San Diego gold

Sample Pan Dan · Apr 6, 2013

Got out today for a little sampling, and found a nice little spot I will return to. Found a couple "chunky" pieces for SD gold.

Hard Prospector · May 8, 2013

I'm curious how that Gold n Sand hand dredge is working out for you. I bought one last year but have not had it out yet, I even bought the stream sluice header box. Thanks.....Rob

Sample Pan Dan · May 8, 2013

Rob I really like the thing. It works well once you figure out how not to plug it up all the time. The thing I don't like I the ribbed hose it comes with. I feel like the gold is setting in there and I real NEED to thoroughly rinse the tube out. I will be replacing with a lay flat roll up hose at some point. Over all nice little unit. Oh, and put a hose clamp on the hose at the pump, this thing created a lot of pressure.
Good gold 2U
Dan

discordia · May 8, 2013

Went to san ysabel creek today. Didn't get any gold. Panned a few spots but probably didn't put as much effort as we could. Had alot of fun hiking. And saw some beautiful pools and wild life

Finding gold isn't as easy as it sounds. "Look behind boulders" the creek is full of boulders! Maybe we need better equipment, something to suck underwater crevices and a sluice to run more material. We tried the roots of a plant that was behind a boulder kind of sitting on a little sand bar. Found a piece of glass in it. >_> Any advice or help would be appreciated. There may have been no gold there but I know there is gold in the ramona area so I thought maybe there was some there.

edit: Those hand dredges look perfect and aren't to expensive! Is there any way to make something like that yourself for cheap?

dragonfly · May 8, 2013

Going to pick up some of that hose tomorrow to test out

Sample Pan Dan · May 9, 2013

Sweet, can't wait to see how it works.

discordia · May 9, 2013

So that "green piece of glass" that I found in the roots of the plant on the sand bar behind the boulder, I think it may be tourmaline. My hiking book says east or north east from where we were there are tourmaline deposits. I had no idea what tourmaline looks like, and when I found the piece I thought it was strange how square it looked, like it'd be weird for broken glass to be that way. Looked it up and it's a green crystal. Also it's a birth stone for october and my birthday is in october

My gold prospecting was not completely in vain! Although I do admit we should have tried harder, panned more from certain sand bars ect. Trying to get underwater crevices with a trowel was a waste of time. But today I went to home depot and bought some pvc pipe stuff to make a simple hand dredge sucky device to suck up crevices. It's not a fancy one that pumps into a bucket or anything but it will do. But home depot was missing a couple things I needed...

pics of tourmaline (possibly?)
http://i.imgur.com/stlZRHs.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/uto5dtM.jpg

pics of the creek. the first one is one of the sand bars we tried panning, dug down till I felt rock and panned that. Maybe should have tried panning top portion also? difficult digging in water.
http://i.imgur.com/9Ul5Vzd.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/eKq4UOZ.jpg
Cool pools carved in the bed rock, had many tad poles in them so didn't feel like digging up the dirt in the bottom of them ruining their homes. :/
http://i.imgur.com/UiZRbQ6.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/HgbwOfT.jpg

Sample Pan Dan · May 9, 2013

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe you're right about that being tourmaline. Yes there's supposed to be lots of it here. All I have found so far has been black tourmaline locked up in host rock

63bkpkr · May 10, 2013

drywallman, since I'm lame could you post a picture of your Gold & Sand Hand Dredge so I can see it, pretty please!

discordia, that is cubic piece of green, I wonder how it could be tested to be certain about what it is? That is some interesting country you were in, part looks really gnarly and part looks like it could be used as a Kiddy pool. The water has flowed over those stones for many years!

........................63bkpkr

Sample Pan Dan · May 10, 2013

You ya go Bkpkr, it's all broke down. I like that the hose and attachments all fit nicely in the bucket for transport. I will get some pics or video of it in use tomorrow... If I remember :-)

Sample Pan Dan · May 10, 2013

Forgot the pics

NJnuggetpirate · May 10, 2013

63bkpkr said:
drywallman, since I'm lame could you post a picture of your Gold & Sand Hand Dredge so I can see it, pretty please!

discordia, that is cubic piece of green, I wonder how it could be tested to be certain about what it is? That is some interesting country you were in, part looks really gnarly and part looks like it could be used as a Kiddy pool. The water has flowed over those stones for many years!

