How much gravel can you dig up in a day by hand with a pickaxe/shovel?

[firebird]

Curious to see what other prospectors can do with muscle power alone. I'm not very physically fit and ended up having some serious health problems doing this, but at a max 10 hours a day I could only dig up around 4 or 5 five gallon buckets of paydirt with the larger rocks removed. A lot of times I had to hand wash the larger rocks because it was tightly compacted in a clay layer and gold was sticking to the rocks, so a lot of time was also spent doing that. It was not easy moving each bucket at around 50lbs and the amount of gold varied quite a bit, at most I could only get 0.5 grams doing this per day.

 

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[Silveraith]

Like I said, to each his own. In my opinion, prospecting with small equipment is boring. But as I said, I have a buddy who digs pay gravels near a creek & have watched him do close to 10 yds per day. Too bad there aren't any mining choices here. Then the big boys could have there own forum. Also, your profile says you're a mine president - what company?

 

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[Capt Nemo]

With the beach sand and my model 5 bed, 80-100 buckets for a day. Then my back is broke and need the massuse! If I ran open circuit with the bed, maybe 2-300.

With stage work, I'm used to slinging a few tons of counterweight a day, but those 28lb steel and 60lb lead bricks don't come anywhere near a bucket of wet sand.

 

[russau]

How much WHAT ?? Well if I get motivated enough maybe 1/4 of a small shovel full a day might be OVER ESTIMATING it, and that's if I'm trying to impress someone! I'm just to beat up to do anything anymore ! I sold all of my equipment / dredges , trailer and gave the last 1/4 OZ. of gold to one of my best friends ! Now I can just sit back and wish that I wasn't rode hard and hung up wet!

 

[Bodfish Mike]

With stage work, I'm used to slinging a few tons of counterweight a day, but those 28lb steel and 60lb lead bricks don't come anywhere near a bucket of wet sand.

Hey Capt Nemo didn't realize you are a stage hand -- me also and have loaded my fair share of counter weight till I moved up to flyman.
Way more fun moving buckets than bricks although the pay is not as good
Cheers Mike

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

How much WHAT ?? Well if I get motivated enough maybe 1/4 of a small shovel full a day might be OVER ESTIMATING it, and that's if I'm trying to impress someone! I'm just to beat up to do anything anymore ! I sold all of my equipment / dredges , trailer and gave the last 1/4 OZ. of gold to one of my best friends ! Now I can just sit back and wish that I wasn't rode hard and hung up wet!

I can remember when my grandfather spent his days in an overstuffed recliner chair by the wood stove watching rodeo on TV. His knees were shot and he definitely worked himself hard.

I now think back on it and wish I had the resources to have bought him a big ATV with a soft cushioned seat.
Something to putt around on to get back outdoors where he wanted to be. He was able to ride a riding lawnmower...
It would have been the ultimate gift.

Because of that, I swear to myself that I will have a brand new ATV or UTV if I make it to that age.
No excuses. Sell my blood if I have to in order to afford it.

 

[mendoAu]

Like I said, to each his own. In my opinion, prospecting with small equipment is boring. But as I said, I have a buddy who digs pay gravels near a creek & have watched him do close to 10 yds per day.

I've had plenty of 7yd. cement trucks show up at my job sites.....let me know that guy's name and he's "hired". 10 yards...really and how big are your cords of wood. Young and hardy is a good thing but some of you guy's are missing the point. I live year around on a 40 acre blm mining claim (with four other claims available if need be) and a shovel is for diggin potatoes and five gallon buckets are to store concentrates in. Us miners (at least here in Oregon and calif.) have been hammered for the visual view that only a speck or two shows up after so many "buckets". I've got a "to do" list of crap to fix, repair, replace, figger out, ponder,...ect so my bottom line is not how many buckets a day but how much gold I can sell on e-bay long about Jan. Feb.. Sileraith .... not sure what you mean by the "big boy's" but yur welcome to set yur tent up here and like kinda show me what you mean. Be sure to get above the high flood stage areas, cause it 's not just pressy summer mining day's but ya gotta count those days that you can't feel your toes and Walmart pocket warmers are just one more thing that freezes in your pockets.

And you don't need a brand new ATV......I got a 1984 Honda 3 wheel BIGRED with a winch upfront and an ice chest in the rear that get's my arse off the sofa and into action. (don't tell no-one about the hidden compartment for the gin bottle and the medical help stuff....HA!)

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

I've had plenty of 7yd. cement trucks show up at my job sites.....let me know that guy's name and he's "hired". 10 yards...really and how big are your cords of wood. Young and hardy is a good thing but some of you guy's are missing the point. I live year around on a 40 acre blm mining claim (with four other claims available if need be) and a shovel is for diggin potatoes and five gallon buckets are to store concentrates in. Us miners (at least here in Oregon and calif.) have been hammered for the visual view that only a speck or two shows up after so many "buckets". I've got a "to do" list of crap to fix, repair, replace, figger out, ponder,...ect so my bottom line is not how many buckets a day but how much gold I can sell on e-bay long about Jan. Feb.. Sileraith .... not sure what you mean by the "big boy's" but yur welcome to set yur tent up here and like kinda show me what you mean. Be sure to get above the high flood stage areas, cause it 's not just pressy summer mining day's but ya gotta count those days that you can't feel your toes and Walmart pocket warmers are just one more thing that freezes in your pockets.

