Metal detecting or sluicing??

[idowa]

I've been looking for a hobby and always enjoyed hiking and riding ATVs. I particularly enjoyed going to old mine sites and poking around. My dad told me that I should start gold prospecting and combine my favorite hobby with the chance of actually getting some gold to pay for gas...

Well, I'm in a great area for finding gold; Prescott, AZ. There are literally hundreds of mines within 20 miles of my house, and the hills are filled with gold.

I'm planning on getting a Tesoro Lobo next month to look for nuggets in dry washes down stream from old mines, since I know there was a good producing vein in the area.

However, today I went to one of those washes and filled a 5 gal bucket with material from some good spots and brought it home. I used my pan and sat on the back patio and ran about half the bucket through my pan and found a few flakes and lots of flour gold.

I'm wondering what the pros and cons are of buying a recirculating sluice type set up versus just going for nuggets with a detector.

Walking the washes with a detector vs shoveling material into a sluice seems like it would more fun...

 

[The_EE]

I've been looking for a hobby and always enjoyed hiking and riding ATVs. I particularly enjoyed going to old mine sites and poking around. My dad told me that I should start gold prospecting and combine my favorite hobby with the chance of actually getting some gold to pay for gas...

Well, I'm in a great area for finding gold; Prescott, AZ. There are literally hundreds of mines within 20 miles of my house, and the hills are filled with gold.

I'm planning on getting a Tesoro Lobo next month to look for nuggets in dry washes down stream from old mines, since I know there was a good producing vein in the area.

However, today I went to one of those washes and filled a 5 gal bucket with material from some good spots and brought it home. I used my pan and sat on the back patio and ran about half the bucket through my pan and found a few flakes and lots of flour gold.

I'm wondering what the pros and cons are of buying a recirculating sluice type set up versus just going for nuggets with a detector.

Walking the washes with a detector vs shoveling material into a sluice seems like it would more fun...

Get a detector to find enough gold to buy a sluice and then you can do either one whenever you feel like it

 

[chukers]

Either way it sounds fun! You will see more gold panning it... at least at first... nuggets would be harder to find.


good luck keep us posted!

Chukers

 

[Keppy]

If i was in you area i would do both.....

 

[Jason in Enid]

Recirculating sluices are great for working at home. I have heard that the ground out your way is loaded with clay which presents it's own problems for recirculating.

 

[idowa]

I think I've been watching too many Youtube videos of guys finding nuggets with their detectors and making it look so easy... My wife wants to know how soon after I get the detector can she quit her job and stay home with the kids...

I told her as soon as I find a 5oz nugget...

 

[idowa]

Recirculating sluices are great for working at home. I have heard that the ground out your way is loaded with clay which presents it's own problems for recirculating.

In the wash I worked today, it was pretty sandy and easy to pan. The rest of soil in the surrounding area is mostly clay. I rode my ATV to the site a month ago after 3 days of rain and it could barely get in even in 4wd with new tires.

The "dirt" in my back yard is incredible; like a super dense clay with lots of rocks. To dig a hole for a new tree, I have to use a giant steel bar, a shovel, and post hole digger. It takes me about 2 hours to dig a hole 2' across and 2' deep. I then have to take a power drill with a masonry bit to drill relief holes so the roots can grow. It is incredible stuff!

 

[goldentruth]

If you like slucing check out on youtube "How to make your own blue bowl"! It is a way to get a 5 gal plastic paint bucket cut in in half, run a PVC plastic pipe to the inside to make a "Vortex" and run another PVF in the center of the bucket & out thru the funnel you bond to the bucket. I made one and I use a old 12 volt car battery to run the 12 volt water/fall pump to run the pump and recirculate the water back. It leaves black sand and runs the black sand untill you see the gold dust and if your lucky some "Pickers". Check out the video, you will be glad (Also save $$$) on eqpt. Good luck & tell me how you do.

 

[Ism]

Idowa,

Be careful you aren't on someone's claim it could get real ugly.
A dry washer would be recommended to turn your dirt into concentrates.
Then you can bring it home and work it. Frankly, I like to sit on my porch with a pan and a 10gal bucket with water.
there I work the concentrates at my leisure.
I'm not a very successful prospector, I only get out a couple times a year but my nugget finding experience with a detector is ZERO and I've spent more time detecting than panning. Most areas open to part timers in AZ are worked over pretty good. You need to get onto a club claim for some more successful hunting. BTW, check the tailings at those mines, they were sloppy in the old days.
I've found more gold in my first soccer field ring than I ever found in AZ. However I finally found a spot during my last trip that may "pan" out...grin
Better info can be had on the prospecting forum. Best luck to your quest. You are in a great area for the hobby!

 

[idowa]

I haven't seen any claim sign or markers in the area I'm in... A couple of miles away there are some miners camped out and they work some old tailings piles nearby.

The mine I've been working was recently destroyed by the BLM and they put up a barbed wire fence around the entrance, after they filled it in...

Some of the rocks with color I picked up in the area:

 

[Jason in Enid]

I haven't seen any claim sign or markers in the area I'm in... A couple of miles away there are some miners camped out and they work some old tailings piles nearby.

Claims don't have to have markers to be valid. The claim posts could have been stolen, destroyed, or damaged by nature. Any claim would still be valid. You need to check with the county tax office for active claims. I can tell you that the vast majority of gold producing grounds are currently claimed. It's up to you to find the open ground before prospecting on it.

 

[idowa]

Hmph! Just checked with the County on the GIS website and found that there is a claim there. This is at the 2nd mine but not on the first one I found...Really, not too many claims in the area... Good thing I didn't find anything...