Alaskan Pay dirt

[SteveDigsGems]

Earlier this evening I decided to pan some Alaskan pay dirt that I bought from an eBay seller. I bought 1 pound for $15, and it is guaranteed to have gold, because the lady sprinkles a pinch in. I didn't get rich, but I am really happy with the experience I got out of it. I have a lot of friends that want to travel out to my local gold bearing rivers with me to sluice, but before we go, I'm probably going to have them pan some of the dirt in my backyard. It is a good opportunity for them to see how the gold behaves, and it will motivate them for the upcoming trip.





Sorry about the quality, my camera ran out of batteries, this is an iPad picture. I'll get some batteries next time I'm at the store and upload what I found.







-Steve

 

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[elkie13]

Funny we have a case 480D but we believe it's related to the break adjuster. It has a mechanism that automatically tightens the brakes to make up for wear. It will go in reverse but the right rear tire keeps locking up on forward. We just had the breaks redone, I'm thinking they didn't put something back together correctly.


As for the belt I think when we lost one of the support casters it allowed the pully to rub on the trommel barrel. I'm thinking it wore it down or bent it enough the belt can jump out.

Does it always have to be one step forward then three steps back?

 

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[SchoolOfHardRocks]

..eagerly awaiting more miner talk (someone pass me some popcorn!)

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

It will go in reverse but the right rear tire keeps locking up on forward. We just had the breaks redone, I'm thinking they didn't put something back together correctly.
Does it always have to be one step forward then three steps back?

That's what I figured. We went through the same thing with ours after we replaced the brakes. We were able to back the brake adjuster off until the pedal didn't work..and it would still bind up going forward.
You could back up and it would free up. Once I think it was moisture related, and once it was related to a broken part. We got a used part and it had a crack in the same location, so it must be a common problem.
Knock on wood it's holding up.

I'd first try to dry the brakes out without taking it apart to see if it goes away.

If you do take it apart, there is an axle seal there that is easily ruined when you put it back together. It has to slip over the splines and fit into a groove if I remember right. It can be tricky.

After several attempts we finally found out that if you cut a soda can apart and wrap a piece of it around the axle, you can slide the seal over the oiled can and onto the smooth surface of the shaft. You can then slip the can off the axle. This keeps the seal from getting jacked. I'd take a look at how far the existing seal is pressed onto the axle before removing it. Avoid re-using the old seal.

I remember that you want to be very careful about inspecting the seal before you put the hub back on. We used a mirror and flashlight to make sure the spring and sealing surface was even and square.
I'd check it numerous times before moving ahead.

It's really a two man job. The hub should press on fully with little effort if things are clean. If you have to pound on it, or use the bolts to suck it up, the seal is probably not in right.
I'd dry fit it without the seal if you can to get an idea on how it should fit.

I'd buy two extra seals (they are not expensive).
If that hub doesn't feel right when you put it together...I'd think twice before filling it with oil.

One thing you might look at if you do take the brakes apart...how the new shoes fit the drum. Sometimes the drum only contacts the tips of the new shoes. You can tell by placing the shoes against the drum then shining a light behind the shoe. You will probably see a crescent shaped piece of light where the shoes are not contacting the drum. You can use a vibratory sander to fit the shoes to the drum. Doubt that is the problem though.

We have had to mess with...hoses, cylinder seals, final drive gear, rod bearings, connecting rod, steering, king pins, broken front arm, cracked frame, and probably more.

 

[elkie13]

@schoolofhardrocks
That's no problem, talking about mining is the second best thing we miners are good at.
@imaudigger
Thanks for the info, we paid someone a boatload to fix these breaks were gonna see they make it right before we dig into it. I'm betting your right, they messed up that seal.
At least I know we arnt the only ones cursed with these issues. Last season we replaced the same final drive twice!

 

[elkie13]

Well the plot thickens, our mechanic drained it and a bunch of metal came out, damn this is gonna hurt. Tearing into differential now. :-(

 

[brianc053]

"Well THERE's your problem!" (quote from Mythbusters).

Sorry to hear that elkie13...

