Here is a method of locating and "placering" for gold. These are very basic instructions assuming you have NO prospecting backround at all. There are several methods that can be used. This method is for dry arid regions that have no "on site" water. These instructions are good for the Rich Hill area of Arizona but can be used in any area of desert arroyos. Arroyos are gullies, gulches, or stream bottoms formed by water coming down from mountains or other similar areas that are only wet during a small portion of the year, usually winter and spring or local thunderstorms. DO NOT set up camp in the bottom of an arroyo!! Thunderstorms 5 or 10 miles away can form WALLS of water that can come down the streambed during the night and KILL you in your tent and/or ruin your equipment faster than you can get out of the way. Ok. First... go where others have found gold before. Go to a local club and buy a membership. In the Rich Hill area, try the Y-not, Weaver Mining District, Roadrunner, or others. They go for about $45 a year. Or, if you want to go "whole hog", I would suggest purchasing one of Terry Soloman's gold prospecting adventures/training seminars that he runs during "the season". The office for the Weaver club is just west of the intersection of Hwy 89 and 71 (Country Corner gas station). Go west a short ways till you see the GROCERY store sign on the left. The office is at the east end of that strip mall and closes at 2pm. The locals here are SERIOUS about their claims and they carry GUNS. 'nough said about that. KNOW where you are digging. The minimum equipment needed is: a 14" pan, a 10" finishing pan, a shovel, 1/2 inch (#2 mesh) sieve, a rock hammer or medium sized pick, and washing tub. The tub that works best is called a garden soil mixing tub... about 3 feet long by about 2 feet wide and only 8 inches deep.... found in most local hardware stores. Once a member, use their supplied maps to get to the digging spots. Look for holes that others have dug. You have a choice now. You can look for "red dirt" on the sides of the arroyo and dig or dig on the sides of the stream bed... where the flat bottom meets the bank. The red dirt is mineralized stuff that is said to hold more gold/minerals than "grey" dirt. Put the sieve over the bucket and start breaking up the stuff and strain out the rocks as you shovel it into the bucket. fill the bucket with dirt. After it is full, position the 14" pan into the tub of water. Using your hands, begin to fill the pan 3/4 full. The pan is now under water in the tub. Now get your fingers into the mess and AGITATE, AGITATE, AGITATE. You need to get the dirt completely wet and putting your fingers in there makes the gold fall to the bottom. Agitate for about 10 to 15 seconds to get that gold DOWN. Now you work the pan in a large circulating motion, making all the contents swirl around. Every 2 or 3 times around, tip the pan so some of the dirt slides out of the pan. After about 1/2 of the load has been swirled out of the pan, AGITATE again. do this agitating and swirling until most of the contents is in the tub or you have mostly just "black sand" left. At this point, put the black sand into the 10" pan. Agitate and swirl somemore until most of the black sand is in the tub. If you are lucky, you may start to see LARGE chunks of yellow stuff. Have your nitroglycerine tablets nearby... your heart may try to jump out of your chest! If you don't see gold yet, not to worry! The smaller gold likes to hide down there RIGHT TO END! Be more careful and work the sand out. Pour off most of the water and give the pan a little "swirl-push" to spread the remaining sand all over the bottom. Now you will see the tiny gold. Here is the most fun part.... using a funnel, pour the gold into a one ounce vial to overflowing! 40 buckets of "stuff is about equivalent to a cubic yard of material. multiply the 5 gal bucket results to determine ROUGHLY what the yield is per cubic yard. These instructions are by no means all you need to know.... just basic. I can only speak for the Rich Hill area and Calaveras County, CA but, if you come down to Rich Hill AZ, and latch up with TimC and I, we can GAURANTEE you will find gold. Good luck. TTC
Really Terry
