Prospector

[gold tramp]

Shot of the final stage before amalgamator, nice clean black concentrate, ended up with 2 half buckets, still real wet here at mill, first time in year or so since we had morning dew, smells heavenly here in desert, wet creasote bush....
Gt....

Science it's a wonderfull thing, think of where we would be in the minin world if we didn't have science...

 

[gold tramp]

For those wondering the details on amalgamator workings.
I add about 2 ounce volume of clean mercury in the bowl.
Next about 4 cups concentrate..
Top off with water turn on machine for 30 minutes. Unit rotates at 17 rpm.
Keeping things nice slow as to not flour the hg..
Stop unit
Then carefully clean out cons leaving hg in bottom of bowl.
Add another charge of cons off to the races...

Next step spiral wheel get hg cleaned from cons, then air retort.
Acid bath, n smelt....

Gt..

 

[desertgolddigger]

For those wondering the details on amalgamator workings.
I add about 2 ounce volume of clean mercury in the bowl.
Next about 4 cups concentrate..
Top off with water turn on machine for 30 minutes. Unit rotates at 17 rpm.
Keeping things nice slow as to not flour the hg..
Stop unit
Then carefully clean out cons leaving hg in bottom of bowl.
Add another charge of cons off to the races...
GT I had been wondering that exact thing. Thanks for sharing.

I use a rock tumbler vibrator to basically do the same thing, but don't use a retort. I use nitic acid to dissolve the mercury, which leaves the gold, that I can then recover. Then use copper to recover the mercury from the nitric acid. I still don't have enough gold to smelt/melt.

Like I said before, am glad you're still at the gold thing. It's a fun, and educating thing.

View attachment 2223346
View attachment 2223347
Next step spiral wheel get hg cleaned from cons, then air retort.
Acid bath, n smelt....

Gt..

 

[gold tramp]

Made a mistake saying air retort I meant air press...bad eyes .

This tool removes a great deal of hg from your amalgam ball. I use this before ones final hg cleanup..

Got us another solid day of rain here, gonna be a long time before we dry out enough to drywash, still haven't got decent gold detector, no bleeping...
Anyways drying out the electric so we can start tabling again, freekin open air mill.
Gt...

 

[desertgolddigger]

Hey GT, Does that pressure gadget work with an air compressor, or can you use a bicycle pump to pressurize it? Think that's a bit easier than trying to squeeze things by hand through a shammy.

 

[gold tramp]

Hey GT, Does that pressure gadget work with an air compressor, or can you use a bicycle pump to pressurize it? Think that's a bit easier than trying to squeeze things by hand through a shammy.

Any air supply..
I use a coffee filter backed up by 100 mesh screen.
You still have to retort or digest the amalgam but less hg to deal with, if that makes sense
I think one can make out from pic how to build...
It can be built to any size needed...
Gt .

 

[desertgolddigger]

Any air supply..
I use a coffee filter backed up by 100 mesh screen.
You still have to retort or digest the amalgam but less hg to deal with, if that makes sense
I think one can make out from pic how to build...
It can be built to any size needed...
Gt .

Thanks, I've got lots of PVC pipes and fittings from my years of tinkering I think I have everything needed to create one. My poor arthritic hands will thank me if I can get it working. 😊

 

[gold tramp]

Tried run table to dang humid, managed a bucket before it ran me off not used to this stuff..
Found a little pocket couple weeks back it's yielding up some decent crumbs, might get 3 grams total?
Pic of about 6 quick pans of cons coming off the table combined, I'm jazzed.

My excuse for not mining today bad heart too hot !!
Hiding inside ....

Gt ....

 

[desertgolddigger]

Hey Kiddo, just a little when things re good with You and our weather will work. You're having fun, and that's the best thing. I'm just glad you're up to doing what you have shown us. A few years back when I visited, your Daughter was very worried and protective of you. She really impressed me.

 

[gold tramp]

Hey Kiddo, just a little when things re good with You and our weather will work. You're having fun, and that's the best thing. I'm just glad you're up to doing what you have shown us. A few years back when I visited, your Daughter was very worried and protective of you. She really impressed me.

I'm trying get in as much as I can before my valve job don't know how I'm gonna be after surgery..
Doctors are amazing now days I might be back at it in a week..
I know more next month .
Hope you can get out soon it starting cool down
Gt....

 

[desertgolddigger]

GT, I went through valve replacement back in 2018, I believe. I got a pig's valve put in by a doctor at Loma Linda. Yes, it's truly amazing what they can do for you nowadays. I now occasionally give out a little squeal, or get the urge to root around for things You'll do fine Guy.

I sure hope it is cool enough, and dry enough next month so I can camp out two weeks at the claim for some drywashing, and a little prospecting, and metal detecting. I do hope you get a new metal detector. You could do some of that only a few months after surgery.

