M-3 GoldenIrishmans Monsoon Mining Thread

[goldenIrishman]

Just my luck....

Why am I not surprised? Spend all this time researching an area, doing the due diligence dance,and getting boots on the ground to look for gold and I end up finding Silver instead. Well.... At least I THINK it may be Silver. It's too hard to be Lead, it's not attracted to a magnet at all and it sure looks like metal under the microscope. It's not quite shiny enough for me to think it's Gold with Mercury stuck to it either. Pieces are too darn small to hold to do a streak test. Guess I'm going to have to pick up a silver test kit here in the near future and see what it says. Would be nice if it was something from the PMG family that's worth a bit more than Silver. It doesn't have to be gold in my book. If it's reasonably valuable... I'm more than willing to show I'm an equal opportunity prospector

 

[goldenIrishman]

Tried getting a couple of shots of the material with my cell phone thru the microscope. Kind of blurry but it worked with a little effort and experimenting around. Kind of need three hands to do it better.




100X magnification on the scope and a cheap cell phone then e-mailed to myself.

 

[Duckwalk]

Got the first shirts done up today and I think they came out pretty good. I did these up n "Safety Yellow" since I don't want to give any poor sighted hunters an excuse. If they miss seeing us in these then they're blind!

View attachment 1227075

Pocket of shirts

View attachment 1227076

Logo back

View attachment 1227077

Attitude version of shirt

I'm also doing some up in "Safety Orange" and Jan has requested some in "Safety PINK". Granted there's not much hunting going on in the areas we work, but I want to make sure that we are easy to see. The camera on my phone doesn't do the brightness of the colors justice. Ya pretty much have to wear sunglasses at all time while they're on your back.... All in all not bad for homemade if I do say so myself!!!

Those look like good tattoos to me

 

[KevinInColorado]

I'll be very curious to learn what you've found. Fairly rare for silver to be untarnished in nature so I'm betting its something else...fingers crossed for pgm!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Just finishing up the rebuild on my processing area. Late storm kind of caused me to have to rethink the layout. New shelves with work surface, pan and classifier rack, better sluice positioning that will allow better material access and a improved panning station. The sluice now sports a header box so less classifying of materials is needed. Only thing left to do is run the electricity and water lines down to the shed and get the wiring for the lighting and power set up. Any one want to volunteer to help dig the trenches? Only have to dig about 80 feet or so between the two. Yeah... I know.... You'll supervise.

Our club has asked for people to go out and do some testing on some ground they're considering picking up for the group so Jan and I will be heading out to Gold Basin to help out. They're looking at an entire quadrant trying to decide on 120 acres or so out of it if it tests out well. Since it just happens to be right next to an area that I've been looking at myself it should be educational if nothing else.

 

[KevinInColorado]

The sampling sounds like fun!

For that trench, maybe rent a rototiller to loosen up the ground where you'll dig?

 

[goldenIrishman]

Oh I don't plan on going THAT wide Kevin. The ground here isn't that hard to dig if it's moist. I've got one of those soaker hoses that I lay out over the path of the trench to soften it up. Single shovel width and about 18" deep is all I need. Jan wants me to run all the dirt through the sluice before I back fill to check for gold but I'm not really wanting to do that because if I do find more gold she's going to want a nice big deep Koi pond next! I'll save the tiller for that "little project".

 

[bobw53]

Jan wants me to run all the dirt through the sluice before I back fill to check for gold but I'm not really wanting to do that because if I do find more gold she's going to want a nice big deep Koi pond next! I'll save the tiller for that "little project".

I've got my handy man/cleaning guy over at my house digging a trench for a new propane line. Wood rat or a gopher or something must have started chewing on it, first time I've ever been happy to
pay for a pressure test.

Anyways, if I'm shoveling the dirt back into that trench, its going through the drywasher first.... If it ever drys out. I've already found a little bit of gold in the pile left over from when the
septic tank was put in. I also need to check out the rocks, I've found some nice ones with a bunch of quartz going through them... Quartz goes from clear to milky to golden to brownish
to black, and there is usually some gold right around where it turns black.

