Gold Ore

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
2,299
7,478
California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
A little sample that was found with a metal detector. Crushed by hand then panned to wash away some of the dirt and clay? The photo is macro so real small particles, but the quartz shows and what looks like iron and free gold. I think we need a small smelter to retrieve the values trying to speed up the recovery what's your thoughts ?
 

Attachments

  • P4210546.JPG
    P4210546.JPG
    727.2 KB · Views: 645
Upvote 23
OP
OP
southfork

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
2,299
7,478
California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting

Froggie6

Newbie
Nov 25, 2022
4
8
So, this mine dump is really clean little to no iron trash so if the machine beeps more than likely you have Gold. Did not regrind just panned a little dirt out heavy gold on side of the pan the small quartz sand on the other side has a lot of gold in and on it. Love to have a five-gallon pail of this. Starting to rain let's see how long Seth lasts out there today lol. I have the furnace set up indoors in the barn so I can play through the series of storms this week.
Amazing! Really motivating.
 

Froggie6

Newbie
Nov 25, 2022
4
8
You have permission go for it just use common sense easy on the muddy water. This is California and there's always someone going to try and stop you.
Thank you for your help. This will be my first time panning, except for Knottā€™s Berry Farm when I was little. Funny thing is, in the middle of all the population, it still captured the imagination. 2 experienced people in Oakhurst at Big 5 were very helpful. One older man who worked there, one older gal who pans for fun - she even gave me some tips on the area. If this is any indication of the ā€˜cultureā€™ of people who pan, Iā€™m in.
 

OP
OP
southfork

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
2,299
7,478
California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Burned brush yesterday while watching the piles burn, I picked up a few samples of float. I crushed them in the chain mill panned then classified with a hose on a 30-mesh screen with a little dish soap on top of a five-gallon bucket. I panned everything on top of the 30-mesh nice pile of gold couple of grams or more. The slurry I ran on the ribbed sluice and recovered a nice pile also. Best personal day in a long time I'll weigh it in a couple of days after clean up.
 

Attachments

  • PB271514.JPG
    PB271514.JPG
    1.8 MB · Views: 28
  • PB271507.JPG
    PB271507.JPG
    900.4 KB · Views: 25
  • PB271512.JPG
    PB271512.JPG
    1.4 MB · Views: 28
  • PB271508.JPG
    PB271508.JPG
    784 KB · Views: 28
  • PB261489.JPG
    PB261489.JPG
    1.1 MB · Views: 29
  • PB261483.JPG
    PB261483.JPG
    1,011.6 KB · Views: 23
  • PB261476.JPG
    PB261476.JPG
    871.7 KB · Views: 27
  • PB261473.JPG
    PB261473.JPG
    742.1 KB · Views: 26
  • PB261467.JPG
    PB261467.JPG
    762.6 KB · Views: 22
  • PB261465.JPG
    PB261465.JPG
    1 MB · Views: 24
  • P5210732.JPG
    P5210732.JPG
    399.5 KB · Views: 29
  • PB261464.JPG
    PB261464.JPG
    996 KB · Views: 25

desertgolddigger

Bronze Member
May 31, 2015
1,018
1,870
Twentynine Palms, California
Detector(s) used
Bounty Hunter Time Ranger
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Southfork, you're so fortunate to have such a resource near home, and have it pretty much clean of manmade debris. Arizau suggested I go farther down from where our mines are, and look for "float". Maybe that stuff was over looked.

Look forward to your final weigh on this batch.
 

OP
OP
southfork

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
2,299
7,478
California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Southfork, you're so fortunate to have such a resource near home, and have it pretty much clean of manmade debris. Arizau suggested I go farther down from where our mines are, and look for "float". Maybe that stuff was over looked.

Look forward to your final weigh on this batch.
Thank you this is from right behind the house on our property. I might try again tomorrow not bad for a couple pounds of rock.
 

arizau

Bronze Member
May 2, 2014
2,479
3,854
AZ
Detector(s) used
Beach High Banker, Sweep Jig, Whippet Dry Washer, Lobo ST, 1/2 width 2 tray Gold Cube, numerous pans, rocker box, and home made fluid bed and stream sluices.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Thank you this is from right behind the house on our property. I might try again tomorrow not bad for a couple pounds of rock.
Still enjoying the ride.
For future reference... plowed fields often yield more arrowheads....maybe more float too. Just saying.lol
 

Last edited:
OP
OP
southfork

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
2,299
7,478
California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
For the cleanup I panned a little more and ran a little through the blue bowl and cleaned with a magnet. 3 grams of dirty gold good day for me and short walk only a couple hundred feet from the house.
 

Attachments

  • PB271536.JPG
    PB271536.JPG
    734.2 KB · Views: 29
  • PB271528.JPG
    PB271528.JPG
    333.1 KB · Views: 26
  • PB271533.JPG
    PB271533.JPG
    643.4 KB · Views: 27
  • PB271518.JPG
    PB271518.JPG
    1,005.2 KB · Views: 23
  • PB271535.JPG
    PB271535.JPG
    616.6 KB · Views: 24
OP
OP
southfork

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
2,299
7,478
California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I went back behind the house and filled a 5gal bucket with float same area where I found gold. Big pieces of float so I single jack them to size then into the chain mill same results GOLD. This is from about 4 / 5 pounds of quartz rock this is a slow process I've just started on the bucket. It's a treasure hunt no telling what's hiding in this bucket of rocks or my backyard. I stopped for coffee and a choker back to crushing rocks and making dust and noise.
 

