Well its been a good long while! My first season in CO didn't shape up like I had hoped. This state has so much fun stuff to do its tough to keep a straight track in the river. I had to switch careers this summer which put a delay on the fun. Now that things are smoothed over the next season is about to begin, and this Grizzly Gremlin is going to rock it. I've already caught the 3 (real) subspecies of cutthroat trout in the state (excluding the true Greenback which was just saved from the brink of extinction thanks Colorado University!).
My season was NOT a bust however. I did find some nice yellah, and vastly increased my understanding of hard rock mining.
I moved from Golden to Idaho Springs, and now live a mile and a half from what was previously known as "the richest square mile on earth." This referring to the ore bodies between central city and blackhawk. This area up Virginia canyon is riddled with mines.
I have become very interested in the ores of this area. Mainly because the visible free milling gold was exhausted quickly, and sulfide ores were the name of the Colorado game. These ores are not easy to process, but millions of ounces were produced from these "rebellious ores".
The gold is not visible, but rather bound up micron grains stuck more or less within the structure of various types of pyrites. (That's right, fools gold isn't exactly a accurate statement.) Most of the gold and almost all of the silver produced in Colorado was not readily visible in the host rock. Rather disseminated in Galena, Chalcopyrite, iron pyrite, some Arsenopyrite, and rarer Telluride's.
These ores are almost impossible to process profitably on a small scale, and as a result very few people even try with sulfide ores. I'm a bit more stubborn, and have an idea for this stuff. If anyone has successfully refined and recovered from sulfides please chine in.
The dredge only got a few workouts this season. Time was the biggest factor, but this season will be different. Im joining a prospecting club Jan 1st, and starting the season right away! Club claims seem like the way to go for easy access to dredgable dirt.
My season goal was way way off, but life's challenges sometimes get in the way.
Just a few weeks until a new year and new yellow season!