- Brian

 

[Aufisher]

Keep at it! There is gold in the ground with you name on it.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Well the plot thickens, our mechanic drained it and a bunch of metal came out, damn this is gonna hurt. Tearing into differential now. :-(

It really wasn't as difficult as you would think to break that hoe in half. We were able to do it in a garage with tools that we use to maintain our vehicles.

I remember ours was missing some shims, they had worn away to practically nothing. We ended up getting a couple used ones to set it up properly when we replaced the pinion gear.

Sorry to hear that....you might consider a different mechanic or different hoe?

 

[elkie13]

Wanna come to Alaska and help out? Lol
It's ok I guess it will force us to focus our time on sampling the areas indicated on the mag survey. Got to have hoe in tiptop shape and the permits ready for next season. I hate to admit it, but the leaves are starting to turn.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Wanna come to Alaska and help out? Lol
It's ok I guess it will force us to focus our time on sampling the areas indicated on the mag survey. Got to have hoe in tiptop shape and the permits ready for next season. I hate to admit it, but the leaves are starting to turn.

I have my hands full with projects of my own. It is getting to be the time of year here where I am thinking about what needs to get done before winter. Hunting season is rolling around the corner and before you know it I'll be freezing.

Will you have to reclaim your current area before opening new ground?

 

[elkie13]

I'm hoping they will let me fill the hole I've been digging with tailings. Kill two birds with one stone.

 

[elkie13]

With the backhoe still in the shop, we decided to make the most of the downtime and test one of the hot spots that showed up on the magnetometer survey. Its important that we know where we are aiming for next season, so I can start working on the permitting this winter.

We’ve had our eye on this spot since we bought the place. We call it 700, named after the rumor that a previous owner got 700 ounces in one small spot somewhere on our claims. We don’t know where he found it, or if this is really true, but we’ve always joked that OUR 700 ounces would be found here. Its a natural drainage down into the canyon from up hill.

Problem is, there’s so much water and muck coming down this area that it stays frozen through much of the spring. Then, when it thaws, it turns into a soupy mess that’s easy to get equipment stuck in. However, it turned out to be one of the largest hot spots on the survey that we can easily access, so we decided to revisit it. Imagine, all that money we invested in the magnetometer survey only to find out what we already knew!

We got the excavator in there, sure enough, it’s just as I remember. Wet, muddy, clay ridden material. Dug as deep as we could and panned a sample.

We found a few colors, so, decided to run a few buckets.



Honestly, it was fun to work this way. It reminded me of the old days when we first started out. Shoveling, filling buckets, and being thrilled with the smallest amount of gold. In the evening we we’re the kind of tired that only comes from a long day of physical activity.



Pleased with the bucket test, we loaded the small pickup size dump truck and got a few yards up to the trommel. It was slow-going to run, the wet material didn’t want to go through the grizzly, but we were pleased with the results. The gold seems larger and in more concentration than our current digspot. 700 is definitely a contender for next season.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

What?! No pictures of the gold or concentrates?
Did the material have a larger amount of black sand that would correspond with the survey results?

I bet the good stuff is probably 15' feet down.
I was wondering if the survey indicated depth?



Do you use that mini excavator to feed your trommel?

I'd really like to get a hopper and conveyor belt to feed our trommel.
Use a loader bucket and just keep the hopper full.
I think production would go up tremendously and recovery would probably improve.
Just not sure how well wet muddy/clay material would feed out of a hopper.

Are you able to run your trommel with just one person just feeding it?

PS looks like you need to throw a level on that sluice box!

 

[elkie13]

What?! No pictures of the gold or concentrates?
Did the material have a larger amount of black sand that would correspond with the survey results?

I bet the good stuff is probably 15' feet down.
I was wondering if the survey indicated depth?



Do you use that mini excavator to feed your trommel?

I'd really like to get a hopper and conveyor belt to feed our trommel.
Use a loader bucket and just keep the hopper full.
I think production would go up tremendously and recovery would probably improve.
Just not sure how well wet muddy/clay material would feed out of a hopper.

Are you able to run your trommel with just one person just feeding it?

PS looks like you need to throw a level on that sluice box!

