Got out a little today....................

[SandyFeet]

Hey you all,

I have been following this forum and its great to read from you all, JohnDoe, you are certainly a tropper! Thanks for all your amazing posts.

I just started out Beach Mining, and this past weekend we went to areas around Gold Beach and found TONS of black sand. I think I even discovered the tracks of Mr Doe and his cart, (maybe).

I do not have the right equipment yet, now that I am hooked I will build a beach sluice and see what I can conjour up. I used a normal foldable river sluice and ended up with tons of black sand still, probably washed alot of gold down as well... still learning.

I panned the sluice results in teaspoon amounts for a week straight to get the final result. Sad, but I didnt get skunked and with the right equipment, it can only get better. I try to post some pics of me and my wifey out on the beach. So MUCH fun! So I hope I can join this thread and share my adventures Beach Mining with you all.

I have learned alot ffrom all of you, so THANK YOU!!

 

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[johnedoe]

Welcome to the thread.
Looks like your off to a good start. You can still use that folding sluice .... What mats do you currently have in there..... Looks like some deep V and what's under the expanded metal.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

I will let you know when I plan a trip to the gold beach area and maybe we can get together and move some sand.

 

[SandyFeet]

Welcome to the thread.
Looks like your off to a good start. You can still use that folding sluice .... What mats do you currently have in there..... Looks like some deep V and what's under the expanded metal.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

I will let you know when I plan a trip to the gold beach area and maybe we can get together and move some sand.[/

Hi JohnDoe,

Thank you so much. It’s a real pleasure to learn from you and your experience. How much would I enjoy joining you moving some sand. Most likely I will be back out in that area in late September and weather permitting I would very much enjoy picking your brain and finding some color. This is my new big hobby, and living in Southwest Washington, I plan on discovering all the great places along the PNW. For your invite next time you head out I would be honored.

This foldable sluice is as you said, with V mat riffles and under the expanded metal is that cheap green carpet stuff. I am currently building a more efficient beach sluice based on your ideas and photos I have seen. Basically a new foldable sluice with just ribbed mats. Also need one of those handy carts you have, my arms are still sore lugging all that sand around.

I also just started doing a lot of River prospecting here in my area and have had some decent luck. But being at the beach is very special, so I’ll mix both up continually based on weather, season, etc. so much fun!!

I am sure I will have a ton of questions for you and I really appreciate the offer and I can’t wait. Thank you in advance.

Kind regards.

 

[arizau]

Welcome to the thread.
Looks like your off to a good start. You can still use that folding sluice .... What mats do you currently have in there..... Looks like some deep V and what's under the expanded metal.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

I will let you know when I plan a trip to the gold beach area and maybe we can get together and move some sand.[/

Hi JohnDoe,

Thank you so much. It’s a real pleasure to learn from you and your experience. How much would I enjoy joining you moving some sand. Most likely I will be back out in that area in late September and weather permitting I would very much enjoy picking your brain and finding some color. This is my new big hobby, and living in Southwest Washington, I plan on discovering all the great places along the PNW. For your invite next time you head out I would be honored.

This foldable sluice is as you said, with V mat riffles and under the expanded metal is that cheap green carpet stuff. I am currently building a more efficient beach sluice based on your ideas and photos I have seen. Basically a new foldable sluice with just ribbed mats. Also need one of those handy carts you have, my arms are still sore lugging all that sand around.

I also just started doing a lot of River prospecting here in my area and have had some decent luck. But being at the beach is very special, so I’ll mix both up continually based on weather, season, etc. so much fun!!

I am sure I will have a ton of questions for you and I really appreciate the offer and I can’t wait. Thank you in advance.

Kind regards.

Just in case you are not aware: Vancouver is just a couple of hours drive to Cape Disappointment/Benson Beach. Great place to beach mine and motors are allowed on the beach unlike Oregon's motor ban. Lot's of videos online about the mining there.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Also. A couple hours east of you is the provincial panning preserve at the town of Hope. It was the site of a gold rush in 1858-ish.

 

[SandyFeet]

@ arizau & KevinInColorado,

Thank you both for the spot information and the reply. I really appreciate it.

