Dizzys Diggin Thread - 2014

[Eastforklocal]

Hi Jeff, can you post on my thread and let me know your detailed thoughts on the Le Trap? Please.

If you want to try mine out your more than welcome to.. It's king Tuttle from the club.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Jeff, I'd be glad to work through those cons for you, and
any gold found will go in the St. Jude Children's Research
vial. Every little bit helps.

I'll shoot you a PM with my address info.

 

[Sideways Sherry]

If you want to try mine out your more than welcome to.. It's king Tuttle from the club.

BWAHAHAHA! Jason you are hilarious... King Tuttle! Did I say I missed you guys this weekend? I did, it's just not the same without ya'll! Out next club dig is desert.... So we will have to meet up at the river one weekend and you can show me how to set it up! ;-)

 

[Sideways Sherry]

Jeff, I'd be glad to work through those cons for you, and any gold found will go in the St. Jude Children's Research vial. Every little bit helps. I'll shoot you a PM with my address info.

Dizzy, you are awesome!

 

[Eastforklocal]

It's easy slap it in the water and keep digging!!!

 

[DizzyDigger]

Quick update:

Had the opportunity to meet Jesse last Friday, and Phil (Gnatnutz)
and I met up with him at a small burger joint where we ate well
and shot the BS for a bit. Then, we headed out to do some
scouting and panning at a couple spots, and ultimately came
home with a few bits of gold in the bottle..

Kevin: THANK YOU! I haven't opened the bag yet, but from the
looks of it I'll be able to squeeze some gold out of those cons.

Jesse: Was great meeting up with ya, and we're looking forward
to our next outing when we can mine some of that beach we found..

Jesse brought me a baggie of black sand, and a 3gal. bucket that
he'd apparently dug on "Doghair Beach". Wasn't sure if I needed
to classify it, or brush it, but when all was said and done
I did get almost 1/10th gr. of super fine gold. (Jesse: There was
quite a bit of 100- gold in that material, so you definitely want
to get a miller table up and running. I've got the perfect platform
for one sitting here in my shop, so remind me next time we get
together and I'll pass it along to ya).

Just starting on Jesse's baggie of black sand, and should have
all that cleaned up by tomorrow. Got MD appt's today, so won't
get to it till late.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Glad that material got to you Mike! Very much curious to hear how you do and what you do that brings out more gold. Any inclination to crush further or heat and crack via sudden cooling to free up more gold?

PS hope the Dr visits go well too.

 

[425jesse]

Lol, Doghair Beach, I love it! Thanks to this lovely little mix mutt...




Everything in my shop seems like it has spent time at the Doghair Beach! My shop is also the dog room, so I get to deal with it! Glad you got the gold out of that stuff. Hope the black sands do you well too. I am interested in what is in the sands, as they had been thru my blue bowl, but I will be the first to admit, I'm still leaning how much patience the blue bowl takes, and how badly I need a leveling kit. I think id rather a miller table!

Cheers Mike!

 

[DizzyDigger]

Jesse,

Here's the gold that came from the bucket:



Lots of little biddy stuff in there.

I'm working on the baggie of black sand now on the miller table,
and so far haven't found much in the -30 to -60 range, and only
1 small flake that was +30.

 

[425jesse]

That's some purdy gold!! How's it coming along Dizzy?

 

[DizzyDigger]

That's some purdy gold!! How's it coming along Dizzy?

Hey Jesse...that IS some purdy gold, ain't it? Not sure
where Doghair Beach is at, but you (we?) need to go back there
and dig some more.

Went through the baggie of black sand and could tell you
had done a decent job with your blue bowl. I did pick about
50 pcs. of -100 gold out of it on the miller table, but overall
you did a fine job of gettin' the gold out.

Started on what Kevin sent, and so far have found it's almost
all between 30 mesh and 60 mesh. Tried to run it through a
60 mesh classifier and very little dropped through. My table
works best with the smaller material (<60 mesh), but I'll
start running this tonight and see what I can squeeze out of it.

Kevin: I've got no way to grind the material, so I freeze the black
sand in sheets, and then drop it into a big pot of boiling water...cracks
the hell out of it. This way I don't have to be concerned with cooking
the sand and having it pop all over the place.

