M-3 GoldenIrishmans Monsoon Mining Thread

[goldenIrishman]

Indestructible they are! Coffee good they make. Have in basic tools each Jedi shall.

 

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[goldenIrishman]

Of mad dogs and Englishmen....

Pant.... Pant.... Pant.... Ok... Where's the air conditioner hiding at? Tis not fit weather for man nor beast out here and it's looking like it's going to be even hotter over the next week. The Closest town to me which is Dolan Springs, is calling for 107 in the shade for the better part of next week.

So... I have a choice to make here. Do I take a break for a while and go into town and plop down in front of the first air conditioner I find until the heat breaks, or stay out here and see how long it takes to cook an Irishman to well done. While I'd love to find more spots to prospect and possibly claim, I also have to think about a strong chance of heat stroke here. What's that old saying about "Only mad dogs and Englishmen going about in the noon day sun"? While the "mad dog" part might be a close fit at times, calling me an Englishman is a good way to get yourself hurt very badly. (Nothing personal England but its an Irish thing.)

Well since I'm not set up with lighting for night work yet I guess I'm going to have to head into town. Will check Craig List to see if I can pick up some odd jobs to make a little extra cash so I can get a few things quicker. The new shade cloth tarps, a bucket mounted swamp cooler for the tent, solar panels for power and lights for working at night come to mind.... Oh wait a second here!!!! I could set up a beach box outside of Ft. Dic and move in with "The Other Jeff" for a bit. He's got WiFi!!!!!!!!!

This is the first time I've ever sweated so much while typing a post. Someone pass me a Long Island Iced Tea will ya?!?!?!

 

[Hefty1]

Here ya go...

 

[Jeff95531]

Ah ICE! The only thing more rare than gold in your part of the world! Supposed to hit low 70's next week. Give a call when you get a chance.

Ps- WiFi works when and if it wants, runs slower and slower as park gets busier and busier. NO STREAMING or you'll be punished with a 12 hour ban! Then there's the 13 DTV channels, as long as it isn't raining too hard. We're not off the the grid but we can see it from here.

 

[bobw53]

Pant.... Pant.... Pant.... Ok... Where's the air conditioner hiding at? Tis not fit weather for man nor beast out here and it's looking like it's going to be even hotter over the next week. The Closest town to me which is Dolan Springs, is calling for 107 in the shade for the better part of next week.

Don't dehydrate... My shop doesn't have AC, and occasionally I forget to hydrate... And I pay for it.. When it gets up there, I'll go through 4-6 gallons a day (some of it mixed
with Gatorade powder)... And I'm not doing physically taxing work out in the sun.. That's almost 50 lbs of water going down my throat in a day... And I'll still wake up with
yellow mud urine...

I've also noticed that the heat is a LOT easier to take when I am hydrated... Don't wait until you are out in the heat, start drinking(not beer) right when you get up and pre-hydrate.

On the bench in the shop..

 

[Duckwalk]

You guys should make some of these to run off your generator or shop power. they are surprisingly effective.

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Your crazy in that desert Jeff.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Ya think?

Well maybe not as crazy as the current belief is. I've come to a decision here that wasn't too hard to make. I'll be striking camp tonight and heading into town before this heat does me in. I've found a short term job that will help me get more equipment a lot faster, not to mention showers and air conditioning.

It has gotten so hot out here that I can barely move out from under the shade tarp and the wind is still trying to do a number on it. I've caught myself having the first stage of heat exhaustion so it's time to head in. As much as I'd love to keep going, my health is more important than the gold. Don't worry though, I'll be back out here once the monsoons start up. I want to make some direct observations of water flow in a couple of areas. I just hope the rains work with me and hit where I need them to.

 

[Hefty1]

Better safe, than sorry my friend.....now go get that Long Island.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Actually Hefty I've got a six pack of Guinness with my name on it sitting right here. That is of course depending on when I finish getting everything packed and loaded. There are times being a one man show really sucks.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Well I've been reduced to a little puddle in the middle of all this air conditioning. Between bug bite reactions, over exposure to the sun, mild dehydration and mild heat exhaustion I've barely been able to move since I got back into town.