I have heard of Cape Disapointment and I want to visit this place very soon, I am also a sailor and have heard of the islands on the mouth of Columbia and they are rarely visited because one needs a boat to get there, so this is on my list as well. Especially to test out my new Beach Sluice which I am building out of an old sluice. I have not heard of the town of Hope, but this sounds like lots of fun, especially discovering the old history involved, so I added it to my list. THANK YOU

I will be visiting the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in 2 weeks, going to explore some of the old placer claims on the Feather River. But Ill make sure to keep my posts and pictures in this thread about my Beach adventures, which is in full swing, as I have the serious fever!!

I brought back about 2 buckets of cons from the Gold Beach area that I did not pan out yet and will post its results with photos this weekend running it through my new homemade Beach sluice based on Johns designs.

You guys are awesome! Thanks so much. My wifey says Hi too! Shes excited to find our first picker.

 

[johnedoe]

You will be astounded if you go to Benson beach.......
I just wish I lived closer.... I would be there almost daily.
You can see my setup and results a page or two back on this thread.

Looking forward to your Gold beach results.

 

[johnedoe]

Sandyfeet.
You might want to take a look at this little setup... Easy and cheap to build too.

 

[SandyFeet]

Hey John,

That is a fantastic setup and exactly what I have been looking for. Thank you so much for the link. Looks like I will be building something like this very soon and will report. Man that is cool. I will normally take all the cons home and was looking into Miller Tables, so this works for many purposes.

Awesome indeed!

Thanks again! and Benson Beach here I come!

 

[Gold4Mike]

Also. A couple hours east of you is the provincial panning preserve at the town of Hope. It was the site of a gold rush in 1858-ish.

Kevin, Sandyfeet is actually in Vancouver, WA. Still driving distance from Hope BC though!
Sandyfeet, I'm jealous at how close to Cape Disappointment you are. A lot of people seem to do really well there with the right setup. I wish I was a little closer.

 

[SandyFeet]

Kevin, Sandyfeet is actually in Vancouver, WA. Still driving distance from Hope BC though!
Sandyfeet, I'm jealous at how close to Cape Disappointment you are. A lot of people seem to do really well there with the right setup. I wish I was a little closer.

Thanks Gold4Mike, I was looking and looking for an town East of me called Hope, and finally realized he probably thought I was in BC. But its the thought that counts, so thank you!

Yes, cant wait to visit Cape Disappoinment, just 2 hours drive away, I am slowly getting this sluice together seen in the video above, but with some minor tweeks I think will help angle adjustment and transport (built on a trolly with wheels) I should be out there in September. I cant wait and will post pics and results.

Should get the last Cons from Gold Beach area done this weekend and will report. Slowly getting better at this. Still some black sand (or maybe Platinum) will not attract to the magnet, as seen in my glass vile. Miller Table will take care of that hopefully!

Loving this thread! Thanks you all and talk soon!

 

[johnedoe]

That little sluice I showed you in the video is rally just a testing sluice and cleanup sluice.
You are allowed 10 square feet of catchment area in your beach sluice.
You also have to have a copy of Washingtons Gold and Fish pamphlet.
You can get that online. Just print out a copy..... They tell me an electronic copy is ok too.

Here's the link to the Gold and Fish pamphlet...... https://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01992

 

[SandyFeet]

That little sluice I showed you in the video is rally just a testing sluice and cleanup sluice.
You are allowed 10 square feet of catchment area in your beach sluice.
You also have to have a copy of Washingtons Gold and Fish pamphlet.
You can get that online. Just print out a copy..... They tell me an electronic copy is ok too.

Here's the link to the Gold and Fish pamphlet...... https://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01992

Hey John,

Thank you very much for the information. Very important stuff to know, I appreciate it.

Ya, like you said just a clean up sluice, sometimes I will do long 4 day camping trips at the beach and would bring the clean up sluice with me, so I thought I would put it on wheels. Plus I am going to add a second layer to the whole device to catch even more. I am 3D designer in my day job and have built a 3D model of how it will eventually look. I’ll share it with you all next week.

