Gold folks

gold tramp

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Dec 30, 2012
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I noticed that not many gold folks are on the forum last few years, was wondering what caused people to leave, was it the political environment ?
Or just that prospecting has lost it's shine and no one's doing it ?
Maybe we can get some honest answers here.
I would hope that it was lack of prospectors and not mining folks being divided by politics, we are already so few in numbers, I feel some days I'm the only one left ...
Anyways just something I'm wondering about.....
Gt......
 

Upvote 8

et1955

Hero Member
Jan 10, 2015
910
1,780
Shoreline,wa
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
Prospecting

Assembler

Silver Member
May 10, 2017
3,072
1,155
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Whites, Fisher, Garrett, and Falcon.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I don't know who are the F&G but I mine strictly on Wa, state land, Wa. Fish and Wildlife controls that area, mining on federal land is not productive. There are federal claims but not many and a lot of those claims are mined out.
Oregon has a large sections on both fish and game and a much smaller section on wild animals and birds.
 

et1955

Hero Member
Jan 10, 2015
910
1,780
Shoreline,wa
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Sounds like fun to try this, thanks, it is so funny there is much poaching when it comes to fishing and hunting that they would spend any time on the few goldminers out there, the few F&g officers I ran into had no problem with miners but where more concerned about illegal hunters and fishermen. Thanks Bonaro
I just was on the WDFW site and was I directed to the state ecology dept. site and it said all motorized and gravity mining in the river is not allowed but It did not say high banking is illegal, interesting,
 

desertgolddigger

Bronze Member
May 31, 2015
1,019
1,871
Twentynine Palms, California
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Bounty Hunter Time Ranger
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Prospecting
Didn't know where to post this. Hope it's OK here.

I'm always interested in trying something new. So I purchased what is touted as a rock crusher on Amazon.

I had some rocks picked up at three locations. I picked one, and use a rag, steel plate and sledge hammer to break it into smaller pieces. I then tried to use this so called rock crusher, and mostly crushed myself physically. I guess I don't have the ooompf you guys do.

I managed to crush most of this rock to powder. I'm also in that condition after this experience.

Results after panning were zero, but then, maybe gold contained in rock can't be seen with a 5x loupe.

Conclusion, I am very tired, and don't think rock crushing is for me.

But, I might try thr metal detectr thing, and try to hammer out what my detector says is gold. Of course, one try at that may do me in like today's experience/experiment.

I will probably leave the heavy demolition work to you Guys.
 

Assembler

Silver Member
May 10, 2017
3,072
1,155
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Whites, Fisher, Garrett, and Falcon.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Didn't know where to post this. Hope it's OK here.

I'm always interested in trying something new. So I purchased what is touted as a rock crusher on Amazon.

I had some rocks picked up at three locations. I picked one, and use a rag, steel plate and sledge hammer to break it into smaller pieces. I then tried to use this so called rock crusher, and mostly crushed myself physically. I guess I don't have the ooompf you guys do.

I managed to crush most of this rock to powder. I'm also in that condition after this experience.

Results after panning were zero, but then, maybe gold contained in rock can't be seen with a 5x loupe.

Conclusion, I am very tired, and don't think rock crushing is for me.

But, I might try thr metal detectr thing, and try to hammer out what my detector says is gold. Of course, one try at that may do me in like today's experience/experiment.

I will probably leave the heavy demolition work to you Guys.
As a general rule I say don't crush the rock unless you can start to see some specks with your eyes. So yes the metal detector can help out here.
 

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gold tramp

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As a general rule I say don't crush the rock unless you can start to see some specks with your eyes. So yes the metal detector can help out here.
As a general rule absolutely crush your ore that's the only way of knowing what's in you sample, most times one can't even see gold in ore even with aid of miners lens..
That's how prospector finds a vein that pays you crush the stuff n pan...
But if you don't want to by all means leave it for a prospector to find that's what we do find rocks with values by panning crushed rock .
Gt...
 

Assembler

Silver Member
May 10, 2017
3,072
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Whites, Fisher, Garrett, and Falcon.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
As a general rule absolutely crush your ore that's the only way of knowing what's in you sample, most times one can't even see gold in ore even with aid of miners lens..
That's how prospector finds a vein that pays you crush the stuff n pan...
But if you don't want to by all means leave it for a prospector to find that's what we do find rocks with values by panning crushed rock .
Gt...
You make the decisions on the samples to crush as the super fines may not be worth the time and effort to crush and pan.

If you can start to see with the lens (25 - 60 power depending on your skills) then there is a good possibility that there is a good return on your time crushing and panning. One can also speed up the process with a falcon metal detector and you should give it a shot to see if your ore rock responds to the detector that you can follow along with. This is not for everyone however if you can get skilled enough you can cover way more rock ore samples then you can by your eyes alone.
 