I'd at least dry wash it, drop the tailings right back in the trench, not as efficient as wet, but no lugging buckets, and then you can sleep well at night, no wondering if you should
have processed that dirt.

 

[goldenIrishman]

We found gold in the trench that they dug for the propane line here. I never got around to running all of it so I think Jan wants me to run this stuff instead. AS for myself, I'd rather spend the time locating a claim with much better gold on it than our yard has. Our place is located about a mile west from the base of the Cerbat Mountains which are extremely mineralized and have known gold. That some of it washed down is no big surprise to me. The entire valley here is alluvial fill from the mountains which used to be about 3X as high.

 

[bobw53]

We found gold in the trench that they dug for the propane line here. I never got around to running all of it so I think Jan wants me to run this stuff instead. AS for myself, I'd rather spend the time locating a claim with much better gold on it than our yard has. Our place is located about a mile west from the base of the Cerbat Mountains which are extremely mineralized and have known gold. That some of it washed down is no big surprise to me. The entire valley here is alluvial fill from the mountains which used to be about 3X as high.

I live a few miles down the mountain from where there were 19 named mines. Tiny little mining district, gold wasn't the primary, but they pulled 12,000 or so ounces of lode gold out, and a bit over
a 1000 placer.... Recorded. And then its over an hour to get to the good stuff, so its nice being able to go out and play in the yard and find gold.. Our property is actually 20 acres and falls along the
PLSS grid, which is kind of fun, I've got 1/8th mile of arroyo... Its just fun... Go grab a handful of dirt out of one of the dogs holes, run it down the Black Magic thing, and there are 4 pieces of fly poop...

I think its fun having gold in the yard... Might not be a ton of it, but if I'm digging a hole, I'm processing that dirt (animal graves are the exception, the better half told me that was disrespectful).

Be thankful you have any gold at all in the yard, think about how many people don't have any... When the fever hits hard, we can go outside and play for a few, most people can't.

 

[goldenIrishman]

A quick picture of the panning area and work space.



Side view of the sluice setup. No pretty but it works great!



End view.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Toto... I don't think we're in Kansas anymore

Of course not Irish... You're in Arizona you silly miner!

Was woken up this morning by high winds blowing the trash cans past the bedroom window. Looks like it's going to be another day of cleaning up the yard once it calms down. Sun isn't even up yet but wind with an estimated speed of 35 with higher gusts is making sleep impossible.

 

[Jeff95531]

Pictures from GoldenIrishman! They DO exist!

Looks good Jeff! I'd like to see inside the header box too if you please. And I take it the tubs are connected together by pipes

 

[goldenIrishman]

Ask and thou shalt receive!


Transfer "U" pipes 1-1/2" dia X2


Header box view. Bungee cord hold down make for easy removal for cleanouts. (we all like easy!)


Detail of main box water supply.

The notched board keeps the pipe centered and held in place by the headerbox. I need to cut a piece of hardware cloth to go from the end of the box to the end of the sluice and surround the pipe to make tailings easier to clear off the box. 1/4" hardware cloth for classifying the materials while running them. I only have to classify to 1/2" while digging. If you look closely, you can see the gap between the centering board and the discharge from the header box. This directs the slurry so it hits the main box right on top of the Le Trap logo. Currently running a 1500 gph on the main box with a 1250 on the headerbox. Want to upgrade to a 4000 gph for the main and move the 1500 gph to the spray bars.

So far the Le Trap can handle the materials as fast as I can scoop them into the headerbox when classified to 1/2". I've been catching the -1/2" to +1/4" stuff to use for paving paths. Once I get the ground framing done for the processing area it will be filled with crushed rock so I'm not having to stand in mud while working.

The legs on the stand are removable for transporting it out to the field as is the sluice frame.

 

[Jeff95531]

For one thing, I like the removable header box. I have a canvas hinge keeping mine all together that is so fragile I don't mess with it. I also have a gate valve that just needs to go away. Just a little concerned on the flow out of your spray bars. Have you measured the GPH to know for sure?

