Placer Claim Mined Out?

desertgolddigger

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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.
 

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desertgolddigger

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southfork, Yes, it's nice to crush a rock, and find at least a tiny bit of gold. This waste pile has been picked over a little. I'm not finding ore like Gold Tramp showed me, but I'm trying to find anything with noticeable mineralization.

Today I crushed just one of those whitish rocks that has brownish, occasional black, and reddish color. The rock might be sandstone, though I've never seen it. I just Googled it, and I guess it isn't. Don't know what it is.

Results were just impossible to figure out. There's some kind of stuff that looks somewhat like gold, but pans away after everything else has gone. The color I had was not a whole lot, and under a microscope, I still couldn't tell. So I broke out the Mercury ball GT gave me, and swirled it around. The color disappeared, so it was gold, but very very tiny. Probably didn't amount to a thousandth of a gram, but I now know this type of rock does have some values, if not much.

I drywashed nine half buckets of classified material from that waste pile, and was not impressed. I won't bother trying anymore. I'll just keep picking out anything that looks promising.
 

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desertgolddigger

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I've continued reprocessing the material I ran through the chain mill, and quickly panned. Today I came up with more ultra fine gold, and apparently gold I can see. The mercury ball that GT gave me seems to be picking up something I can't see, and has grown much larger than the visible gold should make it do.

I have a dilemma now that I've been using that mercury, and ordered 50 grams of the stuff for future use. That being, just how I'm going to release the gold from the mercury. GT said he would do it, but he is not well, and mining stuff is off his table for now. A mercury retort seems to be what I need, but have zero experience, and I'm very leery of trying something so dangerous without hands on instruction from an expert.

I know I will need the retort. I also know I will need a blow torch, but I've read most torches are basically not hot enough to do the job of melting the gold that is left after retorting. And right now I really don't want to think about a furnace, as I am not getting enough gold to justify that cost. Really, I'm not getting enough to justify the retort and blow torch cost.

I'd appreciate any feedback you can provide.
 

southfork

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I've continued reprocessing the material I ran through the chain mill, and quickly panned. Today I came up with more ultra fine gold, and apparently gold I can see. The mercury ball that GT gave me seems to be picking up something I can't see, and has grown much larger than the visible gold should make it do.

I have a dilemma now that I've been using that mercury, and ordered 50 grams of the stuff for future use. That being, just how I'm going to release the gold from the mercury. GT said he would do it, but he is not well, and mining stuff is off his table for now. A mercury retort seems to be what I need, but have zero experience, and I'm very leery of trying something so dangerous without hands on instruction from an expert.

I know I will need the retort. I also know I will need a blow torch, but I've read most torches are basically not hot enough to do the job of melting the gold that is left after retorting. And right now I really don't want to think about a furnace, as I am not getting enough gold to justify that cost. Really, I'm not getting enough to justify the retort and blow torch cost.

I'd appreciate any feedback you can provide.
Don't worry about a retort right now just work on the mercury ball. When you can't roll it around anymore just save it up until it will pay for itself.
 

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desertgolddigger

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Don't worry about a retort right now just work on the mercury ball. When you can't roll it around anymore just save it up until it will pay for itself.
southfork, Appreciate your take on things. I'll do that, and continue with the mercury I've ordered. I'll reach out again when I've accumulated 10-12 of the size I have right now. The one I have is slightly larger than 0.25 inch, and still is slurping up the fine gold.

I broke another 10 smaller whitish rocks with the red, black and brown banding, and got a very nice thin 3 inch line of the ultra fine gold below 120 mesh. I got a little bit from 100-119 mesh, but this whitish rock seems to primarily have the ultra fine gold.

I know I said I wouldn't go out and drag more ore home, but with the knowledge that the ore with red, brown and black colors having gold, I prefer to go through that entire waste pile before I quit. I'm going to need a place to put it all.

I also worked on the chain mill today, replacing the chains, and screen. I went to the hardware store and picked up 4 sets of replacement hardware for holding down the screen. Seems two of the bolt heads are in the path of the chain, and wear to the point it is difficult to get the bolts undone. Am also going to have to purchase a few more screen hold down plates, as one end is slowly deteriorating from either the chain striking it, or the rocks.

