M-3 GoldenIrishmans Monsoon Mining Thread

goldenIrishman

goldenIrishman

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Feb 28, 2013
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M-3 GoldenIrishman's Monsoon Mining Thread

OK... To start this new thread off, I have to warn everyone that I am going to be very vague as far as locations are concerned until the claim(s) are filed and the federal registration numbers have been issued by the BLM. This is to protect my investment in time, money and effort. It's not that I don't trust my friends here, but there are too many yahoos out there that like to have someone else do all the work for them and then swoop in with back dated paperwork to steal claims out from under an honest miner. Once I know that the claim(s) are secure I will give more details as to the actual location(s).

In an effort to protect my investment I've developed the following plan on how to go about filing with the County Recorders' office and the BLM.

1. Go the the CR (county Recorder) and check the records for any claims in the area that I'm looking for. If clear, go to step two...

2. Get boots on the ground and make sure that there are no markers in the area and start testing. :metaldetector: If gold is found, go to step three.. :wav:

3. Get the monument of discovery and corner posts in place, taking pictures of before and after and include a picture of the local newspaper in the first picture is to verify the actual date that the monument went up. The before pictures are to show that there were no corner posts or monuments in the area until I placed them there. Then find a one hour developing shop and get double prints made of all pictures. One copy will be submitted with the filing and the second set will go into my own claim records. The pictures are to show that I did do my required field work of actually getting boots on the ground and making a discovery.

4. Go back to the CRs office on a Thursday afternoon and file the paperwork with them as close to closing time as possible, making sure I have everything I need to take to BLM in hand before I leave. This is to make sure that no "Claim Brokers" :skullflag: have a chance to over file with back dated paperwork. :laughing7: (Take THAT "Claim Brokers!!!)

5. Get up early the next morning and drive to the BLM office in Phoenix and hand walk the paperwork through their system and pay my fees. Get my registration number or the claim and head back to the claim so I can install the required signage at all corners. :hello2:

6. Set up a processing area and campsite and start mining. At first this is going to be a "Hands and pans" operation until I can decide on the best way to work the claim on a larger scale. Ok... Hands and pans isn't exactly the correct term as I will be running a re-circ system to wet process the materials, but you get my point.

7. At least one day a week, spend some time exploring the surrounding areas that are open and attempt to locate more areas that are worth claiming and file on them as needed. After all... I'm going to need a break from digging and processing once in a while! :coffee2:

The area I'm looking at is located somewhere between Kingman and Wickenburg along Hwy 93. Until I have the claim secured I won't be going into any more details on the location. Once the claim(s) are secure, I will be issuing invites to friends to come out and play in the desert. :occasion14:
 

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Oh... the name of the first claim is going to be "Dangers' Nugget". My new lady friends nickname is Danger and she enjoys calling me "Mr. Nugget" for some reason. She got the nickname Danger from her friends and family only because she's dangerous to herself as she's a self admitted klutz. Guess a crash course in mine safety for her is going to be called for here in the very near future.

All other claims will be named "Monsoon #whatever".
 

Thanks Vance! I hope that doing a detailed accounting of everything will help others with their own hunt for that sassy gold we all love. I'm sure you can understand my wish to keep certain things under my hat for now, but I do plan on sharing everything in time.

Desert prospecting and mining is quite different from what many others on the forum take part in. There is a big difference in methods used and I hope that by detailing them out that others that have wanted to hunt the desert will have a much better idea on how to go about it and be successful in their efforts. Always better to learn from the mistakes of others than to repeat then yourself!
 

The very best of luck. That is an excellent 7 point plan for filing a claim.
 

Thanks for the info Golden. I am searching out a claim now and had a basic plan like that but yours seems like a complete organized way to safeguard your find. Good luck in your claiming and may your claim hold many riches.
 

Thank you Rod and Mojo. With all the "Claim Brokers" out there lately, I'm going to be doing everything I can to cover my butt on this adventure.