 

[goldenIrishman]

No I haven't measured the actual flow out of the spray bars. I know I'm loosing some flow for a couple of reasons. First is the hose and fittings. I need to make up a new set using larger pipe at least as far as the 90 degree elbows at the top of the box. The fitting that adapts the hose to the spray bars is a choke point. Anytime you're moving water you have to remember that less restriction the more flow you're going to end up with. I need to go up another 1/4" on the diameter of the hose and make the new spray bars accordingly. The second loss is from "head height". Any time the water is being lifted it's going to slow down the flow. The greater the height, the less flow you're going to get at the end of the hose/pipe. Simple physics. Since I'm lifting the water less that 3 feet, the loss in this is maybe 5-7%. The more flow I can get, the less angle I'm going to need on the Le Trap.

If I pick up a higher capacity pump for the main box and move the pump that's there now up to the spray bars I'll be better off. If I go with a 2700 gph on the main and move the 1500 gph to the bars I'll be moving about 4200 gph. If I go for the 4000 gph it will be more closer to 5500. Since the output port from either of these larger pumps is larger than the current pump I'll need new hose anyway. I know the local Home Depot has the hose in the size I'll need as well as all the fittings required. (plus it helps knowing the manager pretty well so I get the 10% military discount.)

Like any home brewed piece of equipment, it's a work in progress. My goal is to have the sluice as flat as possible and still have it able to move the materials through it without blowing out the gold. As far as the removable header box goes, I recycled it off of my old highbanker setup that I've retired. Drop riffle boxes seem to work much better in this area due to all the black sands. On the highbanker, the carpets were clogging with B.S. after a half buckets worth of materials had been run which was ridiculous. Can't get any real production if you're having to clean mats all the time!

 

[Rob in KS]

Of course not Irish... You're in Arizona you silly miner!

Was woken up this morning by high winds blowing the trash cans past the bedroom window. Looks like it's going to be another day of cleaning up the yard once it calms down. Sun isn't even up yet but wind with an estimated speed of 35 with higher gusts is making sleep impossible.

That's hilarious. Today we only had a light breeze for a change. In a few days, that wind will be here. Thanks Jeff

 

[goldenIrishman]

Glad I could supply a chuckle Rob. Having lived on the south end of the great plains I remember that "Hawk" that would cut right through ya. Arizona isn't much different as the winds are almost always blowing. Where I'm at is high enough to get some snow once in a while but not like your area. Still cold wind is cold wind no matter where you're at.

 

[Rob in KS]

Your wind is coming. There are blizzard warnings out for western KS for tomorrow. Not much snow but it's the wind (60mph)that determines a blizzard. I'm a lot farther east but it's still cold. It doesn't seem like that long ago we were having 100+ temps.

 

[goldenIrishman]

I came up with a new way for me to keep my research organized in a nice neat manner while out in the field. Using a nice big three ring binder, I've placed all the information in it and set everything up by township and range.

Using the maps available from Welcome to Land Matters I've printed out copies of each T&R map as well as the Master Plat that holds ground that I'm interested in. Without moving the maps I change which layers are active and print them out. My collection for each T&R included the basic map as well as maps showing the Land Management layer and another showing the historic mining. Then I do up individual maps for each section that I want to check out with additional information such as access, GPS cords and the satellite views. In some areas that have them, I've even printed out maps showing the boundaries for wilderness areas that I want to avoid. Included in each section is a spread sheet with location information and check lists to keep everything straight and to make sure I don't forget anything should an area prove to be worth filing on.

Since this binder will be out in the field with me I used one that I had made years ago out of 16oz saddle leather. Since it handled years of Ren-Faire records and duty rosters, riding in the truck 24/7/365 should be a piece of cake for it to handle. Now I just need to get myself out to all these areas in something close to a systematic way so I can sample them.

One thing that is getting scary is that at our last prospecting meeting they started talking about an area near one of our groups of claims that the group in interested in obtaining and I already knew the township and range before they gave it out. Maybe I've been spending too much time working with the PLSS? If so... I can only blame Clay Diggens for explaining how it works to me in the first place. He's got me thinking in quarter and quarter/quarter sections too!