Mine searching

[Frank L]

My nephew is looking for a gold machine to search in underground mines in the California desert. Desert rats, gimme some help here.

 

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[RTR]

The perfect tool.A Drone with a infrared camera .

 

[DizzyDigger]

Frank, best advice I could give would be to get a good gold detector and
teach him to hunt nuggets above ground, and to STAY THE HELL OUT OF
THOSE OLD MINES!!

Seriously, keep him out of those old mines..the risk just ain't worth it.

A number of decent gold-getters on the market. Any idea of the
budget?

 

[arizau]

Metal detecting on the dumps...yep. Inside the mines.....nope. Bad air, loose ceiling, interior shafts, etc. Just not worth it.

 

[Clay Diggins]

If you don't know what a winze is you shouldn't go near a mine.

If you do know what a winze is you already know to stay away from abandoned mines.

If you first learn what a winze is while exploring around a mine it will sound something like this:


!! What the H.... .... .... ... . . . . . . . . . . thump*



Heavy Pans

 

[Aufisher]

Sort of like skydiving without the plane

 

[Bonaro]

Happens all the time...

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/man-dies-trapped-in-nevada-mine-shaft/
https://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=33039410
Missing man found dead at old mine in western Montana - Spokane, North Idaho News & Weather KHQ.com

 

[SaltwaterServr]

Mine exploring is like scuba diving. Buy the gear, do it yourself, you're taking a very large risk with your life. It's basically what I did to learn mine exploring. Like anything else, there's a safe way and a stupid way.

You go in with one flashlight all excited like a school kid, you'll die eventually. Look at the gear that Underground Mine Explorers wear on their channel. Full climbing gear. Helmets. Multiple light sources. Gas meter. Never go alone. Always take a pistol. Know how to perform self-rescue first aid. Understand survival techniques in the desert. Etc.

Had I heeded the advice and stayed out of mines, Period Six Mining wouldn't exist and we wouldn't be sitting on a not-so-small fortune.

Can it kill you? For sure. It's your choice to go into them for a measured risk at the end of the day.

I never use my Garrett ATX in the mines. Spending the time to learn the geology is more important. A GB2 is pretty good to have around though.

 

[Aufisher]

Never heard my uncle cuss until he almost dropped down the winze!

 

[winners58]

looking for gold in tailing piles the oldtimers missed, some people use a Falcon MD20 Metal Detector
to cover larger areas you'd have to get a more expensive detector,
I've had the older Fisher goldbug-2 and White's GMT, I thought the goldbug did better in mineralized areas
.

.
and one from "ask Jeff" testing a contact zone with the falcon https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SsZd4vkwDVA

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

i found a mine that had detectable gold in quartz veins. Problem is...it was an area where the tunnel was nearing the surface. Reality sets in once you have to start hammering away with a sledge and chisel and little bits of rock start falling off the ceiling. You can only break away so much material that way. Hammer drills and explosives are the next step...are you prepared to take the risks involved in actually hard rock mining? In my case, I chipped away the easy stuff, the rest is still there because I do not have the tools or knowledge to pursue it. Really wasn’t an aspect I considered when I first started going in mines. What happens if you actually find a seam of high grade ore...

 

[SittingElf]

Whew! When I first saw the title of this thread..."Mine Searching" ...My military brain took over and thought your son was going to be mine "Detecting", not gold searching! LOL

 

[blackchipjim]

You would be surprised how many people die each year in mines across the nation. I would learn from a person with alot of experience before considering exploring mines.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

All the good advice above about how dangerous it is to explore "old mines" is on the money!

There's another issue - ownership. Particularly after gold ran up to $1,800+/oz., abandoned claims were bought up and assessment work was done on many more. I'll hazard a guess that almost every "old mine" is owned by someone.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Clay Diggins:

Your excellent post made me wince.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo