M-3 GoldenIrishmans Monsoon Mining Thread

KevinInColorado · Jun 5, 2016

The pyrite pirate ...love it!

Jeff95531 · Jun 6, 2016

Oh not you too Kevin

I see nuthin but trouble comin from this. If I say sumthin it's bad... but it'll be double if'n I don't. Hmmm Midnight Rider would be better...just sayin

Duckwalk · Jun 6, 2016

The pyrite pirate... I think i need this too add to the tattoos on my back...

Jeff95531 · Jun 6, 2016

OMG...just please don't shorten it to PP. It's all I ask. :icon_pale:

goldenIrishman · Jun 7, 2016

See what happens when you leave yourself open here man? Miners from across the country will chime in with their $.023586 worth. (Current inflation rates applied) If we make it up there this summer it's going to be amazing. Seems like every time we stash some money for the trip into the savings account we end up having to haul half of it out because of some emergency. At least we only have a couple more payments left on the house so we'll be able to stash even more money! That's just going to leave us with one major decision. Go up to your place or invest in more mining gear. However you're in luck because I can't think of anything mining gear wise that we need.

goldenIrishman · Jul 2, 2016

Right on schedual.....

Well the pop-up monsoon storms have made their first showing of the year up here. So much for my plans to get some drywashing in before they hit. Looks like it's going to be nothing but detecting for a couple of months. And no... I'm not whining at all here. Time out in the field is a good thing no matter what the required method is.

Yesterday we sat at the house and watched as several cells marched their way across the valley like soldiers on parade. Toss in a couple of nice lightning strikes for good measure and it made for a great show. :hello2:

The dogs didn't like it nearly as much as I did. Found Zipper hiding under my desk when I came back into the office.... Poor kid is SUCH a wuss at times!

goldenIrishman · Aug 17, 2016

Good Neighbors!

Man I've got some good neighbors here! :headbang:

I was just given a pair of 55 gallon poly drums by the guy across the street. I've already gotten them cut in half so I can expand the water capacity of my re-circ system but still have to give them a really good cleaning and make up some "U" tubes to transfer the water between them. They had some sort of silicon lube in them that they use at the guys work place. Needless to say I don't want that stuff contaminating everything in the processing area! One of the barrels was pretty clean already but I found a large mass of silicon "Goo" in the other that I need to figure out how to dispose of in a safe manner. I'm not sure what the disposal directions from the manufacturer are so I guess I'll have to see if they have a website and look for a MSDS on it. I don't want our dogs getting into it. For now I'm going to put it into a small covered bucket. If it turns out to be safe to do so, I'll place the entire bucket into the trash for pickup. I'm pretty sure that silicon is an inert material but want to be sure about that before I get rid of the stuff.....

Sample Pan Dan · Aug 17, 2016

Free stuff....winning!

Sample Pan Dan · Aug 17, 2016

Ya'll over here talking about mining. . Im just living in the motherlode trying to survive 60+ hour work weeks! :-0

SchoolOfHardRocks · Aug 17, 2016

If its a lubricant its probably going to be considered hazardous waste (at least here in CA it would be). Looks like you know what youre doing though, separating it until you get an MSDS (now called an SDS) to identify handling procedures.

goldenIrishman · Aug 17, 2016

I was a lab tech for a paint shop for several years. Before I got promoted into the job, they were just tossing EVERYTHING into the dumpsters. I took the time to read all the MSDS sheets for everything I was responsible for (pretty much every chemical in the place) because I knew that my boss there was a conniving critter that would lie through his teeth to his own mother just to cover his own ass. When I had finished all that reading I tried to set up a new storage and disposal program for our shop. Well the boss wasn't going to go along with it due to the cost (maybe a total of $250 a month) so I ended up calling the big wigs at the headquarters in Ohio to get their read on it. The next week one of the VPs showed up, chewed the bosses butt up one side and down the other till it looked like hamburger. The VP explained to him that it was the corporations ass if EPA should happen to pop in for an inspection as well as his job. The new storage and disposal program went into effect the very next week. EPA showed up 4 months later and we passed with flying colors. Two months after that, the shop manager (my boss) got busted for embezzlement. :laughing7:

Couldn't have happened to a more deserving jerk!!!!!