Watching the UFC Fight Night at the moment, but will get to
it after it's over.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Cool process Mike, very curious to see how you do. Interesting about the size of the material, that wasn't intentional. I classify at 20 and 50 but a lot of the -50 is magnetic in my fav creek and I didn't send you any magnetic material...that's still sitting on my workbench.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Cool process Mike, very curious to see how you do. Interesting
about the size of the material, that wasn't intentional. I classify at 20 and 50 but a lot of the -50 is
magnetic in my fav creek and I didn't send you any magnetic material...that's still sitting on my workbench.

Ahhh...so that's where all the gold is...

Only run a dozen teaspoons or so, but so far I've gotten very
little out of the non-magnetic material.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Prospecting season is, for all intensive purposes, over for the
year here in Western Wa. Nasty, wet and cold weather will be
hanging around till probably next May or June.

Actually did pretty good this year considering all the health
issues I have to battle, and while I haven't dried and weighed
it up yet, I do believe this years take will match the total of
what I've gotten from past years.

Last time at the doc's I told her how I get so damn tired after
just a bit of digging, and she replied that my lungs just don't
provide enough air anymore to keep my carcass operating well
when I'm engaged in that level of hard work. Truth is, COPD
(a polite word for emphysema) really takes a toll. Panning is
one thing, but the hard labor of mining is too much and she's
worried my heart is gonna get pissed off due to the low oxy.
Same thing got both my parents, so I guess I shouldn't be too
surprised after 40 years of smoking. (Yes, I've quit smoking
before for an entire year..it wasn't worth the anxiety and
stress. I do plan to cut from 1-1/2 packs a day to less than
1 pack, so please, let's not have a quit smoking discussion).

In short, my days of digging buckets of rock/sand are over.

That was a month ago, and I've been stewing on it ever since. Honestly?
This fubar'd body I live in is really starting to chap my ass.

Did ask her (doc) what I can do to try and boost my cardio,
and she told me to start walking, every day. "So, walking
is good?" I asked, and she told me so long as it wasn't out in
the cold and damp that, in the long run, it would really help
extend my life.

Told her to have a look out the window..pissin' down rain for
the 4th day in a row. Walking outside ain't an option...so, I'm
gonna get me a used treadmill off of Craiglist and start putting
in as much as I can per day..probably only 10-15 min. at a time
to start, but she says my cardio will improve if I keep at it.

This is good.

30 years ago my mom was diagnosed with the same, and she just
gave up on living, sat around and waited for the inevitable. She
died 10 years ago next month.

I ain't goin' out like that.

Had a long talk about it with the wife the other night, and
told her I just wasn't ready to give up chasing gold. Rather
than piss and moan about what I couldn't do, we talked
about what I could do.

She said: "Could you still metal detect with that new vibrating
machine you told me about?

Thought about it for a second...."Hell yeah, no reason why not!"

Once again, lemonade has been made..

So..it's time once again to "shift gears", and go from mining river
banks in the NW to nugget shooting somewhere to the South.
Nuggets are scarce as hens teeth in these parts, but I've got
"Carte Blanche" to take off for a couple weeks any time I want.

For now, I gotta get that treadmill and start walking. I'll be
selling some of my gear as it's no longer useful, and using
those funds to help pay for a new gold detector. At the moment
I'm leaning towards the new Nokta FORS Gold, but there's
time to consider all the machines in my price range while I'm
selling off stuff. I want to raise about $1500 for a decent
machine + a good pick, and then more to help pay the cost
of longer trips.

Stay tuned....

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

Prospecting season is, for all intensive purposes, over for the
year here in Western Wa. Nasty, wet and cold weather will be
hanging around till probably next May or June.

Actually did pretty good this year considering all the health
issues I have to battle, and while I haven't dried and weighed
it up yet, I do believe this years take will match the total of
what I've gotten from past years.

Last time at the doc's I told her how I get so damn tired after
just a bit of digging, and she replied that my lungs just don't
provide enough air anymore to keep my carcass operating well
when I'm engaged in that level of hard work. Truth is, COPD
(a polite word for emphysema) really takes a toll. Panning is
one thing, but the hard labor of mining is too much and she's
worried my heart is gonna get pissed off due to the low oxy.
Same thing got both my parents, so I guess I shouldn't be too
surprised after 40 years of smoking. (Yes, I've quit smoking
before for an entire year..it wasn't worth the anxiety and
stress. I do plan to cut from 1-1/2 packs a day to less than
1 pack, so please, let's not have a quit smoking discussion).

In short, my days of digging buckets of rock/sand are over.

That was a month ago, and I've been stewing on it ever since. Honestly?
This fubar'd body I live in is really starting to chap my ass.