There are some things about that term of "Claim Broker" that really bothers me. Since claims are treated as real property, and to sell property in any state requires a realty license, what if any license is required to LEGALLY be called a "Claim Broker"? Reality Brokers, Stock Brokers, Commodities Brokers are all required to be licensed, so why not a Claim Broker? The term "Broker" implies that a license has been granted by studying the laws and passing a test administered by the state. So... If someone tells you that they're a Claim Broker, ask them to show you their brokers license. If you were thinking of buying a claim from them and they can not produce one, run away as fast as your feet can manage! The money you save WILL be your own! If you contact the local authorities as well, you may help others to save their money as well!.
 

Jeff,

Good luck on your adventure. Hope you have plans on showering or your going to smell rather ripe in no time. I had built a portable boiler from a 15 gallon beer keg that works like a charm to have warm showers. Runs on propane with a 12VDC pump mounted on top. Because its heats from the bottom and the pump pickup tube is on the bottom I have to circulate the water to keep the water an even temp. while bringing the water up to 105 degrees. Then shut the propane off. I can shower with less than 2 gallons of water. I use the water to wet the body and turn the valve off. When its time to rinse I turn the valve back on. The pump I use has a pressure switch so when the valve goes close the pump shuts off.

I made an upright shower that was 36"x36" from PVC on the bottom and top with 6ft. 1/2" emt electrical pipe for upright. Its totally portable and can be broken down Wrapped three sides with a nylon tarp held by small budgie cords. Then got the hooks for a shower curtain and shower curtain. I finished off the shower with a big heavy rubber mat like is used in commercial kitchen so water would flow through. Still have to water heater and shower. I used it when I would be out for two weeks at a time hunting. Had many of hunters coming into camp wanting to pay to use the shower.
 

Thanks Keith! I've got the shower covered but of course there's room for improvement. Even though I'm ex-infantry I don't like letting the funk build up to the point that I'm knocking buzzards from the sky at 300 yards.

Building the claims up is going to be a slow process due to budget restraints, but I am determined to get the claims built up to a professional level of operation, while keeping the BLM happy and off my back as much as possible. It's going to take a ton of work, steady progress, and some sacrifice on my part To get this all done but I'm not going to allow myself to fail or be distracted from my goal. (I'm Irish after all and you know how hard headed we can be!)
 

goldenIrishman, I like your approach!; I like the safeguards you have built into it. I wish you the very best and hope for more posts of how it is going...with pictures once you get everything legalized.

Best of luck with all phases of it.
 

Once I have everything secured paperwork wise I'll go into more detail on the location(s), terrain, etc as well as posting pictures of the area. The safeguards are only because there are some not so nice people out there in the world that want to profit off the work of honest miners instead of getting off their duffs and making a discovery themselves. With the safeguards I have set up, I pity any so called "Claim Broker" that tries to pull any shenanigans with me. Between pictorial evidence, a witness on site during staking, and rapid completion of the paperwork, I'm not going to give them a chance to take advantage of my hard work.

Currently I'm doing a re-build on my mining trailer to set it up for extended field work. I'm expanding the storage capability, adding fold down map and cooking tables so I don't have to haul tables which would take up more room. Still trying to work out an easy way to elevate my water barrels to get better flow from them. I want it easy to get them to an elevated position because I'd much rather tear up my back digging samples (not that I plan to tear it up) than hefting 125 pound water jugs into position. Considering that I am planning on being on each site for a minimum of two weeks at a time, I'd like to be as comfortable as I can manage.
 

Of maps and men....