And you don't need a brand new ATV......I got a 1984 Honda 3 wheel BIGRED with a winch upfront and an ice chest in the rear that get's my arse off the sofa and into action. (don't tell no-one about the hidden compartment for the gin bottle and the medical help stuff....HA!)

Well the thread got a little sideways for a moment there..went from "How many bucket can you dig?" To "How many you should be able to dig if you were a real man with some ambition". I think things are back on track now.

Personally I don't dig 5 gallon buckets very often and if I do, it's along the river.
The material is coming from cracks in the bedrock and takes awhile to dig and screen. It gets panned.
I usually get tired of it after 2-3 of them. My back can't handle stopping over to pan the material.

Much more productive for me to metal detect and doesn't hurt my back.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Mendoau, what general area are you located in? Anywhere near Wimer?
I stopped by that little town a couple years ago and really liked it.
Looked like some great country to explore.

A friend and I stopped by a mining operation to look at a dozer to buy.
The guy had a nice cabin by a pond..had a small trommel in the creek along with some dredges.
People would pay each year to come and mine. I think he was on patented land.

 

[mikep691]

Yeah, now that the pot stirrer is on vacation, I'll add my two pennies worth. We are highbanking in the creek bed and usually shovel gravels straight off the bedrock. Sometimes it's shallow, a foot deep, but most of the time it's three feet deep.. In a weekend, we could move about 1 1/2- 2 yards and this includes the occasional boulder that has to be rolled out of the way. We worked 6-8 hours on Saturday, and 4 hours tops on Sunday.

Edit: All this work would produce 1-3 grams AU.

 

[mike(swWash)]

OK, my response to the original question is....from 1 to 1000 swings of a pick and 1 to 10 shovel fulls after swinging the pick...depending on how bad my shoulder, elbow and attitude is. It also depends on how much color I see from my efforts.....Then again I'm getting older and weaker by the year.
Sorry but that's how I measure material amounts moved.

If i was in my 30's or 40's even 50's.... I'd be talking yards not scoops

 

[Capt Nemo]

Hey Capt Nemo didn't realize you are a stage hand -- me also and have loaded my fair share of counter weight till I moved up to flyman.
Way more fun moving buckets than bricks although the pay is not as good
Cheers Mike

Being a mixed local, I do electrics, carpentry, props, and audio. But lately, I'm head props at my main venue.

If my back feels good, I'll head up to load, and pull socapex to the 45' jump. If not, I'll stay down and fold drape and hang electrics.

 

[mendoAu]

Wimer is a bit east......but ya know I gotta keep my head down and powder dry....HA!!!
BIGGGG DAY tomorrow...chiropractor at 3:15 pm. Unload 7 propane canisters and just as many 5gallon gas jugs when I get home. Gotta tell ya this is no time to mine, even the wet dew has wet dew on it. But a sht ton of mushrooms everywhere. Xmas is around the corner and here's hoping everyone gets turkey and pie, go 49'ers in more ways than one.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Wimer is a bit east......but ya know I gotta keep my head down and powder dry....HA!!!
BIGGGG DAY tomorrow...chiropractor at 3:15 pm. Unload 7 propane canisters and just as many 5gallon gas jugs when I get home. Gotta tell ya this is no time to mine, even the wet dew has wet dew on it. But a sht ton of mushrooms everywhere. Xmas is around the corner and here's hoping everyone gets turkey and pie, go 49'ers in more ways than one.

Mining season is just starting for some.
We sure need some more rain/snow.

 

[Goldwasher]

Yeah, now that the pot stirrer is on vacation, I'll add my two pennies worth. We are highbanking in the creek bed and usually shovel gravels straight off the bedrock. Sometimes it's shallow, a foot deep, but most of the time it's three feet deep.. In a weekend, we could move about 1 1/2- 2 yards and this includes the occasional boulder that has to be rolled out of the way. We worked 6-8 hours on Saturday, and 4 hours tops on Sunday.

Edit: All this work would produce 1-3 grams AU.

Sounds about right. That's why the gravel you shovel really matters.

You can tell on these threads who actually does it. Or at least who has actually spent time mixing their own concrete. When you start talking about how many yards you can shovel.

I've been killin it with a detector for the last month solid. But, I still lay in bed mentally prepping for sluice season.

Wet socks weather is here YAAAAYYY!!!!!!!

 

[mendoAu]

Wet socks weather is here YAAAAYYY!!!!!!!

These aren't the best, get the rechargeable battery type but it gives you a clue:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Pair-Bat...a=0&pg=2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851