Thanks for pointing that out, here's what we got out of a few yards of the new stuff in the trommel. There did seem to be a lot of black sand but I would have to run a whole day of this stuff to know if its more or less than what we usually see. The magnetometer survey did not give us depth, though we did tell them the average depth of our gravels and that's how they figured their grid spacing. We don't have the full report, but we got two different charts from the raw data, one supposedly showing shallow gravel sources and one deeper bedrock sources.

We actually dug two test holes in this one area, the first we dug about 15 feet down and hit ground water, good gold but too close to the river, so we moved up the slope dug another and hit bedrock about 8 feet down.
We do use that excavator to load the trommel, it works pretty good and can pretty much be run by one person. The material runs great once it gets through the grizzly, we just have our grizzly bars pretty tight because we run a lot of slate, and that can bind up in the trommel.

I knew when I posted that picture someone would point out the sluice wasn't level. I swear it is, we just had a bunch of broken up slate that kept sticking up in the sluice that we would have to stop and clean out.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

I appreciate you answering all of the questions. Doesn't look bad unless it all came off the bedrock and the bank material contains significantly less gold.

 

[elkie13]

I don't think so, it appears to be material that is sliding down from uphill. Not what we're used to digging in, you can stand there and see the water pouring out of it.

 

[elkie13]

Hey guys just got the actual report not just the raw data from the magnetometer survey.
You do get an indication of depth, some of you were wondering that. Can't wait to "dig" into this stuff.

 

[elkie13]

The leaves are starting to turn, and thus begins the bittersweet chapter of mining season. With the kid back in school, and most of the rest of our crew gone, its up to just my husband and I to save what’s left of the season. Thanks to grandma for getting the kid to school during the week, we are able to work as long as we have daylight, skip lunch, and get up early.

Mining in the fall is not so bad; less bugs, more bears. Though we haven’t seen a bear yet this season (knocking on wood).



The backhoe is still in pieces at the mechanic’s shop, but we simply couldn’t wait anymore. Time to try out the little dump truck that we’ve had for a while but never taken up to the mine.

It takes a little longer because we first have to use the excavator to load the truck from the dig site. Second, stockpile the stuff at the washplant. Then third, drive the excavator back over to load the washplant. But it worked pretty well. In fact, we might make this truck part of the process for next season and save the miles on the backhoe.

Also, thankfully, we finally got the report from the geologist on the magnetometer survey. There are a lot of very promising prospects including possible some bedrock source gold. I think I’m going to work on the permits to expand the place we were testing last time, as the report agreed with our test results. We really can’t tell anymore about this spot until I get permission to clear some trees and make some road improvements. In the meantime, there’s a couple of small hotspots we’re headed towards at in our current digsite that we hope to break through too soon.



I’ve been fighting with this dang rock for days with the excavator, but I bet it’s where the gold is coming from. I’ll get it soon.



Pretty good results, less than usual because the process is a little slower, but better some gold than none.

Also more of the crystalline gold in this clean out. Plus I was playing with the slow motion feature on my iphone during the cleanout and got this pretty cool video.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Yes a dump truck saves alot of wear and tear on the equipment.

I picked up a 8 yard truck for $1000 and it has been working out good.

 

[elkie13]

I would enjoy the beauty of this time of year more, I think, if it didn't make me so sad to realize its almost over.

Backhoe's still in the shop, we're making due with what we have.


Besides, it means I get to spend a lot of time in the digsite manning the excavator. I love looking for big rocks, bedrock, clay layers and other things that spell good gold. Every layer is a new possibility. See that smile?

I have to be careful to pay attention and not get a huge overhang going, its easy to get to excited about a bedrock ledge or something and undercut too much. Occasionally we have to knock it in. Here's a little video, I just love that slow motion feature on the iphone.



We're almost to the little anomaly we saw on the mag survey, looks like we will have to move the caution fence soon!



All was well, until, you guessed it, we broke something. A sharp piece of slate hiding in the mud popped a hole in the sidewall of the dumptruck tire. Quite the sound it made.



Turned out we had to take off for a wedding so we had to clean out earlier than we normally would. But the results weren't bad. Even found a few nice pickers, must have been under that big rock I was digging at.