 

[DizzyDigger]

I'm trying get in as much as I can before my valve job don't know how I'm gonna be after surgery..
Doctors are amazing now days I might be back at it in a week..
I know more next month .

Damn...be sure and take care of yourself, and be as healthy as possible when
they do that surgery as my Doc says it really reduces the recovery time.

You're having a valve replaced, DGD has already had a valve job, and I'm looking
at the same procedure within the next couple years (or at least that's what my
cardiologist says). Doc said they're going to slit me open from crotch to eyeballs
and replace some badly worn parts. Can't say as I'm looking forward to it.

That's a nice looking pan..fly poop adds up!

 

[gold tramp]

All I can say is dang Mike..
Dgd I hope you get to campout sounds like you need one.
I hope I get a bleeper, got to get my gold poke a bit fatter as im not allowed to spend cash money on gold toys anymore maybe I can have doc tell the wife its therapy.
Weird thing yesterday I was out panning my cons, It felt like someone was watching me.
must be that dang gold curse or someone really is .....

Gt...

 

[desertgolddigger]

Hey GT, If you keep yourself in fairly good shape before your surgery, recovery will be easier. I was able to start doing light things about two months after surgery. Since I have no family (all dead), I HAD to get better quicker. I was in such good shape, that when I sent for my evaluation walk with the therapist, she asked me to slow down, as she couldn't keep up. You're a gold miner/prospector. I have to believe you're in pretty good shape.

I really hope you can maybe part with a little gold to get your bleeper. I wish I knew where to metal detect for gold. Never found one speck with a detector.

Oh, are they going to open you up? If so, expect, just like I did, to wait two months before you lift anything over about 10 pounds. You don't want to pop your chest that needs that long to mend. The Doc will explain all this, but you can Google about recovering from open heart surgery to learn about it.

 

[gold tramp]

Dgd metal detecting in the dale is pretty rough one would have to walk many miles have a dedicated gold machine.
The place has been pounded for many years by many professional detectorist.

I was lucky to have been on scene when there were still easier found patches..
I use detector if I dig as not to leave something hiding or that fell off my dry washer hopper..
I still just like to swing my bleeper as I'm always waiting to get my coil over that elusive gold coin or meteorite..!
Thanks for heads up
Gt..

 

[gold tramp]

Had to stop milling to get the green houses switched over to fall winter.
Back to milling again, I left the dadgum buckets sitting to long, they got a little stiff so takin twice as long finish.
Soon as I get all cons amalgamated I can finally smelt some gold...
Had to move our smelter outside the wall to avoid fume buildup in the mill area..
Pics when I finish..
Couple same old tabling shots, waters a little light colored probably running skinny on values..

Not going to start another run as the weather getting cooler, time to grubstake up head out prospecting...
gt...

 

[gold tramp]

Very wet here, we got a lot of rain.
You all probably laugh at me talking of rain, we rarely get moisture here in my desert, I've experienced 3 year time periods of no rain at the mill..
So I'm all jazzed.
Draw back couldnt finish the last buckets, stuffs way to thick now so done with mill run..
I got a few buckets of washed tails to run off and amalgamate. Then we can finally get the yeller in hand, lot of freekin work for such a small amount of pay..

Stuffs way to thick, like a brick.

Dry table.

Anyways today we dry out all electrical, I think its gonna be to humid for me to do much more than amalgamate.
Just can't handle strong heat anymore..
Getting closer to bush time maybe another week..
Gt ..

 

[DizzyDigger]

Glad to hear that you folks got some good rain. More water is almost always
a good thing, so long as no flash floods, etc.

Up here we get about 180 days of (measurable) rain every year, meaning
that's not a tan on my arms...it's rust.

Which gold machine are you considering?

 

[russau]

I'm trying get in as much as I can before my valve job don't know how I'm gonna be after surgery..
Doctors are amazing now days I might be back at it in a week..
I know more next month .
Hope you can get out soon it starting cool down
Gt....

GT My prayers will be with you on your valve job journey ! GOOD LUCK & GOD'S SPEED ON YOUR RECOVERY!

 

[russau]

Had to stop milling to get the green houses switched over to fall winter.
Back to milling again, I left the dadgum buckets sitting to long, they got a little stiff so takin twice as long finish.
Soon as I get all cons amalgamated I can finally smelt some gold...
Had to move our smelter outside the wall to avoid fume buildup in the mill area..
Pics when I finish..
Couple same old tabling shots, waters a little light colored probably running skinny on values..
View attachment 2225429
View attachment 2225431
Not going to start another run as the weather getting cooler, time to grubstake up head out prospecting...
gt...

GT it looks like you got your MOJO working on this set up !