KevinInColorado · Aug 18, 2016

Good job doing the responsible thing for the environment...and having it pay off! My estimation of you as a wonderful person just went up another notch [emoji106]🏻

goldenIrishman · Aug 18, 2016

Now you hush Kevin!!! You keep talking like that and you're going to ruin my perfectly BAD reputation!

Duckwalk · Aug 18, 2016

Just a question. With stuff like that in the barrels, how do you clean them safely? Can you just pressure wash them to get the gunk out?

goldenIrishman · Aug 19, 2016

To be honest Ducky I'm not going to know until I have a chance to read the MSDS on the stuff. If it's inert then it's easy. If it's something with a high hazard rating then it gets tricky to do it safely. Needless to say, I don't want to poison our property here. ...or anywhere else for that matter.

goldenIrishman · Aug 28, 2016

Well I've got the barrel cleaned out and ready to use now. Turns out the stuff was pretty benign. Mom-toxic and water clean up. Hit them with some good detergent to make sure everything was out of them. Now I just need to make a quick trip to Home Despot to get the materials to make up the transfer tubes for them.

The weather here is starting to cool down a bit so I'm getting all the gear ready to go for a busy winter season. I've got plenty of areas to get checked out and hope that one or two of them are worth filing a claim on. I've been developing a bad case of cabin fever and need to get out prospecting to get rid of it. Yeah... Most people get cabin fever in the winter but I (and most other desert prospectors) do things backwards. While you folks are huddled in front of the fireplace with 3 ft of snow on the ground and everything frozen solid, we will be out working. I can dress for cold on the rare days it's called for out here, but heat stroke don't care how much you take off. (The cops...well that's another matter

)

goldenIrishman · Oct 5, 2016

Four new drums cleaned and ready to go.....Check ( now up to six 1/2 drums can be used in the system.)
Transfer tubes made up for them.... Check
Repairs made to sluice stand..... Check
NEW Johnson 4000GPH pump installed....Check
New wiring and switch/fuse panel installed..... Check

Looks like the only thing left to do is to fire this mutha up and make sure that everything is flowing between barrels like it should be then start running materials through it. The new Le`Trap 3.0 recirc system will be able to run with less angle now thanks to the increased flow. Between the two pumps I'll be running 5250GPH now. If that don't wash some dirt/rocks then something is very wrong with my thinking and I need to go back to engineering school.

On a side note, we had our monthly meeting for Mohave Prospectors last night. During the raffle draw, Jan and I managed to have two winning tickets so we walked off with a new large pan with heavy riffles. Looks to be a great design for dry panning to test new areas quickly. Our other prize was a mouse pad printed with I :heart:

Gold Prospecting. Lots of prizes were there to be won and most winners went home with multiple prizes.

goldenIrishman · Oct 5, 2016

Four new drums cleaned and ready to go.....Check ( now up to six 1/2 drums can be used in the system.)
Transfer tubes made up for them.... Check
Repairs made to sluice stand..... Check
NEW Johnson 4000GPH pump installed....Check
New wiring and switch/fuse panel installed..... Check

Looks like the only thing left to do is to fire this mutha up and make sure that everything is flowing between barrels like it should be then start running materials through it. The new Le`Trap 3.0 recirc system will be able to run with less angle now thanks to the increased flow. Between the two pumps I'll be running 5250GPH now. If that don't wash some dirt/rocks then something is very wrong with my thinking and I need to go back to engineering school.

On a side note, we had our monthly meeting for Mohave Prospectors last night. During the raffle draw, Jan and I managed to have two winning tickets so we walked off with a new large pan with heavy riffles. Looks to be a great design for dry panning to test new areas quickly. Our other prize was a mouse pad printed with I :heart:

Gold Prospecting. Lots of prizes were there to be won and most winners went home with multiple prizes.

brianc053 · Oct 6, 2016

A picture please? I hear they are worth a thousand words...

- Brian

goldenIrishman · Oct 6, 2016

Well pictures will have to wait a bit. I'm not happy with how it's working yet. Even though I've got 2" transfer tubes, they're not enough to give me enough flow between the tanks. I end up overflowing the tailings tank because the flow is not quick enough between the tanks. I couldn't even get through a single bucket of materials before I was overflowing. So... another trip into town to hit Home Depot to get what I need to make up some more transfer tubes. I figure that a pair of 2" between each tank will do the trick.

Besides that Brian... I'd want to do some straightening up around the processing area before any pics. I'd be embarrassed otherwise. (Thank you Arizona wind!)