The bug bites had me broken out in hives all over. (remember when we first met on here Clay?) I've been living on Benedril and Caladril lotion just to keep my skin in place. The feet have been so swollen that I can barely get flip flops on them. All in all life has pretty much sucked these last few days when it comes to personal comfort. I've gotten re-hydrated with no problems but I still feel like I'm burning up from the hives. I'm staying out of the sun as much as possible.

Not all is bad though as I've been doing more research into the Gold Basin and Lost Basin areas. I've been finding some very interesting areas by comparing the geological map from Clay, the info on land matters and my own topos from USGS. Seems there are some areas that are open to entry that have never been worked at all and the geology report shows them to have great possibilities. Trying to keep all the info on all these different maps straight isn't an easy thing so I'm double checking everything to make sure I'm keeping it all straight. Research, if flawed, is nothing more than a waste of time after all. I've made digital copies of the geo map, and the USGS topos and am using them to make notes on so I don't ruin the original clean copies. I also located a copy of the open report that goes with the geo map. After a brief glimpse at it, there is a TON of info in that report that anyone wanting to work that area should have in their research materials. At 175+ pages, it's a lengthy read of some highly technical stuff but will be well worth the time to learn and understand. Having both the maps and report will give me a lot of insight into these areas since the test locations on the maps are referenced to the report.

One thing I can't stress enough to those wanting to do what I've been doing these last four months is to be as prepared as humanly possible before you set off. Research, research and more research are needed as well as knowing your gear and your own limits. I pushed those limits to the max over the last four months and now I'm paying the price. Learning of an allergy to certain insects while out in the field was not something that I could help or plan for. I've learned that I'm NOT the indestructible man any more and that now I really have to plan things out in more detail to have all the bases covered. I'm going to be dumping certain items and adding others to the gear as I refine this setup to what works best for me as well as the area I am working in. I just need to figure out where I'm going to load that 55 gallon drum of RAID!!!!!

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Glad you had somewhere to retreat to. Take care, heal up, and meet us know when you head back out.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Yeah... It's not going to cool off here any time soon so I'll be doing more research ( a never ending process ) and doing some equipment fabrication. I'll post any projects I do and keep everyone in the loop. I hope to have a rebuilt trailer, new shade system and a new stand for the sluice done up before I head back out. Some gear will be dropped from the field inventory and new items added.

This down time will also give me a chance to do some more photography. Monsoon season is almost here and you guys know how I like doing the lightning shots.

 

[goldenIrishman]

As promised it's project time. After a trip to one of my favorite toy stores (Home Depot) I now have the parts to make up a new sluice stand. The stand itself will be formed out of 1" PVC and the pivoting sluice rack will be made out of 3/4" PVC. My old stand was a thrown together monstrosity made out of scrap 2X4s and was bulky as he77. The new PVC one will be much lighter and I'll also be able to break it down for transport. The sluice it's going to hold will be a Le Trap set up as a recirc system. I'll be picking up the sluice tomorrow afternoon at the Gold Ladys' shop in Kingman. I'll be making the sluice holding rack first and then adjusting the stand size to fit it.

Since this won't be pictures of areas I'm prospecting I'll be taking lots of pictures of the build so everyone can see how this crazy mind of mine works. This will either be a journey into madness or something rather enlightening to some shrink somewhere. Which it turns out to be I'll leave you to you the reader....

 

[goldenIrishman]

couple of quick shots of the roughed out stand. Front end pivots to all angle adjustment via a pair of threaded rods on the feed end. I'll do the write up on it within the next few days.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Managed to find a little time to do a test run on the new setup last night after it cooled down and found the following problems.

1. The legs are a tad too long and will have to be shortened by approx. 6". Since they are not glued, this isn't any problem to do. Shorter legs will also mean more stability and help get rid of the "wobblies".

2. More flow is needed. The little 1500 GPH pump would move materials through the box but the angle has to be rather steep. I'm thinking a Johnson 4000 GPH unit with a control valve will do the trick. My personal preferences are to keep my sluices as flat as possible with enough flow to let water instead of gravity move the majority of the materials. Flat box with deep varied riffles and lots of water = more gold caught.