Attachments

  • PB281542.JPG
    PB281542.JPG
    1 MB · Views: 23
  • PB281545.JPG
    PB281545.JPG
    1.4 MB · Views: 26
  • PB281539.JPG
    PB281539.JPG
    1.1 MB · Views: 26
  • PB281540.JPG
    PB281540.JPG
    1 MB · Views: 26
Last edited:
OP
OP
southfork

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
2,299
7,478
California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I crushed about 5 quarts of rock 2nd run today lots of micro dots but still gold on cleanup. I have a half of bucket to break up and run through the chain mill. Smashing quartz looking for a specimen only one picker today maybe tomorrow.
 

Attachments

  • PB291553.JPG
    PB291553.JPG
    1.4 MB · Views: 18
  • PB291551.JPG
    PB291551.JPG
    1.3 MB · Views: 19
OP
OP
southfork

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
2,299
7,478
California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I finished running the half bucket the chain mill worked flawlessly running smaller rock 1" to 1" 1/2 inch powdered up great. Spent more time with the single jack. Breaktime now I'll be back after I wash all this with a report. Today I ran twice the material and little rewards some micro gold but not enough to pay for the power. Storm on the way a few days break from mining. Seth is still out detecting he had a good day yesterday maybe today also. It just takes one good rock around 4 grams total so 1 gram from a five-gallon bucket Happy Mining This was the largest bit in the whole bucket. raining today so I'll look for a few more samples to crush after the storm passes.
'
 

Attachments

  • PB301555.JPG
    PB301555.JPG
    1 MB · Views: 18
  • PB301556.JPG
    PB301556.JPG
    986.8 KB · Views: 18
Last edited:
OP
OP
southfork

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
2,299
7,478
California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
We let this ore specimen soak in whink solution overnight to clean it up a little. There are little veinlets running through the whole rock the top side has a thick layer of gold. Seths metal detector find from a mine dump
 

Attachments

  • PC041562.JPG
    PC041562.JPG
    837.7 KB · Views: 37
  • PC041563.JPG
    PC041563.JPG
    875.6 KB · Views: 38
  • PC041564.JPG
    PC041564.JPG
    1.1 MB · Views: 37

desertgolddigger

Bronze Member
May 31, 2015
1,018
1,870
Twentynine Palms, California
Detector(s) used
Bounty Hunter Time Ranger
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
We let this ore specimen soak in whink solution overnight to clean it up a little. There are little veinlets running through the whole rock the top side has a thick layer of gold. Seths metal detector find from a mine dump
You Guys definitely hit a good place to look for gold. Very nice specimen.
 

Tesorodeoro

Bronze Member
Jan 21, 2018
1,216
1,903
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
We let this ore specimen soak in whink solution overnight to clean it up a little. There are little veinlets running through the whole rock the top side has a thick layer of gold. Seths metal detector find from a mine dump
That looks like and excellent candidate for cutting and polishing. There is a good return on that type of specimen. Capture the top side for a two sided piece and maybe a single double sided slab?
 

Last edited:
OP
OP
southfork

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
2,299
7,478
California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
That looks like and excellent candidate for cutting and polishing. There is a good return on that type of specimen. Capture the top side for a two sided piece and maybe a single double sided slab?
Don't have a rock saw if times get rough it will get crushed that little slab is heavy.
 

Tesorodeoro

Bronze Member
Jan 21, 2018
1,216
1,903
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Don't have a rock saw if times get rough it will get crushed that little slab is heavy.
There would probably be some satisfaction in the product. Personally it would be worth trading services for gold. To have a bolo tie or something. Iā€™ve seen some amazing polished stones with gold contamination. Just an idea. I have a feeling thatā€™s how heirlooms are made.
 

OP
OP
southfork

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
2,299
7,478
California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I have another bucket of rocks single jacked to the right size ready for the chain mill. Also, from behind the house on the hunt for the mother lode lol I'll run tomorrow looking for some nice color.
 

OP
OP
southfork

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
2,299
7,478
California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My latest bucket was disappointing there was gold but so fine it would take 5 buckets to get a pinch. But most of this came from around the woodshed ankle breakers that wash up after each rain. I'm just sampling from around the house until my son brings up some mine waste. Big storm on the way we might be able to do some placer mining if the seasonal creek starts flowing. We have a huge pile of pay waiting
 

RTR

Gold Member
Nov 21, 2017
8,180
32,468
Smith Mt. Lake Va.
Detector(s) used
Teknetics Liberator
Falcon MD-20
***********
Blue Bowl
Angus MacKirk sluice
Miller Table
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
looking good Southfork...........Bring in a back-ho :icon_thumright:
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Discussions

Top