........................63bkpkr

IDT your lame

Sample Pan Dan · May 11, 2013

Got out to the hole today, but just for a couple hours. Gold N Sand did its job well today and I found a couple pepper seed sized flakes. Sorry Bkpkr, I forgot pics and video. But had a great day. Surely wish I had the glow close by for a sluice, but as my water flow diminishes each time I go, I will wait to figure it out until late winter. Here's the couple "visible" pieces from today, still have cons to blue bowl.

63bkpkr · May 12, 2013

The gold and sand unit is a simple enough system but the important part are those two brown seals that create the suction/pressure. Any idea what they are made of? Thank you for the pictures as that part of the unit is not shown on their website. It is always good to keep up with/understand the new equipment. The tiny stuff all adds up so it is good to save it....................63bkpkr

Hard Prospector · May 12, 2013

63bkpkr said:
The gold and sand unit is a simple enough system but the important part are those two brown seals that create the suction/pressure. Any idea what they are made of? Thank you for the pictures as that part of the unit is not shown on their website. It is always good to keep up with/understand the new equipment. The tiny stuff all adds up so it is good to save it....................63bkpkr

The seals are made of leather

Hard Prospector · May 12, 2013

There are a few seasonal creeks that I work that look much like yours offering plenty of water for sluicing in the wet months but eventually begin to dry up. They still have some water in them in the form of pools or "pot holes" as I call them through much of the summer and I would continue to crevice and pan in these pools which worked out OK but was slow going. I started looking for a better way to use the limited water on site to move as much material possible and I found good results using a device called the RCM Quicksand Concentrator. Its a fluid bed device that is very small and runs on a 12v 500gpm bilge pump. You can draft water directly out of a pool in the creek to run or set up a simple recirculating system using only two 5gal. buckets plus it will run all day on a small 12v lawn and yard tractor battery because it only pulls a couple of amps.. All material must be screened to 1/8 " then you simply feed it in(wet works best) and watch it work. Easy set up, it all fits into a bucket and you can even buy the battery and pump at Walmart. There are some You Tube videos out there, check it out.

Sample Pan Dan · May 12, 2013

Thanks hard prospector. I am still wet behind the ears, and on a limited budget. I got a Keene A51 a few months ago for my birthday that even with good water volume was hard to get set right. Really wish I had a smaller sluice with a true flare, that would help a lot. I really do wish I could move more material faster, but I am still thoroughly happy panning my material and finding a little color. I still have lots of creek to explore and test, so I should be good for a while out there, and yes I've got some nice larger pools upstream that should hold water most of the year. I need to look into the legalities of "automated equipment" on the blm land I am currently working in, I surely don't wont to break any laws, or cost myself the loss of expensive equipment either.

NJnuggetpirate · May 12, 2013

drywallman said:
Thanks hard prospector. I am still wet behind the ears, and on a limited budget. I got a Keene A51 a few months ago for my birthday that even with good water volume was hard to get set right. Really wish I had a smaller sluice with a true flare, that would help a lot. I really do wish I could move more material faster, but I am still thoroughly happy panning my material and finding a little color. I still have lots of creek to explore and test, so I should be good for a while out there, and yes I've got some nice larger pools upstream that should hold water most of the year. I need to look into the legalities of "automated equipment" on the blm land I am currently working in, I surely don't wont to break any laws, or cost myself the loss of expensive equipment either.

Lol make sure you use extra soup behind the ears

KevinInColorado · May 13, 2013

Hard Prospector said:
The seals are made of leather

...and they will sell u just the seals or the seals and the valves if you want to build your own. The business owner (Red Wilcox) is a great guy, fellow prospector and is president of the nonprofit Gold Unlimited too here in CO. Super guy!

Sample Pan Dan · May 13, 2013

Been looking at old and current maps again, spotted a few places of interest. Has anyone ever found any color in Cottonwood Creek, in the Lagunas?

Hard Prospector · May 14, 2013

drywallman said:
Been looking at old and current maps again, spotted a few places of interest. Has anyone ever found any color in Cottonwood Creek, in the Lagunas?

I have not prospected there but the Laguna/Pine Creek area has the history.