3. A new wider water input is called for as well. Larger pump will require larger hose to be used. Because of the plastic construction of the Le' Trap box, I'm going to try cutting a piece of plexiglass to fit across it to hold the discharge end of the plumbing in place. This should also help keep water loss from splashing down to a minimum. Since it's a re-circ system for use out here in the desert, retaining as much water as possible is an important requirement for the setup.

4. Find and install the leveling feet once the height issue is resolved. ( I know I've got them around here SOMEWHERE!!!)

Unfortunately I have to make a run over to the V.A. office Las Vegas today so I'm not going to have time to get these modifications done. I'm going to have to order the bilge pump off E-Bay since none of the boat shops along the river carry ones that big. I guess they figure that a 750 GPH pump will get you to the bank of the river in plenty of time...

 

[goldenIrishman]

Well life has been getting in the way of getting more work done on the new sluice system. Instead of working on mining projects, I've been having to deal with contractors and their crews. I have been busy though getting the new home processing area built up. I'll have a level 12 X 20 foot area with gravel for drainage as well as a shade cloth cover over it to cut back on the sun a bit. Soon as we finish getting the new homestead done so we can actually move into it I'll be running both power and water to the shed which I'm setting up next to. I'll be installing a pair of 500W halogen lamps for working at night as well as a hose bib for filling the system with. Just waiting until the building inspector won't be coming around before I tackle these little projects. The 10 X 12 Shed that I'm setting p next to will have a workbench on which I'll be able to setup my amalgamation equipment on.

I still have to shorten the legs by 6 inches or so and I'm thinking of adding a cross brace between the front and back legs. I did manage to get the main part of the water spreader bar fabricated but the last touches on that will have to wait until I get the new 4000 GPH pump and the hose to go from the tank to the spreader bar. The new bar will easily handle the water flow from the pump and should give me good control over that flow with the included gate valve. The pump is being ordered at the end of the month so I'm sure I'll have this all done and ready for final testing as soon as it cools off a bit.

Soon as I get the system tested and it's working to my satisfaction, I'll do up a complete parts list and a step by step on construction.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Testing windfall

Since we're on hold on the mobile home construction I managed to get the legs on the sluice stand shortened up by 6 inches. To do some testing, I grabbed a couple of buckets of dirt from a pile sitting beside the trench for the line from the propane tank to the mobile and ran them. After two buckets I cleaned out the box and panned the cons down. When I got down to mostly black sands left I ran the magnet through them to get the magnetic materials out and then panned it down a little further. When I checked the remaining materials I actually found a nice little piece of gold along with a bunch of flour. The house is located in Golden Valley, AZ and sits on the alluvial plane formed by the erosion of the southern part of the Cerbat Mountains. I know there are several lode mines up in the hills but wasn't expecting to see gold of any size in what I ran from the yard.

Now all I have to do is convince Janice that we need to put in a nice deep swimming pool. One that goes down to bedrock should do the trick I think......

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Since we're on hold on the mobile home construction I managed to get the legs on the sluice stand shortened up by 6 inches. To do some testing, I grabbed a couple of buckets of dirt from a pile sitting beside the trench for the line from the propane tank to the mobile and ran them. After two buckets I cleaned out the box and panned the cons down. When I got down to mostly black sands left I ran the magnet through them to get the magnetic materials out and then panned it down a little further. When I checked the remaining materials I actually found a nice little piece of gold along with a bunch of flour. The house is located in Golden Valley, AZ and sits on the alluvial plane formed by the erosion of the southern part of the Cerbat Mountains. I know there are several lode mines up in the hills but wasn't expecting to see gold of any size in what I ran from the yard.

Now all I have to do is convince Janice that we need to put in a nice deep swimming pool. One that goes down to bedrock should do the trick I think......

Don't forget the pictures. I know you are busy getting set up, but really like to see the hole for the swimming pool and the gold that comes out of that. Who knows, might not be worth putting water into it (out in the desert and all), but then you could just fill it back in.

OK, I'll settle for pictures of the gold you already got from the trench, but I like the idea of a big test hole (er, pool).

 

[goldenIrishman]

Now here is a mining opportunity for us guys!!!!!