I want to take a few minutes to talk about how I'm using the PDF format maps from the USGS in this endeavor. For those of you that don't know about the maps you can get from the USGS FOR FREE, let me tell you that they're worth their weight in gold when it comes to planning a prospecting trip. The USGS Store - One stop shop for all your maps, world, United States, state, wall decor, historic, planetary, topographic, trail, hiking, foreign, satellite, digital

You can get current maps that include a satellite view as a layer that can be turned on and off as needed as well as older maps that also have the PLSS data on them which is required when filing a claim. I understand that the newest maps have both, but when I was raiding the USGS site for maps (I burned up 2 months of download allotments getting them!) the newest ones didn't contain the PLSS data on them, so I had to download the older maps as well.

I currently have over 42 GIG of map data and that doesn't even give me all of the maps for Mohave County, AZ. I've gotten the lower 2/3s of the county and didn't get the portion that is north of the Colorado River since I won't be working that area in the foreseeable future. The lower portion of the county is a large enough playground for me right now.

My method uses the mining claims maps on LandMatters to look up information such as land management, historical claims, current claims etc. By using the COMMENT TOOLS in Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can transfer the information for LandMatters over to the PDF map. By doing this, you end up with all of the important information form LandMatters on your map so you can access it while out in the field. Since it can be hard enough to get cell service in the middle of the boondocks let alone internet, this is a great way to overcome that problem.

I've got possible camping areas, BLM controlled sections, possible pay streak areas to check out all marked on the map for the area(s) I'll be checking first. Since I did not want to ruin the original copy of the map, I saved it with a new name to preserve the original. I kept the file name but changed the numbers on the end to "Markup Copy". This will let me know which map I'm loading depending on what I need at the time. I also have the sections that have current claims in them marked out with the Claim information (name and Registration # and quarter section)

Since I will have a computer out in the field with me, I can access any of the 240 (each map X2 for newest and older versions) at any time. However when I'm away from camp, dragging the computer along with my prospecting tools isn't going to be an option. So I have had printed copies of the markup maps made at Kinkos' Office Supply that I can carry with me. As I need maps for different areas I will have them printed up as well.

As an ex-infantryman, I can read me some maps! This I feel is one of the MOST IMPORTANT skills that a serious prospector/miner can learn. Learning how to use maps and a compass together to determine your location out in the field is critical if you really want to be able to step up your game. GPS is nice and all, but they still don't allow you to file claims based on GPS cords. Knowing how to read maps and use the PLSS data to write a proper aliquot description of the area you want to claim is something that you'll need to learn. knowing how to read an aliquot description while doing your due diligence is also important so you don't accidentally high-grade someone elses claim because you're in the wrong area. Neither skill is all that hard and LandMatters even has a downloadable copy of the Army Land Navigation Training Manual that you can get for free. This covers map reading as well as some other useful skills that are handy to know.

Research is a very important part of prospecting and mining. The more you do before you hit the field, the less time you're going to spend wandering around trying to find the gold. You'll already have your search area(s) narrowed down and with a little luck you should be on the gold quickly! We as modern miners have to be part historian, part geologist, part survivalist, and much more determined than John Q. Public normally is to reach our goals. Ours is not an easy life, but it's one filled with the pleasures of working in nature and the freedom to do something that many can (or will) only dream about.
 

Everyojne should give you a "thankyou" for this thread you started. Quite a cogent summary of how to get started and stay out of trouble
 

Please... please... don't applaud! Just toss some nuggets in the pan or sluice.

Seriously though Rod... I decided to start this thread as a way of paying back all those that have helped me in my mining efforts over the years. Since more than a few have already gone to those great gold fields in the sky, helping others to avoid the mistakes I've made over the years seemed to be the best way to thank them for taking me under their wing and giving me guidance when I needed it and a swift SMACK upside the head when I needed one of those as well.

Since I believe that mining and prospecting should be fun, I will at all times try to keep the thread light and toss in as much humor as I can. That doesn't mean that I can't still teach some serious stuff here as well. I may not be as able a writer or humorist as some of the others here on T-Net, but I'm willing to give it my best shot.

