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SHERRYs THREAD - My Gold Prospecting Journey

RSMSherry said:
Hey Kevin, With the Sniper, which do you prefer 3/4" or 1/2" classified material for best fluidization in the trap? How often or after how many gallons of material would you suggest cleaning out the trap? I plan to run as much material as I can on this American River trip but don't want to lose any gold. I plan to keep a water filled 2.5 gal bucket close by and just keep dumping cons into it and then possibly running that through a cleanup sluice later each evening.
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Hi Sherry! As the others have said, you don't need to classify material going into a Sniper (yay, right?!). I generally clean out hourly into a 14" pan, give a look to see how the gold is going (to make sure I'm digging in the smart spots) and then dump the pan into a bucket and get back to digging. Dumping frequently to avoid losing gold is not really logical though...unless there is a sxxt-ton of black sand or a lot of flat rocks sneaking thru the grizzly. The best way to lose gold is to run it too flat/slow such that you lose the fluidization...not by putting too much material thru the sluice between cleanouts.

You can run it fairly steep and also entirely under water safely. I always go steep enough to get a golf ball sized rock to clear the sluice without any help from me...that way I know there's enough to flow down below to give good fluidization.
 

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KevinInColorado said:
Hi Sherry! As the others have said, you don't need to classify material going into a Sniper (yay, right?!). I generally clean out hourly into a 14" pan, give a look to see how the gold is going (to make sure I'm digging in the smart spots) and then dump the pan into a bucket and get back to digging. Dumping frequently to avoid losing gold is not really logical though...unless there is a sxxt-ton of black sand or a lot of flat rocks sneaking thru the grizzly. The best way to lose gold is to run it too flat/slow such that you lose the fluidization...not by putting too much material thru the sluice between cleanouts.

You can run it fairly steep and also entirely under water safely. I always go steep enough to get a golf ball sized rock to clear the sluice without any help from me...that way I know there's enough to flow down below to give good fluidization.
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Next time out I'm going with my prospector I'm going to try to prefill the trap with some gravels I have accumulated at the house. Nice round ones that fit through the grizzly, most of them just small enough to fit through the grizzly, no smaller.
I'm hoping this will get rid of or help to reduce the number of flats that get through. Set up the sluice, then dump my bag of BGT FBM (Fluid bed medium... Nice, right?) in and then shovel till I puke.
Will report back with results. :)
Also, I don't get the sideways bit above. As in cross?
 

Prospector70 said:
Also, I don't get the sideways bit above. As in cross?
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P70, LOL!!! Sideways is a nickname that my little group of prospecting friends (including Sample Pan Dan and EastForkLocal) gave me over the summer. We were doing a weekend camp trip and I got a little tipsy, well... maybe a lot, because I don't really drink. Then comes the "sideways" walking and a little upchucking at some point too. I haven't been "sideways" since but they will never let me live it down! ;-)
 

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RSMSherry said:
P70, LOL!!! Sideways is a nickname that my little group of prospecting friends (including Sample Pan Dan and EastForkLocal) gave me over the summer. We were doing a weekend camp trip and I got a little tipsy, well... maybe a lot, because I don't really drink. Then comes the "sideways" walking and a little upchucking at some point too. I haven't been "sideways" since but they will never let me live it down! ;-)
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Aha! Well the others best just watch out for your knowledge of the seven drunken lords then. :)
giphy.gif
 

Prospector70 said:
Aha! Well the others best just watch out for your knowledge of the seven drunken lords then. :)
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Looks like it must be from your early days P70. Hardly resembles your current look at all.:dontknow:
 

Y'all best watch out for my Zuiquan or Drunken Fist Kung Fu! ;-) And then there's my "re-tard strength," yeah, that just comes from out of nowhere when I get mad or... HEHEHE... I've have had a few drinks and wind up wrestling my friends into pretzels. LOL!!! Those were fun times, but well that doesn't happen too often anymore either… Thank goodness! ;-)
 

Prospector70 said:
Next time out I'm going with my prospector I'm going to try to prefill the trap with some gravels I have accumulated at the house. Nice round ones that fit through the grizzly, most of them just small enough to fit through the grizzly, no smaller. I'm hoping this will get rid of or help to reduce the number of flats that get through. Set up the sluice, then dump my bag of BGT FBM (Fluid bed medium... Nice, right?) in and then shovel till I puke. Will report back with results. :) Also, I don't get the sideways bit above. As in cross?
Click to expand...
Sometimes I start sluicing by dumping in the material from the bottom of my panning tub...that way if a speck of gold escapes during finish panning, it gets caught in the fluid bed again 😄
 

Sherry I PMed you but I might be storing too many messages. Check to see if it went through and if not I will send another.
 

I'm heading to Chico tomorrow for the week. Taking my 705 and hope to find the brother of that Butte nugget. Looks like the weather is going to be wet the latter part of the week, may have to consume some adult beverage to withstand the chill. I think i may be able to detect while walking "sideways". LOL
 

bdubnca said:
I'm heading to Chico tomorrow for the week. Taking my 705 and hope to find the brother of that Butte nugget. Looks like the weather is going to be wet the latter part of the week, may have to consume some adult beverage to withstand the chill. I think i may be able to detect while walking "sideways". LOL
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Yea I hate cold and am not looking forward to cold and wet!!! A friend gave me a portable gas tent heater today. Whoot! Whoot! Good luck finding that Nugget, if you are sideways when you find it... the rule is that you have to split it with me! ;-)
 

Good luck to you also. Be safe, wear plenty of layers. Hope your fluid bed yields lots of color in your pan. We are looking forward to your report upon your return.
 

Sherry launched a PM your way. Check and see.
 

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