I need to make sure this mill lasts a long time. What kind of oil do the bearings take? I know of one place I can squirt oil in. it has a set screw covering the hole. This machine came with minimal instructions, so is there more than one location requiring oiling?
 

southfork

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southfork, Appreciate your take on things. I'll do that, and continue with the mercury I've ordered. I'll reach out again when I've accumulated 10-12 of the size I have right now. The one I have is slightly larger than 0.25 inch, and still is slurping up the fine gold.

I broke another 10 smaller whitish rocks with the red, black and brown banding, and got a very nice thin 3 inch line of the ultra fine gold below 120 mesh. I got a little bit from 100-119 mesh, but this whitish rock seems to primarily have the ultra fine gold.

I know I said I wouldn't go out and drag more ore home, but with the knowledge that the ore with red, brown and black colors having gold, I prefer to go through that entire waste pile before I quit. I'm going to need a place to put it all.

I also worked on the chain mill today, replacing the chains, and screen. I went to the hardware store and picked up 4 sets of replacement hardware for holding down the screen. Seems two of the bolt heads are in the path of the chain, and wear to the point it is difficult to get the bolts undone. Am also going to have to purchase a few more screen hold down plates, as one end is slowly deteriorating from either the chain striking it, or the rocks.

I need to make sure this mill lasts a long time. What kind of oil do the bearings take? I know of one place I can squirt oil in. it has a set screw covering the hole. This machine came with minimal instructions, so is there more than one location requiring oiling?
My mill has zerk fittings on the bearings I pump a little grease with a grease gun. Regular bolt heads stick up too high the chains will hit them. That's why they had machine screws with the oval heads and there still in the path of destruction. The new screens I bought came with new machine screws that are already showing wear. The radius on the new screens needed a little help with a hammer to fit too high in the center of the screen. The hold down plates take a beating also. So far we have been lucky with finding enough gold to pay for parts and new toys. The replacement chain I bought was a hair longer and powders the rock great but causes more wear. Different manufacturers I had to cut myself but after a short run they fit great and turn the rock to flour. But I'm running everything in the jaw crusher first so small rocks.
 

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Reed Lukens

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Keep using the same ball of merc until it turns solid and won't grab any more gold. Then it will be ready to recover the gold from.
 

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desertgolddigger

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Keep using the same ball of merc until it turns solid and won't grab any more gold. Then it will be ready to recover the gold from.
Thanks, I was going to ask about that. The ball I have is getting too big to put back in the bottle, so I'm going to slit it in two.
 

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desertgolddigger

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I discovered that the way I was panning my crushed material 100 mesh and smaller was bad. I wasn't classifying it enough, By reclassifying the 100 mesh and smaller with a 120 mesh screen, I am now able to see the ultra fine gold I was previously throwing away.

Also, I was panning the material in too big of batches. For my ability, one cup at a time was too much, so I am now doing it in 3 tablespoon batches, and panning down to about 1/2 a tablespoon in the pan, then adding 3 more spoonfuls, and again panning down, until I have panned everything for the day. I then go inside, and back pan to see what I have, and use the mercury ball to slurp things up.

Apparently my new panning method is also allowing me to keep gold not visible to the naked eye, as this mercury ball has increased in size over what the visible gold would have done.

I'm still learning, and developing my own system.

EDITED: I'm still in the process of drying out the old batches I'd already panned, thinking I got most of the gold

I just finished using my new method, a got more of the ultra fine gold; actually more than the first go around. This definitely tells me my previous panning method was pretty amateurish.

I also split the mercury ball, and now it's more manageable. I'm now running this ball through all pans, even if I can't see any gold. There must be something, as this little ball is again, slowly growing. Micron gold?????
 

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desertgolddigger

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I was again out collecting ore. This isn't high grade ore, but what the original miner apparently didn't think was worthwhile.

Because I just couldn't find much at our claim, I'd been looking elsewhere to no avail. Gold Tramp clued me in on this remote pile of discards. To me, it is absolutely wonderful to finally be getting something, even if each football size rock only produces ultra fines in the amount of a thin line two to three inches long. To me, it all adds up, and it gets me away from our club claim which I had been digging in former drywasher tailings. I have been getting gold each outing, but it can be next to nothing or 1/2 a gram. Next to nothing is the common return.

Taking the weekend off, as the city has a motocross event, and loads of out of towners are swarming in, and basically bullying their way to get where they want to go. I guess that is how big city drivers drive. I just don't want to tangle with one of their trucks towing a 30 foot trailer. One didn't pass with enough room to ease back into the lane, and I had to stomp on the brake so my front end wouldn't get mashed by their trailer.