One thing I didn't mention in my last post is that in your research you should also include as much mining law as possible. With government agencies running amok and trying to change the laws on a whim, this is VERY important. Knowing the laws as well as the extent of each agency's authority can go a long way towards protecting your investment in time and money. I'm not saying that everyone needs to go out and earn a degree in mining law, but knowing the basics as well as being familiar with some case law from mining can go a long way to protect yourself and your investment. If by chance you have a run in with employees of any of the agencies, always remember to be polite but firm. Don't let them think that they can bully you but don't get into a pi$$ing contest with them either. All that is going to do is cause bad feelings and it can lead to a lot more harassment by said agencies. Those people can make your life miserable and make it hard to gt anything done. In extreme cases they can haul you off to the hoosegow which will really put a big crimp on your mining activities...... :BangHead:
 

On the agenda for today is further modifications to the trailer. I've been working out design ideas and now I just have to get them built and installed. I'm going to be re-purposing a pair of bookshelves I've got on hand by mounting them to the sides of the trailer. I will install fold down doors on them that will include drop down legs so that when they're in the open position they will give me a pair of 6ft X 3ft tables. One side will be for cooking and the other will be for paperwork, maps and processing cons. The table will be a little on the low side, but I'll make it work out in the field. The shelves are just the right size to hold the large coffee cans which I'll use to hold smaller items and keep them from bouncing all over the place while on the road. Smaller tool boxes will also go onto these shelves at the bottom.

I'm also going to mount up a bucket holder so that stacks of buckets can be stored on the front of the trailer by the tongue. This will help keep more room open on the inside of the trailer while making the buckets easy to access when needed.
 

Man... Am I wishing I had held on to my gas welder instead of selling it when I moved to Georgia!!! Once I get up to Kingman and have had a chance to get things setup, I'm going to have to hit Harbor Freight and pick up one of their flux wire welders. I'm not having to weld anything really heavy so it will do for most things I have in mind.

It's looking like the trailer mods are going to work out just as I had envisioned them. The shelves are going to give me a ton of easy to access storage for small items that would otherwise end up buried in boxes in the truck or trailer bed. The tables, while being a little low for my tastes will also work great for cooking and doing final processing. I have also designed a holder for my classifiers to fit into that will go between the bucket mounts. the only thing left to do is to design and build a frame for the water barrels to keep them from sliding around when under way. I'm going to have to keep them centered over the axle of the trailer so it tracks correctly. I'll have about 1320 pounds of water in there which will leave me about 400 pounds of other cargo. Between the truck and trailer I will be able to haul about 2 tons worth of gear. Maybe a larger rig is in my future?
 

Wow! Sounds like you're gonna have one helluva an operation going on. Do you plan on offering tours, or possible civilian work days for those of us who would like to get an upfront and up close view of a legitimate mining operation? I really appreciate your "mining claim" steps you wrote, will you be going into detail when you file your NOI and POO's also? I'd really like to see what all is involved in the process. Seems like you have all your ducks in a row.
 

Like I said, I'm going to be detailing out EVERYTHING. Locations will be held back until filings are done and secure. It's going to be a long process getting the claims perfected, but I'm going to detail out all the steps as I get them done. NOIs & POOs will also be detailed out so that others can see what it takes to get one approved by BLM.

The ducks are still lining up but at least they're starting to act like they've had some training. The reason for all the gear is that I'm going to be out there testing and locating claims until I have several good ones lined up. Then I'll develop one and get it running. When it's going well, I'll start developing a couple more so that if one plays out, I can just move on to the next. No commercial operation is going to have all it's eggs in one basket and neither am I.

Once I get up there, updates on progress may be few and far between unless I get lucky and can get cell signal in the area. If I can, I'll be able to get a Verizon MiFi and may even be able to upload videos in time.
 

After you download the newer topos, on the left of the pdf, you can turn on PLSS by clicking on the dropdown menu under map frame and then select PLSS. Then save the map.

HTH.
 

yeah.... they didn't have that layer until AFTER I had gone through 2 months of download allotment.
 

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