Placer Claim Mined Out?

[desertgolddigger]

I belong to a local club that owns a claim. This club has had this claim for many years, and acquired it after the old timers had mined it previously, and others after they commercial outfits closed up.
I walked quite a bit of the 160 acre claim, and noted that just about every wash had been worked. Most of the surface nuggets has also been detected by those with gold detectors. In other words, this place has been picked over and over and over.
But I m a stubborn type of person, and I figured, just watching how people ram their puffer and blower drywashers, that some gold was just being blown through them. maybe not much, but some small stuff that never got a chance to settle behind the riffles.
I know many of you would never go to the effort of digging for three to four hours through the tailings in these washes. Again, I'm a bit stubborn, and anyway, I just wanted to have some fun locally, instead of driving 300 miles roundtrip to something that gives a little more for less effort.
I've spent the last three weeks, digging a few times a week along about 30 yards of wash, and have recovered just about a gram of gold. That might not seem like much, but I have only dug up 5 grams, not counting this one gram in almost 20 years out here drywashing in the desert of southern California.
As you would know, things always seem to go wrong. My gas powered blower motor decided it was time for the repair shop, and haven't heard from the shop in two weeks. So I purchased a WORX WG521 corded electric leaf blower to use with my Royal Large drywasher. I'm using a portable generator to provide the power. And it actually is working better than with my old gas powered blower. I have to run the blower on the lowest speed, or I just blow everything through the riffles. Results are very good, as I am getting gold specks so small that I will have to use the Blue bowl in order to recover them.
I'm not only getting a little gold, I'm having some fun, and I am getting a good workout. I've lost 10 pounds since I started. So things are going well.
I'm still digging test holes around the old time hard rock mines in the hope I will find where the gold has drifted downhill below these mines. So far just a couple specks here and there. I figure I just have to move laterally one way or the other before I get something better Of course, I' don't really know if the old timers stripped the hillsides. Even if they have, they apparently aren't as thorough as I am. I hope that I may be lucky and find a larger piece of gold that the old timers, previous placer miners, and detectorists have missed.
Hope everyone is having as much fun as I have been having.

 

[desertgolddigger]

After nearly a month without a working chain mill, I put the newer one back together with new parts.

I'd been digging in an old timer waste pile, and decided to use what little knowledge I've accumulated in my brain to pick out promising small rocks, less than 3/4 inch size.

Ran about half a pail through the Krusher, and sifted to 80 minus mesh, sluiced and panned. Got about 1/100th gram, so nothing to cheer about. with the accompanying dirt I also sluice from that same waste pile, I figure I'm getting about 3/4 gram per ton.

Just wish I could locate those good rocks like when I first started this hard rock thing. Back then I was getting huge smiley faces in the pan, some of which was the micron gold I knew nothing about. Being dumb, I tossed anything not settling in the corner of the pan. Five years later, I'm lucky to get 1/100th gram per 3/4 five gallon bucket of material.

I vaguely remember breaking dirty quartz rocks back then, so I'm now looking for those. Hopefully they will literally pan out with better gold. I'd probably drop over if I got 1/20th gram in one pan. That's the amount that I can watch travel down my cleanup sluice because there's so much that the ribbed doormat cannot hold all of it.

 

[russau]

DGD keep at it! I for one is impressed with your fortitude ! My late Brother - in - law lived in 29 Palms but he passed away several years ago. R.I.P. Jerry !

 

[desertgolddigger]

DGD keep at it! I for one is impressed with your fortitude ! My late Brother - in - law lived in 29 Palms but he passed away several years ago. R.I.P. Jerry !

Thanks Russau. It's getting more difficult to do all this hard work and heavy lifting for such a little return, but it is slowing things down when it comes to aging. I'm 75 now, and the body keeps telling me to quit. I keep thumbing my nose at that, and just keep plugging along.

 

[russau]

Man do I hear you loud and clear ! I'm 78 now and had to quit dredging and prospecting because of my beat up ole body told me so ! BUT I still want to do it after watching these video's BUT my ole body is saying WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !

 

[desertgolddigger]

Man do I hear you loud and clear ! I'm 78 now and had to quit dredging and prospecting because of my beat up ole body told me so ! BUT I still want to do it after watching these video's BUT my ole body is saying WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !

Hey, Join up with a couple of friends, and go out and have some fun. If there's gold large enough for metal detecting, do that, as it takes very little effort. Or just team up and dig for a while.

About 20 years ago I teamed up with a couple other women, and we did a couple hours of drywashing each outing. Unfortunately, they had to quit due to injury. When we did find a picker, we got warned about noise pollution by the residents of 29Palms. You could hear our excitement all the way across 20 miles of desert.

