O.K. ......here goes.... 1/2 gram for 6 hours work ain't going to buy beer. I don't want to step on toes but there are a couple (really many more) ways to set up a sluice box, no matter if it's on a highbanker or a stream sluice or on a dredge or perhaps a "fine gold recovery system" that requires con's screened to 300 mesh. Almost every miner has been beat up upon here on the West Coast for many years and by a select few and labelled as "hobby miners" and trust me, it has bitten us in the butt more than once. (A well established rule and one that may prove beneficial in on-going court case's is the "Prudent man theory"). What I have and will continue to pervey is an honest understanding of what it takes for me to maintain my year-around residence on these claims. I have to find gold. Long gone is the gleam in my eye when spotting that flake in the bottom of the pan after hours of rock chucking, un-plugging that hose, changing spark plugs, looking for nuts and bolts and figuring out that those minnie flakes in my snuffer bottle are long gone considering that it's swiftly being carried downstream by the current, bobbing up and down and smiling as tho' enjoying the ride. (I've since learned to always have a couple of ounces of buckshot in the bottle and to always have it filled with water...that way if you drop it or it rolls off the dredge it sinks and stays right there on the bottom)
Now I'm not saying to let gold just "spit" out the back of my dredge and I'm always tweeking my 5 inch three stage (which is a tad more complex than my old crashbox Keene). But what I am saying to all my gold getting buddies is to take full advantage of your equipment, location, knowledge and physical abilities when you work. I've read and heard many a tail about success in tailings, and undoubtably some of those piles may contain gold.......but just like my overall attitude is "dang... after dredging my tailings once in awhile it appears that I've blown out a gram or two, not bad for a couple days of two pennyweight or better days of .....yes, you guessed it.......SUCKING THEM ROCKS LIKE YA MEAN IT....and don't look back.
Re-working those already been thru a sluice box tailings might be worthwhile but don't give up the thought about what lay's ahead of that area where those tailings came from.
To bad the other person was in such a hurry OR unknowledgeable and lost this treasure !