Anyway, still processing the previous rock crushing panning material. I have found more gold than the initial panning with the new panning technique I am now using. I', still amazed I had been tossing over half my gold, thinking I'd got everything.

Hope Everyone has a great weekend. I'll be testing the various types of rock to see which actually produces gold.

EDITED: I thought I'd report on the last panning tailings I did today with my new panning technique. Needless to say I'm delighted with the results, which was a nice two inch line (very thin) of gold that required a 10X loupe to make sure it actually was gold. The only reason I was questioning what I was seeing was the gold was so very small, barely discernible as gold with the loupe.

Now that I've caught up with all my panning tailings, tomorrow I can do 1/4 bucket with the hammer mill. This is the rock I questioned as to whether it was actually gold ore, or just junk rock. I picked it up on my first day at the remote waste pile.

Will report results tomorrow. I guess I should be taking photos like southfork, and will whenever I get enough gold from a batch that will show in a photo
 

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desertgolddigger

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Finally done with what I thought was junk rock. Was I wrong. The amount of gold I recovered is about the same a previous reports, ultra fine, and difficult to separate from lead. Yes, there was lead in my pan, but I finally figured out how to tap the pan to move the gold in one direction, while the lead stayed put

My next batch of rock is broken with the sledge hammer, and ready for the mill tomorrow. Hopefully the trend will continue. Might not be getting large pieces, but at least I'm getting something.

Edited: can anyone tell me what the mineral is that can create yellow foam on water, and apparently sometimes coats gold. I crushed some of this very fine powdered rock on the pan, and after I saw some gold that hadn't been there. This yellowish stuff was so fine that even under a loupe, it almost looked like gold. It seemed to be nearly as heavy as gold, making panning difficult.
 

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desertgolddigger

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I decided to set up my Royal 48 inch long recirculating sluice to see how well it works with all the modifications I made.

The pump now had a gate valve I can adjust the water flow with. In the upper 1/3rd of the sluice I installed three magnetic riffles. I like this, as the magnetics don't get a chance to clog up the rubber matting. On the lower 2/3rds
v-grooved matting is installed.

Results looked promising until my lithium Ion battery pack stopped due to over heating.

The magnetic riffles work very well.

The rubber matting seems to be doing the job.

If I can fine tune this system, maybe panning will not be such a chore. Not sure the sluice is designed to recover ultra fine gold.

Now I have to go to AutoZone to purchase a proper battery so I can finish my bucket of panning slag.
 

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desertgolddigger

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Just a thought for your battery issue: I have a cheap HFT auto jumper box that's a lot lighter to cart around than a Li battery. Being at home, you could just leave it plugged in and charging while in use. You'll get unlimited run time this way.
I just ordered a 120v to 12 volt power supply with male cigarette lighter plug to alligator clips cable. No need for a battery. I do have an old Radio Shack 2.5 amp power supply, but it isn't able to run the bilge pump.
 

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desertgolddigger

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I put down another dirtcrete slab this morning. Two more to go until I finish my dirtcrete sidewalk to the back-back yard.

Then I decided to take down my sluice so my backyard doesn't look junky.

In the process of doing that, I cleaned the sluice mat, and removed the magnetics before putting it away.

I panned the little bit I got before my battery overheated, and shut things down. I ended up with what I thought was more of that yellowish mineral, but when I ran the mercury through it, it got slurped up. This yellowish material is so fine that an individual particle isn't visible even with a 10X loupe. I guess this means my sluice catches even sub ultra fine gold.

So, because of this enlightenment, and southfork's explanation on his Gold Ore thread, I won't be panning all this crushed rock material. I'll keep crushing the rock I have, but won't run it until I get the power supply and power cable needed to ru n my bilge pump.

Also, the black sands, I will keep for that just in case it still contains gold. I'm trying to figure out how to make a miniature ball mill for crushing black sands to release any gold particles trapped in them. Not sure if it is worthwhile, but I'm always curious about things.
 

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desertgolddigger

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Why didn't anyone tell me that hard rock work was no easier than Placer mining. Whew!!!! I did two 1/3rd buckets of crushed rock, then put it through the Mill, the classified it with 50, 70 and 100 mesh screens.

Since I've decided to give southfork's sluice method a try for ultra fine gold recovery, I'm just accumulating the finished material in buckets until I get my power converter, and accessories

I decided to weigh my mercury ball for future reference. It weighed only 1.49 grams. Before I started, what little fine gold I had was a paltry 1/10th of a gram. So I'm not sure what the weight ratio of mercury to gold in such a ball would come out to.