After that I just puttered around until I finally learned how to properly work a drywasher, and started learning more about how to mine gold

A couple months ago I found two campers near our Humbug claim, and discovered the guy who'd helped me unload the rock from my truck for road repair, was a club member, but only came out a few times a year to metal detect. Another gentleman, camping with him was from Canada. They both did metal detecting, and before they left, both detected a wash I'd been working with the drywasher, and gave me five pieces they found, as thanks for making the roads good enough for them to get their trailers into the claim area. I had detected the same area, and never heard a peep.

Anyway, our intermittent visiting club member is now up north in the mountains for the summer, detecting for gold. I got invited to visit he and his claim owner friend to come out to Quartzsite this coming fall to get some lessons in metal detecting, and do a little drywashing. Anyway, it's nice going out with someone, even if it's only a few times a year to enjoy the company, and have a little fun searching for the yellow stuff.

Get out, as it gets you a little exercise, and gets your mind and juices flowing. Don't sit and vegetate, as that's not healthy.

 

[Assembler]

I belong to a local club that owns a claim. This club has had this claim for many years, and acquired it after the old timers had mined it previously, and others after they commercial outfits closed up.
I walked quite a bit of the 160 acre claim, and noted that just about every wash had been worked. Most of the surface nuggets has also been detected by those with gold detectors. In other words, this place has been picked over and over and over.
But I m a stubborn type of person, and I figured, just watching how people ram their puffer and blower drywashers, that some gold was just being blown through them. maybe not much, but some small stuff that never got a chance to settle behind the riffles.
I know many of you would never go to the effort of digging for three to four hours through the tailings in these washes. Again, I'm a bit stubborn, and anyway, I just wanted to have some fun locally, instead of driving 300 miles roundtrip to something that gives a little more for less effort.
I've spent the last three weeks, digging a few times a week along about 30 yards of wash, and have recovered just about a gram of gold. That might not seem like much, but I have only dug up 5 grams, not counting this one gram in almost 20 years out here drywashing in the desert of southern California.
As you would know, things always seem to go wrong. My gas powered blower motor decided it was time for the repair shop, and haven't heard from the shop in two weeks. So I purchased a WORX WG521 corded electric leaf blower to use with my Royal Large drywasher. I'm using a portable generator to provide the power. And it actually is working better than with my old gas powered blower. I have to run the blower on the lowest speed, or I just blow everything through the riffles. Results are very good, as I am getting gold specks so small that I will have to use the Blue bowl in order to recover them.
I'm not only getting a little gold, I'm having some fun, and I am getting a good workout. I've lost 10 pounds since I started. So things are going well.
I'm still digging test holes around the old time hard rock mines in the hope I will find where the gold has drifted downhill below these mines. So far just a couple specks here and there. I figure I just have to move laterally one way or the other before I get something better Of course, I' don't really know if the old timers stripped the hillsides. Even if they have, they apparently aren't as thorough as I am. I hope that I may be lucky and find a larger piece of gold that the old timers, previous placer miners, and detectorists have missed.
Hope everyone is having as much fun as I have been having.

Try holding the leaf blower further away and you can both cover the box better and not blow everything away at the same time.
If you take advantage of the desert wind and you stand upwind will make the process much more enjoyable away from the fine dust.

 

[desertgolddigger]

The electric leaf blower, blows air through a plastic tube which is connected to the bottom of the drywasher, just like you would connect a gas powered leaf blower to a drywasher. No need to try blowing dirt from the riffles by applying air to them from the top. I've been drywashing for over 20 years, so I kind of know how it's done. I estimated I recover over 95 percent of the gold passing through, though it's probably a higher percentage, as I've never rerun things, and caught gold I missed during the past 10 years.

 

[Assembler]

The electric leaf blower, blows air through a plastic tube which is connected to the bottom of the drywasher, just like you would connect a gas powered leaf blower to a drywasher. No need to try blowing dirt from the riffles by applying air to them from the top. I've been drywashing for over 20 years, so I kind of know how it's done. I estimated I recover over 95 percent of the gold passing through, though it's probably a higher percentage, as I've never rerun things, and caught gold I missed during the past 10 years.

You did point out that the blowers are used with the Royal large dry washer with a riffle box.

Blowing to move all of the material to make it all air born would be like a wind tunnel effect with the materials settling out or dropping out at different rates with the material being dry enough for all to be air born.

Blowing on one surface will tend to move the lighter materials before the heavier assuming the size is all the same as well as the shapes of the material grains is all the same plus if the material is dry enough.

Perhaps natures wind action can come into play with the over burden in the desert that may be covering the heavies?

Perhaps wind action can help reduce the amount of dry material to dry wash?

Perhaps wind action can speed up the time it takes to get a gram of values?

Perhaps wind action can be used to pile less desirable material away from material that is higher in heavies?

Perhaps wind is more convenient and less costly then finding enough water at a given location to process XX amount of material especially in very dry conditions?

