reports of pretty good gold.
There is also a hidden little beach not far from there that I just learned of that has been a good producer for years so I am told.
If you plan on coming down this way let me know and maybe we can look it over. I only live about an hour from newport.

 

[johnedoe]

Thanks for the invite John
I will let you know what I can work out, maybe the third week of November.
Maybe that would give me a chance to do some research. Have you ever run a rocker box there?

Ya know, I have never tried a rocker box anywhere..... just seemed to cumbersome for what I do.
You are right about the manual pump .... I talked with the Forest circus guy about that and he said he couldn't see any problem with it.
So if I should be at a place where recirc is needed that's what I will go with..... Like one of these, the 500H will pump 15 gal per minute and is about 65 bucks....
Bosworth "Guzzler" Manual Diaphragm Pumps - Hand & Foot Powered Pumps - Bilge & All Purpose Pumps - Pumps - Downwind Marine

Now with all that said..... I haven't really found a need to go there yet, but it's always good to have a back up plan.....