Did ask her (doc) what I can do to try and boost my cardio,
and she told me to start walking, every day. "So, walking
is good?" I asked, and she told me so long as it wasn't out in
the cold and damp that, in the long run, it would really help
extend my life.

Told her to have a look out the window..pissin' down rain for
the 4th day in a row. Walking outside ain't an option...so, I'm
gonna get me a used treadmill off of Craiglist and start putting
in as much as I can per day..probably only 10-15 min. at a time
to start, but she says my cardio will improve if I keep at it.

This is good.

30 years ago my mom was diagnosed with the same, and she just
gave up on living, sat around and waited for the inevitable. She
died 10 years ago next month.

I ain't goin' out like that.

Had a long talk about it with the wife the other night, and
told her I just wasn't ready to give up chasing gold. Rather
than piss and moan about what I couldn't do, we talked
about what I could do.

She said: "Could you still metal detect with that new vibrating
machine you told me about?

Thought about it for a second...."Hell yeah, no reason why not!"

Once again, lemonade has been made..

So..it's time once again to "shift gears", and go from mining river
banks in the NW to nugget shooting somewhere to the South.
Nuggets are scarce as hens teeth in these parts, but I've got
"Carte Blanche" to take off for a couple weeks any time I want.

For now, I gotta get that treadmill and start walking. I'll be
selling some of my gear as it's no longer useful, and using
those funds to help pay for a new gold detector. At the moment
I'm leaning towards the new Nokta FORS Gold, but there's
time to consider all the machines in my price range while I'm
selling off stuff. I want to raise about $1500 for a decent
machine + a good pick, and then more to help pay the cost
of longer trips.

Stay tuned....

Hang in there buddy
I hope turning to detecting pays off for ya

 

[DizzyDigger]

Hang in there buddy
I hope turning to detecting pays off for ya

Honestly? It's a change I'm excited about...

There's more than one way to get gold, and I'll probably
find more total weight in gold than I ever would digging
and sluicing up here. I've found a total of maybe 3 grams
of gold in all the hard labor that's been put in, so a
few sub gram nuggets (or maybe a bigger one!) would
be awesome.

Newsflash: Got a call from Jesse425 early this morning, and
he's got a treadmill that's not being used, so he's going to bring
it up for me...

Jesse...you rock dude!

 

[TheGoldProspector]

Honestly? It's a change I'm excited about... There's more than one way to get gold, and I'll probably find more total weight in gold than I ever would digging and sluicing up here. I've found a total of maybe 3 grams of gold in all the hard labor that's been put in, so a few sub gram nuggets (or maybe a bigger one!) would be awesome. Newsflash: Got a call from Jesse425 early this morning, and he's got a treadmill that's not being used, so he's going to bring it up for me... Jesse...you rock dude!

Props to Jesse425!!!
And may your travels be heavy in Gold, and filled with amazing memories DD

 

[Jeff95531]

I know exactly where you're coming from Mike. My wife Karen has asthma and me, being 60 pounds overweight makes me pant like I'm having a heart attack just putting my shoes on. Turning a crisis into an opportunity has always been a mantra of mine and I'm very happy for you and your new plan. BTW, I quit smoking years ago and took up chew. I hate it and everything about it so I don't do much. About one can a week @ a buck 79. Just don't tell me to dump beer and pizza off my list...I haven't found any reasonable replacements for those yet.

PS, I want first dibs on your miller table.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Great attitude as always Mike, I really admire you!

Keep the Miller table and we will get you more cons next summer via the tnet pony express (me to my nephew Colin to Jesse to you!)

PS did you heat crack those cons I sent to you yet? Love to know if you find more gold that way...

 

[DizzyDigger]

Jeff...sorry, but the miller table is staying right here...

Tried chew just once...yeeeccchhhh! Not for me. As for beer and
pizza...well, alcohol and caffeine are major triggers for vertigo,
so they've been out of my diet for several years. I still drink
de-caf all day, and just pretend it's "real" coffee. Never was much
of a beer drinker, but there was always a pint of Yukon Jack
in the driftboat for those chilly mornings on the river..

Kevin, haven't been working at it much lately, and still have about
2/3 of what you sent me to go through. Haven't cracked any cons
yet. So far it's been a lot of hours of millering and not much going
in the St. Jude's bottle. I'll just have to keep at it through, as I'm
sure there's still gold left in those cons.