Great stuff! Can’t wait to move some sand. Cleaning up cons tomorrow, will report!

Kind regards on you all!

 

[johnedoe]

Looking forward to your progress.......

 

[johnedoe]

Well I did a little borax smelt today of some old dental crowns I had around .... Figured I should get to it since it has been ....... Oh too long....
Anyway here's the nice little button I didn't have to dig for....LOL

Also on an interesting side the crucible .... The one on the left is a new seasoned crucible.
The one on the right looked like the one on the left before todays smelt.... Amazing what the borax pulled out....

 

[SandyFeet]

Wow John. I want to learn how to work with Borax. I have been trying to read about it, but on a smaller scale it is hard to get information.

I tried running all these cons I have, but I am afraid I am still losing gold. After an hour on my mini Martins clean up sluice, I panned the results and there were only like 20 small micro flakes in it. If I take just a couple teaspoons and and pan it, I get the same results, so I must be doing something wrong.

Still building the sluice John posted, so I think I am going to wait until that is finished to run the rest. I just can’t bare washing any gold away. Still learning, and I’m not giving up ever

Here is the cons, maybe not good photos, but it is black black...

 

[johnedoe]

Hey Sandyfeet.........

Don't sweat the small stuff. There will be losses no matter how hard you try.

I run my beach cons through my gold cube and then pan out each tray individually...

My panning technique is a very fast shake out ... tap the material to the edge, wash back the heavies, snuffer up the gold.... wash rinse repeat about 4 or 5 times only takes a few minutes.

Then the material left in the pan gets tossed into the catch bucket at the bottom of the gold cube.

I do this for each tray..... Then I rerun the catch bucket of cons back through the cube and pan the trays out again..... Yes I find more gold.

I only do this twice but I keep the cons and add to those from the following trips .... When there is enough of those stored up I run those and yes I will still find some gold but I don't put much time into that run ... The ol point of diminishing returns thing ya know.

Anyway you'll get the hang of it and if your worried save up the cons you have gone through for another run at a later date... your skill level will have improved as well as your equipment refinements ..
And yes. You will find more gold in those cons.

One of these days I mean to make a little video of this process as well as the panning technique I use..... But that is for another day.

Here is a pick of my gold cube setup.
I have no idea why these pics post sideways.... I think they turn upright if you click on them.

 

[johnedoe]

Here is a video showing the process ... He is using chapman flux which is designed for this type of smelt... You would use borax the same way.
Regarding his little kiln.... You can make your own considerably cheaper ...

 

[SandyFeet]

John,

You are a wealth of information and inspiration for me. Thanks again, and also for the explanation of your process. Your Gold Cube setup is absolutely fantastic. They have been right clicked and saved in my gold diy inspiration folder. Thank you so much for the pics. Is that a small bilge pump you are running the water with? I hooked up a 120 gallon/hour fountain pump to my mini clean up sluice, works great for that small size but would probably not create enough flow for a Gold Cube. Mind sharing your specs with that pump?

Ya, not worrying too much (well maybe more nervous then anything), and all the cons I was running I saved for exactly the reasons you stated. I am new to this all and learning at each step, so it can only get better. And it will. Cant wait to share pics of little piles of Beach Gold with you all. Soon I will!

Also the Chapman Flux smelt. Very cool. This is a planned integration for the future. When I have enough to melt (smelt).

Off to the Sierra Nevadas this weekend to pan and sluice along the Feather River at some GPAA Claims (just got my 1 year membership). Not sure if I needed it, but their Mining Book Maps is pretty cool, and has some beach info too. The wifey wants a picker I think I prefer the beach and am talking her into taking a detour back home along the Oregon Coast. If I do (not sure if my wife wants to drive so long) then Ill say hi here in this thread beforehand and maybe we move some sand together for an afternoon around the 7th/8th Sept, or even just hang out and talk game on the beach for short.

Thanks again for all the info, very much appreciated

 

[johnedoe]

Hey Sandyfeet..........
The gold cube operates using an 1100 GPH bilge pump....
I have used a 2000 GPH as well and the results were fine...
I don't think you would want to go over 2000 though.

Wish ya luck in Nevada.