I love it when Im right!

[Capt Nemo]

I love it when I'm right!

Was doing some online prospecting and found that the spot I wanted to hit this week was an old silver/gold prospect. They did find gold and a little hard rock silver. The spot just screamed "SEARCH HERE!" So now I got to do bookwork to see if there's any current claims. But at least it tells me that there's gold just upstream of the river mouth that I want to prospect. I may dig a sample bucket nearby to see what may be comming downstream to the lake. The prospect is less than a mile upstream of where I want to look.

 

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[Hoser John]

The most productive form of mining is information mining. Sure makes the job easier to know who, what and where, equipment utilized and paying geology. tons a au 2 u 2-John

 

[Capt Nemo]

Just got back from putting boots on the ground. The claim was quit in 1886 and the silver only amounted to $33 a ton. Did find a spot in the river where there were drill holes on the rock. Satellite and aerial photos really don't give much idea of the true vertical aspect of things. Where I wanted to check in the river was a 20' drop. The river will trap any gold right where it goes into the river as the bedrock relief is the ultimate riffle system. It's all a form of slate inclined at about a 35 degree angle. It's a sniper's dream! Lots of cracks to pick! I did find a couple of nice holes about 10-15' deep in the falls. Little gravel bars around roughly 1-2 yards^3 in size. Didn't get wet as many of the pools were really slimy and my knee started giving me grief. Too much to try to carry scuba cylinders over slippery rocks. I do want to hit those holes with scuba to see what's on the bottom.

The lake prospect was a wash. Couldn't dive due to 4' waves comming ashore and viz was down to a foot. Lake was also a lot higher than the aerial shot. By the pic I could have walked to the ridge that angles across the river mouth, but it was at least 2' deep between shore and the ridge. Found a reddish chunk of basalt with bubbles and a couple of small agates in them (1/4"). One bubble had a copper shell formed in it. Couldn't dive the waterfall pit either due to the waves and a heck of a hike needed to get there.

Decided to go east and try the beach sands. Drove by the old Minnesota Mine. Saw lots of "Quit your whining and start the mining!" signs along the road. Also drove past the iron mines at Ishpeming. My God are those tailings piles huge!!!

Hit the beach this morning and found that the fluid bed sluice needs some mods. One pipe was blowing good but the other two had reduced pressure, and not all the jet ports were functioning. It was concentrating the black sand, but too much blond was just sitting and not moving. The floater baffle worked well and would suck floaters into the box. Overall, the design was a sucess for a recirc fluid bed, but just needs refinement and tunning. Saw a bright red flash in the box that I think might have been a ruby, and lots of real nice pink garnet sands in the mix with the black. I'll see what I got tonight or maybe tomorrow.