 

[Bodfish Mike]

You did point out that the blowers are used with the Royal large dry washer with a riffle box.

Blowing to move all of the material to make it all air born would be like a wind tunnel effect with the materials settling out or dropping out at different rates with the material being dry enough for all to be air born.

Blowing on one surface will tend to move the lighter materials before the heavier assuming the size is all the same as well as the shapes of the material grains is all the same plus if the material is dry enough.

Perhaps natures wind action can come into play with the over burden in the desert that may be covering the heavies?

Perhaps wind action can help reduce the amount of dry material to dry wash?

Perhaps wind action can speed up the time it takes to get a gram of values?

Perhaps wind action can be used to pile less desirable material away from material that is higher in heavies?

Perhaps wind is more convenient and less costly then finding enough water at a given location to process XX amount of material especially in very dry conditions?

Perhaps AI will take over the world some day

 

[Assembler]

Perhaps AI will take over the world some day

No need to worry as the Moderators both check and use software for AI.

As most know this has nothing to do with the topic thread of placer claim mined out and dry washing out in the desert with dry conditions.

PS. Al is only as good as the training it has.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Blowing to move all of the material to make it all air born would be like a wind tunnel effect with the materials settling out or dropping out at different rates with the material being dry enough for all to be air born.

Have you ever used a drywasher with a blower?

From AI: " A drywasher uses static electricity, along with wind and vibration, to separate heavier materials, like gold, from lighter waste gravel. A high-speed blower forces air through a tray, creating a static electric charge. This charge helps to separate materials based on their density and electrical conductivity. "

 

[russau]

Perhaps AI will take over the world some day

As if it hasn't already ! It has blended into everything !

 

[desertgolddigger]

Assembler, you're really one minded. You've been over this wind tunnel thing before, and I basically said no. I won't answer you again. I said I know how to work a drywasher. The reason I have to run so much material is that our claim has been worked to death for over 100 years. End of this wind tunnel thing. I won't spend money for such an experiment.

 

[Assembler]

Have you ever used a drywasher with a blower?

From AI: " A drywasher uses static electricity, along with wind and vibration, to separate heavier materials, like gold, from lighter waste gravel. A high-speed blower forces air through a tray, creating a static electric charge. This charge helps to separate materials based on their density and electrical conductivity. "

A dry washer is a great tool.
One point I'm making is the reduction of material first then the better process of dry washing can take place to separate the reduced materials in order to get the goal of say a gram of values.

What does Al have to do with this other then a possible programed response depending on the training that that given AI was given?
The likely hood of AI giving a "Within the box" reply / answer is extremely high.

 

[Assembler]

Assembler, you're really one minded. You've been over this wind tunnel thing before, and I basically said no. I won't answer you again. I said I know how to work a drywasher. The reason I have to run so much material is that our claim has been worked to death for over 100 years. End of this wind tunnel thing. I won't spend money for such an experiment.

Simple question, just how much material are you willing to move by hand methods to achieve the goal of a one gram of values return?

A quicker reduction of material first should be considered before the dry washing process to then take place especially when a location has been worked for over a 100 years as most places out west have been.

You say you have the tools right now and there is no more investment needed?

 

[Assembler]

As if it hasn't already ! It has blended into everything !

AI is a tool that can be used for both good and bad. The training is a key factor.

 

[DizzyDigger]

AI is a tool that can be used for both good and bad. The training is a key factor.

IMO, AI is a thing that should have never been invented.

A hundred years from now, mankind will be reduced to a bunch of mindless dolts, and the only intelligence will be coming from some machine.

As for "reduction of material", we call that "classifying", and I've no doubt that desertgolddigger fully classifies all the material before processing it.

 

[Assembler]

IMO, AI is a thing that should have never been invented.

A hundred years from now, mankind will be reduced to a bunch of mindless dolts, and the only intelligence will be coming from some machine.

As for "reduction of material", we call that "classifying", and I've no doubt that desertgolddigger fully classifies all the material before processing it.

The question made above by the cat is simple: Just how much hand labor processing does one want to spend for say a one gram of values goal?
Sure most people will hand classify dry material before the next step of running through a dry washer as a prescreening step. The cat asks the simple question is this the only method to classify?

A hundred years from now, mankind will be reduced to a bunch of mindless dolts, and the only intelligence will be coming from some machine.

This is assuming that mankind no longer has the capability of conscience thinking? A simple 'No brainer' reduction of mankind by a war on mankind

 

[robertk]

A hundred years from now, mankind will be reduced to a bunch of mindless dolts,

Unfortunately, at the current rate, it won't take nearly that long.

 

[Assembler]

Unfortunately, at the current rate, it won't take nearly that long.

A machine is only as good as the setup, power supply, and training provided with perhaps some other factors not being pointed out yet.
Take any one of these factors away and the AI will likely fail in some fashion.