All I know is that this ball is getting full very quickly, and probably will need to start on a new one when my 50 gram bottle arrives. I'm sure 50 grams will last for years.
 

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desertgolddigger

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I've pretty much finished collecting all the low grade ore from the remote hard rock waste pile. So far what I've processed isn't a whole lot. I know now that these rock were discarded because they were so low grade. But, as I have said, it's more gold from a rock than all my previous attempts.

I decided to take a half bucket of the waste gravel I'd quickly sifted through for that low grade ore back home to see if anything was in it.

Surprise!! What I panned was about half of what I usually do with that low grade ore, and I ended up with basically the same amount of gold from the 100 mesh and smaller. Apparently the smaller gravel has gold in it. It just was too time consuming to try picking it out

Looks Like I'll go back and cart 10 buckets of this stuff, and see if the trend continues.

EDITED: I'm finally finished for the day in more says than one. As usual, I poured my waste water in the sump I made for that purpose, being careful not to pour all the silt at the bottom of the bucket. I panned this stuff, and as usual, a little more gold was found.

But it will just have to sit in a holding container until my mercury arrives. The mercury ball I have now is fragmenting little pieces, and apparently some are too tiny to see with the naked eye. I weighed my ball yesterday, and today it was lighter. Even though this ball is still picking up gold, I think it's near capacity. I just don't want to somehow be putting microscopic amounts of mercury into our water table.

I sure will be happy to get my 13.8 volt power supply for my sluice pump so I can quit the long panning sessions.

Anyone know if it is practical to add a vibration unit on a large sluice, or will that create problems?

Also, how many 5 gallon buckets can I run in the sluice in one session?

Does this ultra fine gold bump out non gold. I'm going to run 100 mesh and smaller at the same time.
 

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southfork

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I'm still on the fence about the vibrator I tried. It was too strong even with a speed controller I was thinking of trying a battery powered toothbrush attached somehow. It took me hours to run a half bucket yesterday. slow flow and feed for micro gold.
 

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desertgolddigger

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Today I got the two water tubs set up and filled with water. I placed the sluice, hooked up my water pump to the new power converter, and turned things on.

What I didn't realize was that the 3/4 inch pipe couldn't keep up with the flow of water. The catch basin tub filled up, and almost overflowed.

So I've ordered a two inch pipe and basin couplers for the between tub connections.

I also found out that the super fine silt never gets a chance to settle in the catch tub, and flows into what I'd hoped would be somewhat cleaner water in the pump tub. I wanted to somehow keep this silt from flowing back through the sluice.

I used the system as it is, anyway, and the whole thing seems to work. But I could only put a few scoops of material through at one time, then had to shut down power while the catch tub drained.

I'm hoping a two inch pipe will be large enough to keep the water from backing up.

Now I need to figure out how to remove the dirt silt from the rest of the material without losing the ultra fine gold in the process.
 

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southfork

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Today I got the two water tubs set up and filled with water. I placed the sluice, hooked up my water pump to the new power converter, and turned things on.

What I didn't realize was that the 3/4 inch pipe couldn't keep up with the flow of water. The catch basin tub filled up, and almost overflowed.

So I've ordered a two inch pipe and basin couplers for the between tub connections.

I also found out that the super fine silt never gets a chance to settle in the catch tub, and flows into what I'd hoped would be somewhat cleaner water in the pump tub. I wanted to somehow keep this silt from flowing back through the sluice.

I used the system as it is, anyway, and the whole thing seems to work. Bot I could only put a few scoops of material through at one time, then had to shut down power while the catch tub drained.

I'm hoping a two inch pipe will be large enough to keep the water from backing up.

Now I need to figure out how to remove the dirt silt from the rest of the material without losing the ultra fine gold in the process.
I have three half inch garden hose sections for over flow into the pump tote. Works good but could use a third tote with a bucket filter filled with filter media of some kind for the silt. I need to clean every couple of days full of sand in the catch tote and several inches of slime in the pump tube. Some of the material I'm running is really dirty after a few minutes both totes are clouded up with silt. I was thinking of using spun fiber glass in the bucket maybe stick the pump in with holes drilled in the bucket. I just drilled three holes in the end of the tote added three pieces of garden hose near the top and calked around the hoses looks ugly but don't leak.
 

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