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gold tramp

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Dec 30, 2012
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You make the decisions on the samples to crush as the super fines may not be worth the time and effort to crush and pan.

If you can start to see with the lens (25 - 60 power depending on your skills) then there is a good possibility that there is a good return on your time crushing and panning. One can also speed up the process with a falcon metal detector and you should give it a shot to see if your ore rock responds to the detector that you can follow along with. This is not for everyone however if you can get skilled enough you can cover way more rock ore samples then you can by your eyes alone.
Once again Your lack of experience is telling on you, some ore with fine gold can be so loaded whith fines you would be crazy not to crush and mill, you don't have to see it for it to have loads of values in you ore.
Yet a metal detector would be worthless so would a falcon it wouldn't even sound off .
Why would a hardrock miner even worry about bleepin unless it was course gold, if you are millin it all goes in the crusher anyways, what you say makes no sense, as millin is way faster than bleepin chunks of rock lookin for stuff that would sound off...

Not to be rude but have you ever run a mill or used a bleeper to find gold in rocks ?
Gt ....
 

Assembler

Silver Member
May 10, 2017
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Whites, Fisher, Garrett, and Falcon.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Once again Your lack of experience is telling on you, some ore with fine gold can be so loaded whith fines you would be crazy not to crush and mill, you don't have to see it for it to have loads of values in you ore.
Yet a metal detector would be worthless so would a falcon it wouldn't even sound off .
Why would a hardrock miner even worry about bleepin unless it was course gold, if you are millin it all goes in the crusher anyways, what you say makes no sense, as millin is way faster than bleepin chunks of rock lookin for stuff that would sound off...

Not to be rude but have you ever run a mill or used a bleeper to find gold in rocks ?
Gt ....
This is why one has to make decisions for themselves as what is workable and what is not in the different ore types.

Finding fine gold in a big enough concentration is doable with metal detectors with some skills involved and knowing the limitations involved. This can save some time or it can be a waste of time. One needs to make there own decision.
 

Assembler

Silver Member
May 10, 2017
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Even the fine gold sounds off when in concentrated ores, but you need good equipment and experience.
How true. Using good tools and experience will make a big difference especially if you can't process all of the rock.
 

Assembler

Silver Member
May 10, 2017
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At times processing to much rock can be counter productive if there is not good enough returns on it and one has to make these decisions daily.
 

Assembler

Silver Member
May 10, 2017
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ahh to crush or not to crush…that is the question.
Only one way to know if your choosing the right decision.

I suppose I’d compare it to the Alaskan TV miners that grab a single pan and count colors to determine if they are going to strip mine a gravel bar.
You notice the TV miners are not panning every day or even every few hours.........lol. The small scale miner is checking way more often at some level.
 

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gold tramp

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Wh
At times processing to much rock can be counter productive if there is not good enough returns on it and one has to make these decisions daily.
What are you doing processing waste rock? or just guessing what's in you ore, just seems like a weird statement.
Gt...
 

DizzyDigger

Gold Member
Dec 9, 2012
5,787
11,447
Concrete, WA
Detector(s) used
Nokta FoRs Gold, a Gold Cube, 2 Keene Sluices and Lord only knows how many pans....not to mention a load of other gear my wife still doesn't know about!
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
This is why one has to make decisions for themselves as what is workable and what is not in the different ore types.

Finding fine gold in a big enough concentration is doable with metal detectors with some skills involved and knowing the limitations involved. This can save some time or it can be a waste of time. One needs to make there own decision.

I know the decision this one would make...I'd do as Herb suggests
because the man knows what the hell he's doing.

In my own experience, a detector can help you find areas of higher
concentrations of black sand and areas of highly mineralized rocks,
but it won't find that flour gold unless it is highly concentrated in one
spot. Finding placer nuggets and fine gold in ore are two different
beasts.
 

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gold tramp

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Dec 30, 2012
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Hot here today Dizzy we might hit 100.
The white iguanas are out in force prowling around my garden..
You guys getting good weather up there.
Gt...
 

DizzyDigger

Gold Member
Dec 9, 2012
5,787
11,447
Concrete, WA
Detector(s) used
Nokta FoRs Gold, a Gold Cube, 2 Keene Sluices and Lord only knows how many pans....not to mention a load of other gear my wife still doesn't know about!
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Hot here today Dizzy we might hit 100.
The white iguanas are out in force prowling around my garden..
You guys getting good weather up there.
Gt...

Well, it's starting to warm up here..weather people say it might even get up to 50 tomorrow...still low 30's in the mornings. Raining, but not quite tropical yet.

At 100F. I'd last maybe five minutes..:laughing7:

I've got about a dozen baseball sized chunks of ore that I picked up here and there...I think some of them came from you. Gonna take some pictures tonight and let you guys tell me what you think.

I need to fashion some type of crusher, and then I'll pound it to near
powder and pan it out.
 

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